News

The national dispersal scheme has come in for mounting criticism since the murder of asylum seeker Firsat Dag in Glasgow. But, asks Anabel Unity Sale, could the system be made to work if it received more input from councils and agencies?

Last month's murder of Kurdish asylum seeker Firsat Dag (also known as Firsat Yildiz) in Glasgow made front-page news. It catapulted asylum seekers to the top of the political agenda and made crystal clear what some had been thinking about the government's dispersal system for a long time. It simply is not working.

The failings of the dispersal system, operated by the National Asylum Support Service (Nass), are such that the home secretary ordered an internal review of it in August. While a Home Office spokesperson is eager to stress that it will not be investigating "the concept of dispersal", he says the review will look at how the dispersal of asylum seekers "operates on the ground".

To conduct the review the government swiftly appointed a new head of Nass with the remit to bring in a new management team to help if necessary. They are due to report back to David Blunkett in the autumn and their findings will not be made public.

Controversy has surrounded the central agency responsible for asylum seekers since its launch by the Home Office in April 2000. It was created after local authorities in London and the South East complained they could not handle the costs of supporting the numbers of asylum seekers presenting themselves. Before Nass the local council where the asylum seekers made their application was responsible for funding their care and support.

Top of the list of criticisms against Nass is its policy of not allowing asylum seekers a choice of where they are to be dispersed. They are dispersed out of the South East to cities like Glasgow, Cardiff, and Hull, all places where there have been recent reports of problems for asylum seekers, such as asylum seekers being held in Cardiff prison and subsequently going on hunger strike, a vicious attack on a man in Hull, and the stabbing of Dag in Glasgow.

Glasgow Council's five-year contract with Nass started in April 2000 to provide 2,500 units of accommodation, divided between 2,000 flats for families and 500 for single people. So far there are about 5,500 asylum seekers in the city, 1,200 of them on the Sighthill estate - where Dag lived - making up 20 per cent of residents. Since his death the council has introduced a policy not to house any more asylum seekers on the estate.

Immediately after Dag's murder the council appointed Dawn Corbett, head of corporate policy, to address the problems asylum seekers face head on. She is the first to admit that there have been racially motivated incidents on the estate and that the incident had an understandably negative impact. "It spread fear and disquiet among asylum seekers," she says.

One of Corbett's first tasks is to see how dispersal is operating across Glasgow and how well local communities are being prepared for the arrival of asylum seekers.

However, she disputes claims by asylum seekers and residents living on the estate that asylum seekers had been "dumped" there. She says: "Lots of work had been done through education and housing services to prepare people, but there is always more we can do.

"I've spoken to a lot of people and a lot of agencies and there's a great deal of will to get things right. Since this [the murder] happened I have been inundated with offers of help."

Corbett says that in the light of Dag's murder the council has a lot to learn about dispersal and "we'll be learning for a few years to come".

At the other end of the spectrum is Devon Council's experience. Since March the council has had its own contract with Nass to house and support asylum seekers in Exeter, having initially been part of the now defunct South West Consortium.

Sam Newman, Devon Council's head of strategy for learning difficulties, is also charged with ensuring the smooth running of the five-year contract.

He believes that the big difference between Devon's Nass contract and Glasgow's is that Devon does not have a set number of units or asylum seekers to accommodate. So far the council has received 120 asylum seekers over a six-month period.

He says the key issue is retaining flexibility and control: "We couldn't operate the system if we gave all responsibility back to Nass, who would tell us when asylum seekers were available. We notify them when we are ready to have X number of people on X day," he says.

Within two weeks of arriving in Devon, asylum seekers have a health check-up, access to legal advice and an assessment for English tuition at a local further education college.

Newman explains: "People in all the appropriate agencies are prepared to work to the 14-day target."

Devon Council also has a deliberate policy of accommodating asylum seekers in as much street level housing as possible and always takes into consideration the state of the local housing market.

Local communities were actively engaged in the process right from the beginning, with the council setting up a database of people wanting to help. It now has 100 people on it, 70 of them with language skills. "We tried to build up a positive spin about how Exeter people can help, rather than be worried," he says.

But is the reason asylum seekers have been received so well in Devon simply because so few have been sent there? After all, 120 asylum seekers is a fraction of the number Glasgow deals with. Newman is adamant that is not the case. "It is not a numbers thing, it is about handling the situation sensitively," he says.

The murder of Dag in Glasgow was "a murder waiting to happen," because of the number of racist attacks in dispersal areas, says the Committee for the Defence of Asylum Seekers chairperson Alan Gibson.

He says: "The key point is that many, if not most, asylum seekers are being dispersed to highly deprived areas of the country and it's no wonder tensions rise when they arrive, particularly if no preparation has been made."

He says the problem with Nass's approach to asylum seekers is that they are dispersed out of the South East without any choice. "There can be little doubt that given the options, quite a percentage of asylum seekers would be pleased to move to areas outside London and the major centres. But the options are not given."

So what is the alternative to dispersal? Is the only answer to build massive reception centres along the Thames? Such a move isn't necessary because the current system could work, argue the agencies working with asylum seekers.

Gibson believes something can be salvaged from the dispersal system. He says the beginnings of a network of people with important knowledge and skills relevant to the needs of asylum seekers has been established, although it will need more support from central and local government to be effective.

He adds: "There is nothing wrong with dispersal so long as it isn't forced, there are proper resources, and local communities are prepared."

Sally Price, fundraising and communications director for the campaign group Refugee Action, also feels dispersal can be made to work.

She says: "In the past, with Chileans in the 1970s and Kosovars in the 1990s, it has been done in a consultative and strategic way with local authorities and local people involved."

She says the Home Office needs to adopt a similar approach by communicating with local communities, teachers, GPs, the police and asylum seekers themselves about what they want from the system.

She explains: "When the dispersal system came in, the implementation of it was dumped on local authorities, the voluntary sector and local communities with very little discussion about what was happening."

The dispersal system needs to secure "greater involvement from local authorities in the provision and development of services for asylum seekers," says Refugee Council head of policy Alison Fenney.

In particular, she recommends that the existing consortia of councils across Britain dealing with the issue investigate ways of working with other local authorities not currently involved.

This should also involve local people: "Local authorities need to work with local communities so people feel they have a stake in the process, so they understand why people are fleeing their homes in the same way they understood why Kosovars came here in 1995."

The Home Office is facing a difficult task, but consultation with all parties should provide a way forward. If its review does not recommend this, more asylum seekers' blood could be spilt on British streets.