Syrian Refugees: Settlement in the UK Debate

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Department: Home Office

Syrian Refugees: Settlement in the UK

Lord Swinfen Excerpts
Monday 7th December 2015

(8 years, 11 months ago)

Lords Chamber
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Lord Swinfen Portrait Lord Swinfen (Con)
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My Lords—

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Lord Bates Portrait Lord Bates
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Exactly. Taking precisely from that experience is the reason why the Prime Minister appointed a Minister for the Syrian resettlement programme. Richard Harrington is based in the Home Office and is liaising with the DCLG, which is conveniently in the same building, to ensure that such joined-up work happens and people get the support they need when they arrive.

Lord Swinfen Portrait Lord Swinfen
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My Lords, what is being done by the Government to help Kent and Dover, in particular, to deal with the large number of unaccompanied minors arriving in the country?

Lord Bates Portrait Lord Bates
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That, of course, was one of the big pressures. There is now in place the Kent dispersal scheme, for which Richard Harrington is responsible: rather than people being concentrated in a given local authority area, they are redistributed nationally. So far, 55 local authorities have signed up to that scheme, through which they can receive unaccompanied asylum-seeking children.