UKBA under pressure to reinstate Glasgow contract

Mr Salmond spoke out as hundreds of people marched through the streets of Glasgow in protest at the government’s decision to pull out of the contract.

More than 500 people gathered outside UK Border Agency offices in the Govan area of the city on Saturday to call for the Home Office to reinstate the contract.

UKBA informed Glasgow Council on 5 November that it was cancelling its agreement after the two parties failed to agree a price to renew the contract. It said the contract to house 1,300 asylum seekers would end by 2 February next year and sent letters to the asylum seekers telling them they may have to move ‘within the Scotland region’. It said the UKBA would try to give people three to five days’ notice of any move.

In first minister’s questions last Thursday, Mr Salmond said: ‘I condemn in the strongest possible terms the nature of the letter that the asylum seekers received.

‘I will make those views known to the home secretary and I will make it clear that negotiations between the UKBA and Glasgow Council should be reopened immediately.’

The Scottish Refugee Council said concerned asylum seekers had been ‘pouring into our office’ for help, since receiving the letters.

The government is relying on two other providers in the area, Ypeople and Angel Group to take on responsibility for housing asylum seekers. Angel Group currently houses 252 asylum seekers in the city and Ypeople houses 1,013.

A letter from Glasgow Council to UKBA, seen by Inside Housing, reveals that despite the 2 February deadline, the agency has not yet met Ypeople to discuss the changes.

The letter sent on 17 November by David Crawford, the council’s executive director for social care services, stated: ‘I was deeply concerned to find out that you have never met Ypeople to discuss the proposed transfer of responsibility for 1,300 asylum seekers.

‘Given the complexity of these discussions, and the need for both organisations to ensure due legal processes are followed, we both concluded that we have serious reservations about the 2 February 2011 deadline for transition being a realistic or achievable target.’

A UKBA spokesperson confirmed the agency hopes asylum seekers will be able to stay in their current properties - owned by Glasgow Housing Association and used by the council to fulfil its obligations - with the contract for managing them handed over to Ypeople as the preferred provider. GHA would also have to agree with the arrangements.

UKBA said it had been unable to reach an agreement with Glasgow Council and that the service had the ‘highest accommodation charges in the UK outside London’.

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