Examination of Witnesses (Questions 200-202)
17 SEPTEMBER 2003
PAUL SHEEHAN,
RODNEY GREEN
AND BEN
BROWN
Q200 Chairman: I suspect you have
taken the opportunity to make all the points that you came intending
to make but if there is one last word you would like to leave
us with now is your chance.
Mr Green: I have given you two
of my ideas.
Q201 Chairman: You have given us
a long shopping list.
Mr Green: I will give you a third
to add to your shopping list. With the issues that Britain faces
over the next 20 or 30 years in terms of persons from abroad coming
to this country with the wars that we are aware of in Iraq, in
Kashmir and so on, EU enlargement—160 million new people
able to move to this country, there is no provision at the moment
when large influxes of population move to a certain area to provide
any kind of up-front financial support. Leicester has accommodated
10,000 Somalis within less than two years without any additional
funding. That means teachers having ten, 20, 30 children appearing
at their school door who do not speak English with no additional
resources until the following year when their enumeration brings
resources in. We need a new and more proactive and creative policy
for funding large movements of population exceptionally. Otherwise
the tensions that will produce, particularly for the indigenous
community, will be very severe.
Mr Sheehan: Remove the parent/child
relationship between central and local government. This is a vertically
integrated responsibility. Let us find a way of the state dealing
with the issue with the same sense of ownership and approach.
Q202 Chairman: Do you actually think
the Government should trust local authorities?
Mr Sheehan: Did you say "should"?
Yes, we should be trusted and I am optimistic that that will be
only a short while away.
Mr Brown: I certainly hope the
trust grows. In terms of representing asylum seekers, without
in any way being alarmist because I think the issues are out there
for us all to see, if we do not address these issues properly,
there will be problems. We have something like 33,000 asylum seekers
and refugees within Haringey. While the NASS will take on responsibility
for the payment of looking after those asylum seekers that is
not entirely the case and there is a hell of a burden placed on
authorities that I do not think has been dealt with and I think
the Government seriously needs to look at whether these problems
are to get worse and create further tensions.
Chairman: On that note, thank you very
much for your evidence.
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