UK minister vows to investigate ‘slum’ housing conditions of asylum seekers in Glasgow

UK immigration minister James Brokenshire has pledged to investigate reports of ill-treatment experienced by asylum seekers in Glasgow.

The announcement follows a call by a Glasgow MP for the UK government to take action to counter the “slum” housing conditions of asylum seekers in the city provided by a private company.

Chris Stephens, MP for Glasgow South West, made the call at a debate on asylum services provision at Westminster this week in response to reports of “horrific” housing conditions provided by Orchard and Shipman (O&S), which delivers the £60 million contract to outsourcing multinational Serco.

Stephens told ministers of an Iraqi woman with a young child and health problems who was placed in a dirty second-floor flat for months despite a doctor’s letter and instructions not to carry her child up stairs. She says drug addicts also frequented a shared close. Serco says repairs took longer than first thought and that she has now been moved.

Another asylum seeker, despite reporting racial harassment against herself and her baby outside her flat four times to police, had not been moved, Stephens said.

Earlier this year reports included allegations of a mother and baby being housed in a cockroach-infested property, O&S staff spraying air fresheners at asylum seekers, while laughing and pinching their noses, and an allegation of a man being housed in a property with blood-spattered walls and no lock on the front door.

Stephens raised further concerns about one constituent, a single mother of three children living on the third floor of a tenement building unable to lock her windows. He said some agencies had told him female asylum seekers felt very unsafe in shared flats, and experience unbidden entry by housing officers.

He told ministers: “Persistent issues remain in the delivery of what is the lifeline service of housing for men, women and children seeking protection in the asylum process who, more than most, need the stability that a home should bring. The asylum process is difficult enough without problems of poor housing and treatment to contend with too.

“At the end of the day, these problems should not be perceived as intractable, as what is needed is recognition at ministerial level that this approach isn’t working; neither does it have the confidence or trust of many local institutions, third sector agencies and communities.”

The Home Office minister James Brokenshire said that he was “very happy to look into” reports that some asylum seekers could not lock their doors and also promised to “reflect upon” how inspections are carried out.

“I do want to know if there are issues so we can ensure they are dealt with effectively and promptly to be able to give reassurance to asylum seekers as to the seriousness we attach to complaints,” he said.

“We have been working with our contractors to ensure accommodation is safe, habitable and fit for purpose and asylum seekers are treated with dignity and respect, taking into account their vulnerability.”

Keith Vaz, chair of the Home Affairs Select Committee, which in March announced it would launch an inquiry into standards of asylum housing provided by Orchard and Shipman, said there was “a crisis” that needed to be dealt with and called on local authorities across Scotland to offer accommodation to take the pressure off Glasgow, a call also backed by Brokenshire.

Serco has insisted that all 1,860 properties it provides in Glasgow meet Home Office standards and are among some of the most heavily inspected properties in the sector.