In the lead up to the Election – some ideas from GARAS

COUNTDOWN: FOUR WEEKS TO GO UNTIL THE ELECTION…

The General Election is now 27 days away and here we are again thinking about the effect that policies can have on the work we do at GARAS and on the lives of our clients. It is a challenge to narrow this down to a manageable number for campaigning purposes. However, there are a few areas of concern that you may wish to ask your Parliamentary candidates about as the campaigns heat up, manifestos are completed and messages are conveyed to the population.

There are two main areas of concern that I would encourage us to contemplate, specifically Immigration around asylum seekers and access to education. I will be posting a different part to this each week in the lead up to the 8th June.

Firstly, I would like to raise a vital topic, which has far reaching consequences for those involved: Education. Over the past few years, we have found it increasingly difficult to assist young people into education from about 15 years old upwards. There are a number of reasons for this, including independent decision making due to schools having become Academies, and therefore being outside LEA (Local Education Authority) control and the influence of League Tables on schools in their consideration of taking a risk to accept a young person. From 16 upwards this becomes even harder where there are fewer 6th Forms and Colleges and where there is a reluctance to accept young people outside the normal term starts which can mean it is possible for nearly an entire year to pass before education is begun. This is so frustrating for a group of young people very keen to learn and to study and to contribute. And is not good when young people then have so much time on their hands.

Ask your parliamentary candidates to ensure that every child in Gloucestershire can access education, and to address schools and colleges which will not allow new arrivals to attend full time if at all. Where funding is a concern, ask them to ensure education receives reasonable monies for the betterment of children of today, our leaders of tomorrow.

Adele

visit by Tim Farron

Tim Farron announces the LibDems policy on Syrian Resettlement at GARAS today

gloucestershirelive.co.uk/news/gloucester-news/lib-dem-leader-gloucester-speak-56344

Thanks

Support comes in all sorts of ways as I have been reminded of on several occasions in the last few days.

This afternoon, I attended a school assembly at Stroud High School. At Christmas we received a wonderful selection of beautifully wrapped, prepared and marked shoe boxes of presents from the students. It was good to be able to thank them in person and to tell them a little about our work.

In the week before Easter, Gloucestershire Fire Service gave us a wonderful day at The Skillzone. Families and youngsters had a great time, were very well looked after and fed and it was organised incredibly well. It is fair to say that the “big toys” (fire engines etc) remain the favourite of young people whether young in fact or in mind!

Later that same week, Rachel Treweek, Bishop Of Gloucester, came and met with a number of people who wanted to mark the Easter events quietly. It was a special short service and a generous gift in a very busy week for her. (In addition she left us with a good number of Easter Eggs that were enjoyed by many people.)

In the last few days, we have become aware of the death of the previous Bishop of Gloucester, Michael Perham. As Bishop Rachel currently is, he was previously a Patron of GARAS and through his initiative we were able to start “Bishop’s Fund”, a fund that has been incredibly helpful and supportive to many GARAS clients facing destitution over the intervening years.

Adele

Lenten Challenge

Accommodation

On Tuesday, in amongst all the Trump commotion, a report came out about the Compass Contract – the contract that the Home Office has with three Housing Providers: G4S, SERCO and ClearSprings to provide accommodation to asylum seekers whilst they go through the legal process of claiming asylum. This accommodation is across the UK and here in Gloucestershire, the provider is ClearSprings. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-38799694

A little history lesson for context. In 1997 the new government started, what became known as the Dispersal Policy. This was a move to encourage local authorities across the UK to support asylum seekers within their communities away from the concentration in the South East of England.

Until 2002 this support was provided through the local Social Services and financial support was calculated at 70% of Income Support. In 2002 NASS was born – the National Asylum Support System. This moved the care from social services responsibility to the Home Office who subcontracted this to a number of different suppliers, frequently Local Authority Housing remained in use, in particular in the north of England and in Glasgow where large numbers of people were housed.

Here in the South West of England Gloucester, Swindon, Bristol and Plymouth (originally Exeter as well) were Dispersal areas and from 2002 ClearSprings was the provider of the accommodation.

So that is the background!

Over the past 15 years, clients have been Dispersed to Gloucester predominately from Cardiff as the Regional Hub for Home Office reasons. (Previous to arrival, people will have been housed temporarily in very basic accommodation in Cardiff.) The individuals and families who come to Gloucester have no choice where they come to live or with whom they will live. Properties are single sex or for families to share, there is now no consideration of faith, nationality or ethnicity.

As contracts have been renewed funds have got tighter and numbers grown and the turn over periods have got ever shorter. In this last round, the Local Authorities pulled out and G4S and SERCO took on the other areas of the country.

So what is our experience for our clients?

Properties have become increasingly grim over the years. The rapid turnover and lack of care has meant they are more more depressing. When a client moves out, the rooms are supposed to be cleaned but that is pretty flimsy. Even when there is a complete change of household there is no deep clean and I am not aware of a property being redecorated or refurbished or re-carpeted in many many years. Therefore each property gets sadder and sadder, scruffier and scruffier.

At the last contract there was no requirement to provide vacuum cleaners and that has made care of the properties very difficult for the occupants. Over the years most of the clients I have met want to take some pride in their homes but how can you when you don’t have the facility to keep them clean?

And then like any student accommodation there are the challenges of sharing Kitchens – who does the washing up? Who buys the milk?

So yes – mice, rats and bedbugs are a regular problem – see BBC link above.

And when boilers don’t work it takes weeks to get them fixed.

So imagine how that feels when you have travelled here to find safety and you think you will have somewhere to live at last in this city you know nothing about, you get shown into a house that is grubby and unloved? And you may even have to share a bedroom with someone you can’t even communicate with? How do you feel?

Why not contact your MP and ask them to include vacuum cleaners in the next COMPASS contract so asylum seekers can have some dignity and self respect? (& This may lead to fewer rats in the property.)

Adele