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Refugees and Asylum Seekers in Oxford and Oxfordshire Briefing Paper 22 October 2015 The government has announced an expanded Syrian Vulnerable Person Scheme.
It is expected that several hundred refugees will be arriving each month on standard flights, with about a thousand expected before Christmas.
They will be coming from refugee camps in countries bordering Syria with priority given to women and children at risk, people in severe need of medical care and survivors of torture and violence.
The Home Office and Regional Migration Partnerships are working with local authorities to develop their plans for accommodating refugees.
Funding will be made available from central government for the full five years of each refugee's settlement in the UK.
To date only Oxford City Council have made a commitment to welcome, house and support refugees under the scheme, ten family groups in the first instance.
They will be seeking suitable housing from private landlords in Oxford and the immediate vicinity.
Specialist support agencies will provide personalised integration support in their first year.
The other District Councils in Oxfordshire are yet to respond.
Churches may want to encourage their local councillors in this regard. Oxford City Council has established a coordination group bringing together voluntary, community and faith groups.
They are developing a welcome pack, mapping resources and services available, and logging offers of help.
Martin Gorick and Bob Wilkes have represented the Oxford churches on this group.
It's important to remember that refugees and asylum seekers are arriving regularly in the county by clandestine means.
Some are from Syria, as well as Eritrea, Afghanistan and elsewhere.
If they are unaccompanied children under eighteen local authorities are obliged to provide housing and care for them.
There are well over a hundred unaccompanied minors living in Oxford at the present time.
Key agencies working with them are the Children's Society who run the initial orientation programme, and experienced local charities Asylum Welcome and Refugee Resource.
All of these charities would be most grateful for financial support from churches, giving them the capacity to further develop what they can offer in the light of current needs.
Asylum Welcome and Refugee Resource also have openings for volunteers. All of these charities would be most grateful for financial support from churches, giving them the capacity to further develop what they can offer in the light of current needs. Asylum Welcome and Refugee Resource also have openings for volunteers.