Support for those fleeing adversity set to be maintained

Our Cabinet will next week receive a report which sets out how we are engaged in five different programmes delivering refugee and asylum support to children and adults from around the globe.

The meeting next Wednesday 12 October will hear that a commitment to supporting between 250 and 300 refugees by 2020/21 was delivered, with arrivals from Syria, Iran and Sudan. The county has now also welcomed people from Afghanistan and more than 400 from Ukraine.

Cabinet will be presented with a series of recommendations including that we continue to support resettlement schemes to assist refugee arrivals, and expand our involvement where capacity allows. This will be in addition to the county's participation in accommodating asylum seekers, as required by government.

Compassion and support

Cllr Alan Shield, our Cabinet member for equality and inclusion, said: "In County Durham, we are very proud of the warm welcome we give to people, and this certainly applies to those fleeing adversity and oppression in other parts of the world.

"This is typified by the significant number of residents from County Durham who have offered homes to people escaping Ukraine during the ongoing conflict, and we acknowledge and applaud them all for their tremendous show of compassion and support.

"We have delivered on our previous commitment to supporting refugees, and I realise and appreciate that there is a great deal of work that goes into both facilitating and supporting the arrivals, and helping them adjust to life once here.

"This involves teams from across the whole council and our partner organisations including the voluntary and community sector, and I am really pleased that we are now poised to agree to continuing and expanding on this extremely important work."

Global emergencies

A report to the meeting sets out how, following significant developments globally and nationally, the county is engaged in the five different programmes, some of which, such as the Ukraine programme, have been developed at speed in response to global emergencies.

Councillors will be reminded how arrivals to the county have been welcomed in two main phases each year, with each comprising five to six families and approximately 25 to 30 people.

Cabinet will be told how its previous commitment to supporting between 250 and 300 vulnerable refugees by 2020/21 has been delivered, with the county resettling sixty families, comprising 280 people, from Syria, Iraq and Sudan.

In addition, County Durham welcomed six families from Afghanistan, comprising 36 people, between August and November of last year. A further family arrived in the county, to join relatives, in April.

Councillors will be asked to agree to expanding our resettlement programme to three phases a year when capacity allows.

Support for Ukraine

The meeting will hear that 431 Ukrainians, both individuals and families, have arrived to stay with 186 county households since the outbreak of war earlier this year.

Cabinet will be told that one challenge we face is a shortage of 'sponsors' willing to take Ukrainians where a match has not worked, with only 14 identified.

To prevent Ukrainians becoming homeless in such circumstances, councillors will be asked to agree to the setting up of a private sector incentive scheme. This would see financial incentives offered to encourage Ukrainian tenancies with private landlords, with a recommendation to Cabinet that we provide up to £1,000 per household out of the government funding we receive for the Homes for Ukraine scheme.

National asylum scheme

The meeting will hear that due to pressure on the UK asylum system, the government confirmed earlier this year that all local authority areas in England, Scotland and Wales will be expected to offer suitable accommodation for the thousands of people in hotels and other contingency arrangements.

Cabinet will be asked to note that the government's contractor has begun looking for suitable properties within County Durham and that the funding provided to support this should be put towards developing the community and voluntary sector infrastructure locally to ensure appropriate help is available for asylum seekers.

Councillors will be told that the UK's response in providing humanitarian support to people from overseas significantly increases pressures on local authorities and partners, and work is ongoing within the government to assess the financial impact on areas.

Cabinet will be asked to agree the establishment of two partnership working groups: the County Durham Migration and Cohesion Multi Agency Group, to act as the forum for asylum support in the county; and a Refugee and Resettlement Working Group to focus on these programmes.