Services
This section aims to provide information on different services and projects aimed at improving asylum seekers and refugees' experience in Glasgow.
Housing
Under the agreement signed with the Home Office for dispersal, Glasgow City Council was the only provider for asylum seekers' accomodation until 2006. Since then the Glasgow Housing Association and the Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA) provide housing as well. Following changes introduced by UKBA Support (former NASS) which aimed at including a 19% private element in the housing arrangements for asylum-seekers in Glasgow, the Angel group became the largest private housing contractor of the city.
Positive Action in Housing is a BME housing advocacy charity that also runs a Refugee Aid project. The project provides services for destitute asylum seekers, and they were involved in finding support and accommodation for people made destitute by section 55 of the Immigration and Asylum Act 2002.
Employment and training
A number of programmes exist in Glasgow to help refugees find employment. The Glasgow Chamber of Commerce runs the New Glaswegians project, which aims to help professional refugees improve their language ability and update their professional skills to enable them to find work in Scotland. The Bridges Project is an initiative that offers asylum seekers work-shadowing opportunities.
Maryhill Citizens' Advice Bureau offers advocacy training and volunteer positions to asylum seekers and refugees. There are also programmes designed specifically for certain professions: the Scottish Refugee Council is active in Glasgow and other parts of Scotland in helping refugee nurses, doctors, teachers and engineers to retrain and find employment. Anniesland College in Glasgow also provided an 'English for Doctors Programme' as part of the specialist vocational English language training recognised as necessary for professional refugees wishing to enter the workforce.
The Action for Training and Learning for Asylum Seekers (Atlas) Partnership run by the City Council along with other non-statutory agencies has been operating since 2001 as part of the EQUAL Programme, a European Social Fund (ESF) Community Initiative providing funds to projects which test and promote new methods of combating discrimination and inequalities in the labour market.
Education
According to a press statement by the Scottish government in August 2007, children of asylum families would gain the same access to full time further and higher education as Scottish children. There would be a number of initiatives started up from autumn 2007, such as giving asylum children who have spent at least three years in Scottish schools the same access as Scottish children to full time further and higher education, providing nursery places for 3 and 4 year-old children of asylum families
On arrival in Glasgow, the Glasgow Asylum Seekers Support Project (GASSP) and schools worked together effectively to ensure children were allocated to a suitable school placement. Placements in further education colleges were appropriately identified for older children.
Health
In June 2008 a report was published on the perceived barriers to accessing healthcare from the point of view of both asylum seekers and refugees and service providers. Overall the report emphasised the need to explain the UK's National Health System provisions in much greater details upon arrival in the country; called for greater importance to be placed on the human factors like compassion and understanding on the part of health professionals towards refugee and asylum seekers' needs; emphasised the need for reliable, neutral and independent interpreting services to keep the patient's confidence and privacy, as well as encouraging greater coordination and training among different areas in Glasgow's health services providers (REACH 2008).
According to a report by Health services in 2007, "the health needs of children were well met. Overall, children had access to health services, including dentistry and more specialist services, when they needed them. All children and adults were registered with a General Practitioner (GP) and had a health assessment within 48 hours of arriving in Glasgow."
Integration
Integration is a broad concept: many services like access to health and education contribute to a newcomer's integration in society but there are a number of projects, policies and initiatives that target this issue more specifically.
Under the devolution system, migration policy is exclusive to Westminster; however, the Scottish Executive has developed policies supporting cultural diversity and encouraging migration to Scotland. One Scotland, Many Cultures is a positive imaging campaign which uses television and other media. It was launched by the Executive in 2002 and aims to promote cultural diversity in Scotland.
Fresh Talent is an initiative that was announced by then First Minister, Jack McConnell, in 2003. It aimed to encourage skilled migrants to settle in the country in order to combat Scotland's declining and ageing population. This programme does not exist anymore and was replaced by the categories on Tier 1 of the points-based system.
The Framework for Dialogue Project, which is run by the Scottish Refugee Council and Glasgow City Council, aims to provide a forum for asylum seekers and refugees to influence social policy and planning of services at a local level and one of the current aims is to develop a refugee position on how to tackle racism in dispersal areas in Glasgow.
There are also a number of local economic development companies offering services to asylum seekers and refugees in Glasgow. The Initiative, for example, operates a 'peer mentoring scheme', where asylum seekers are assigned a mentor (often another refugee or asylum seeker) who will help them access services and settle into life in Glasgow.
Capacity Building
The Refugee Integration and Employment Service (RIES) is available to anyone over the age of 18 who has been granted refugee status or humanitarian protection. It offers a 12-month service consisting of housing, education welfare advice, employment advice and mentoring support. RIES builds on the Sunrise, the Home Office pilot programme set up in 2005 that was delivered by the Scottish Refugee Council.
Community Cohesion
Dispersed asylum seekers are housed in deprived areas of Glasgow that have multiple social problems. The arrival of asylum seekers initially caused a great deal of tension and resentment in these communities, and negative press coverage magnified the problems.
In 2001-2 there was one racist murder and one attempted racist murder recorded. These figures rose in 2002-3 to two racist murders and five attempted murders. Many of these crimes are alleged to have been carried out by youths on the deprived housing estates of Pollokshaws, Sighthill and Castlemilk, where many asylum seekers and refugees reside.
A contrast to these negative events is the community development that has taken place in host communities since the arrival of asylum seekers. An example of this work is the Framework for Dialogue Project, which is run by the Scottish Refugee Council and Glasgow City Council. This project aims to provide a forum for asylum seekers and refugees to influence social policy and planning of services at a local level and one of the current aims is to develop a refugee position on how to tackle racism in dispersal areas in Glasgow.
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Last Updated: 06/10/09
