MPs have called on the Home Office to better detail the funding provision and service expectations for councils taking part in its programme to resettle 20,000 refugees from the Syrian civil war.
Members of the Public Accounts Committee said that while “encouraging progress” was being made with the programme, launched in 2014, there was a lack of clarity that could “threaten its success in the long term”.
The committee said local authorities participating in the scheme were not sure what they needed to provide for resettled families, both in terms of domestic appliances and public services, while programme participants – who are granted “humanitarian protection status” rather than “refugee” status – were often unclear about different welfare entitlements.
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Their findings mirror those of the National Audit Office, which reported in September on the beefed-up humanitarian programme. It cautioned that funding concerns on the part of financially pressed local authorities risked damping their “goodwill”.
The PAC’s new report on the Syrian Vulnerable Persons Resettlement Programme also said that while the Home Office has categories for evaluating the programme, such as English-language learning and employment, it has so far been “too vague” about what performance targets should be.
PAC chair Meg Hillier said there was a “long way to go” with the programme, which had resettled just 13% of its 20,000 target as of June last year.
“This is a voluntary programme, but one with significant ambition, and it is vital councils’ initial pledges of help translate into firm offers of accommodation, support and services for refugees,” she said.
“Central government must carefully monitor this process and also be clearer with local authorities, already wrestling with significant financial challenges, about what they are expected to take on.”
According to the report, councils are offered a payment of £8,520 per person for each refugee’s first year in the UK, but the amount reduces each subsequent.
The funding is not designed to cover all of the cost of housing and supporting refugees, around 20% of whom also have special educational needs, the report added.
Hillier said more than half of the refugees resettled under the programme as of June had been the victims of torture or other forms of violence and needed specialist support
“Our committee has previously highlighted the shortcomings in access to mental health services and we call on the government to ensure a plan is in place to properly support refugees in need of them,” she said.
Among the report’s recommendations were clearer guidance for councils and refugees; and a review of how victims of torture and violence who are part of the programme can be identified and supported.
MPs also gave the Home Office until April to qnalyse the evidence it has collected to produce a baseline for the programme and set out the outcomes for judging its success.
Hillier said the programme could only succeed and deliver value for money in the long-term if the government is properly able to evaluate its success and adjust its provisions accordingly.
“It must set out detailed plans for this now or risk failing those refugees it is intended to support, as well as undermining public perceptions of the programme’s benefits,” she said.