Written evidence submitted by Barnsley Council and Local Authorities in Yorkshire & Humber (ASY0002)
I am unable to attend the evidence session on 20th November, but I would nevertheless like to submit evidence on behalf of Barnsley and Local Authorities in Yorkshire & Humber focusing on a few key issues related to asylum accommodation.
Local impacts in Barnsley
Concentrations of asylum accommodation tend to be in locations already challenged by social environmental and physical decline. Areas where transience becomes the norm suffer from lower values, increased levels of deprivation and a weakening in community. Typically asylum seeker accommodation is sourced in those very locations where property values are at their lowest and wider general decline is more apparent. We contend that adding a further challenging dynamic to what is an already difficult combination of factors accelerates decline and broadens the equalities gaps in our town.
During the life of the current COMPASS contract the scaling back of property management and support available to vulnerable asylum seekers adds further pressure to over-subscribed public services, and, whilst voluntary groups and organisations are actively seeking to address this gap, funding and resources are becoming more difficult to access as cost-saving measures are implemented.
The disproportionate dispersal also fails to take into account the extreme pressures on temporary housing following a positive decision; those granted asylum are the primary users of this accommodation, leading to a reliance on bed and breakfast establishments out of the area. This is both highly expensive and creates tensions when resident communities are unable to access local temporary accommodation.
Disproportionate asylum numbers across the UK
Barnsley currently has 447 asylum seekers which is the highest concentration of asylum seekers in our region. Barnsley has three times the number of asylum seekers which would be proportionate to our population, and has a similar number to the whole of the South East region which has a population 37 times bigger than Barnsley.
We have regularly highlighted that 10% of the UK’s asylum seekers are in just 40 wards in Y&H, out of a possible 10,000 wards in the UK. Many of these 40 wards have a range of other challenges and multiple deprivation, and we can see no justification for the Home Office ignoring these concerns up until now. The impacts are not just current, but are cumulative over the last 20 years. It is essential for the future sustainability of the system that the Home Office address concentrations in local neighbourhoods, and extend the cap of 1:200 to ward level (unless Local Authorities choose to opt-out).
The three regions in the North of England have a total population of 15 million, and host nearly 20,000 asylum seekers – half of the UK total. The South East, South West and East of England have a population of 20 million but host less than 2,000 asylum seekers – just 5% of the UK total. This cannot be reasonably justified. The regional proportions are simply not fair to asylum seekers, nor to our local communities.
During the COMPASS contracts we have consistently been told that regional dispersal proportions couldn’t be changed because of the contracts. Home Office officials have also stated publicly to Local Authorities and the new providers that proportions going into each region won’t change under the new contracts (i.e. until 2029). However, since these HASC evidence sessions were announced in the last few weeks, the Home Office have indicated that they can now change the numbers in the new contracts. Frankly we don’t know what to believe, nor can we trust this new position without an unequivocal written timetable from the Home Office to achieve a fair and equitable dispersal system.
New contract consultation
We are extremely disappointed with the consultation process for the new contracts where Local Authorities in Yorkshire & Humber were only formally consulted once. This was an event held outside of our region with only 45 minutes to discuss the entire UK asylum system. Since then there have been no consultations, only an occasional ‘briefing note’ or one-way ‘information session’.
Despite the consultation with Local Authorities being so brief, the views were clear, recorded by the Home Office, and are still the same as those being debated now. Unfortunately, almost none of the Local Authority recommendations appear to have been taken up which may be why we are in the current predicament. This is starkly different to the consultation with ‘the market’, which was extensive and where most of the private providers’ wishes appear to have been granted. As we described in our letter to the Home Secretary on 1st August:
“Where consultation did take place early on with Local Authorities and other key partners, the only real supporters of recommissioning an almost identical service appeared to be the Home Office and the existing service providers. That between them they were then unable to achieve a single compliant bid in our region is an indictment of the whole process.”
Transition of contracts
Despite the letter from Leaders of Local Authorities to the Home Secretary on 1st August, we are still being kept in the dark about the new contracts and transition. We were concerned that information had been deliberately kept from us earlier this year regarding the unsuccessful procurement for the contract in our region, and we remain concerned.
Despite Local Authorities attending regular meetings with key civil servants, we have only just found out through the Minister’s recent letter to you, that the contracts had further been delayed, The date to let contracts of ‘early 2019’ is worryingly vague and extremely late on in the process. We had recently heard it would be December 2018, and before that the Home Office said they would “award the contract in Autumn 2018 to allow a robust mobilisation period (learning lessons from Target to COMPASS)”. This is now many
months late and therefore by their own admission they are evidently not learning the lessons from the last transition.
In 2012, Local Authorities had to step in to house hundreds of asylum seekers to avoid sudden mass homelessness after G4S failed to fulfil their contract. During this time there were no decent transition plans provided to us by the Home Office or G4S and they refused to acknowledge that it was heading for failure until the eleventh hour. Now, because the contracts are still not let, we will have an even shorter period for transition in 2019 and we know nothing else. Again we have seen no plans of any sort, and no acceptance of the difficult situation, just reassurances of ‘expedited processes’.
We are understandably concerned and have requested full access to all risk management information to ensure the welfare and safety of asylum seekers and other communities in our local areas. We can see no reason why the Home Office are refusing to share the risk management information at this moment in time when the risks are so high and affect so many people and services.
Meaningful partnerships
The foundation of our relationship should be a meaningful partnership between national and local government, working together collaboratively and equally with mutual respect. Current proposals are disproportionately focused on the challenge for providers, rather than for Local Authorities and local communities. Although we have different priorities and statutory functions, we must work as joint strategic partners with shared responsibility for asylum seekers placed in local areas in Yorkshire & Humber.
So far we have been largely excluded from strategic involvement in the new contracts. One of the reasons cited by the Home Office is commercial confidentiality. However, our experience in Local Government is that there should be no strong legal basis for excluding Local Authorities from this information or involvement in the contracts, and that it therefore comes down to the will of the Home Office. We would be interested in seeing any legal advice that ruled out open partnerships with Local Government.
Within the new statement of requirements there don’t appear to be any enhancements to the relationship with Local Authorities, and in some cases more generic clauses could be seen as a downgrade. Therefore we have no reason to believe that the current relationships we have with the Home Office will be meaningfully different or improve as a consequence of the new contracts.
One area in which this appears to have significantly worsened is in regards to ‘bedroom sharing’ of unrelated adults. Whilst there are provisions to prohibit this for certain ‘vulnerable’ asylum seekers, there is a clear expectation that overall bedroom sharing will increase, and that the Home Office will not stop a private provider from this practice even if there is a Local Authority policy against it. In a recent meeting with Local Authorities in our region, The Home Office said that they could put in a clause to stop room sharing in these circumstances, but that they wouldn’t because the contracts would become commercially unviable.
It is important that the nationally directed asylum system is both compatible and respectful of the local area and policies, and any national contract that actively or passively erodes Local Authority powers, policies or processes would be a retrograde step with far-reaching implications. The answer to an underfunded contract shouldn’t be to undermine local democratic decisions.
We are clear that the only way to ensure the success and sustainability of the system in our region is for Local Authorities to be full partners with the Home Office in the new AASC contracts, with full access to all contractual agreements with the successful bidder. Local Authorities should work with the Home Office on the oversight function of contracts at regional level through joint partnership boards and be a partner alongside the Home Office in the negotiation stage of the contracts to provide joint strategic and operational agreement to help ensure the success of the contract
It is essential that the roles are specifically defined and agreed before contracts are signed.
Our commitment to asylum seekers
Local Authorities in Yorkshire & Humber have always been committed to the UK’s humanitarian protection programmes. We were the first region to bring people in under every refugee resettlement programme in last 20 years, and since the beginning of asylum dispersal have been among the highest receivers of asylum seekers. We are proud of our record and have throughout this period been recognised often as an area of best practice throughout the UK and beyond.
It is therefore with deep regret that we are in the position that we are in, having raised issues with the Home Office, Ministers and the Home Secretary for many years. For a long time now, we have been increasingly sidelined where asylum dispersal has been something done to Local Authorities and communities in the north of England rather than done with them.
As we have been further excluded with no meaningful role in the system, there is regrettably only one policy lever left available to us to support our local communities and asylum seekers within our areas. Local Authorities are resultantly being pushed against their will by the Home Office towards pursuing withdrawal from the voluntary dispersal system. This is now increasingly likely if we do not have detailed specific agreements in advance of the new contracts being signed.
Councillor Sir Stephen Houghton CBE
Leader of the Council