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07th October 2006

McConnell in talks on dawn raids

Jack McConnell has held urgent talks with the Home Secretary to express his concern over the effect dawn raids are having on the children of failed asylum seekers.

The First Minister spoke to John Reid on Thursday after a spate of early-morning detentions of families in Glasgow reignited political debate.

Mr McConnell's interven-tion has prompted Liam Byrne, the Immigration Minister, to travel to Scotland later this month to discuss the crisis.

Home Office ministers are understood to be considering concerns raised by the executive.

The discussions follow anger in Scotland that a protocol agreed between governments north and south of the border and designed to end the practice of raids targeting children has broken down.

Scottish ministers have come under pressure to explain why the agreement has not been implemented.

Demonstrations have been staged in recent days in protest over the continuing detentions.

On Tuesday, immigration officials had to abandon a dawn raid on a family of failed asylum seekers in Glasgow after a demonstraton outside the tower block where they live.

Last night, a spokesman for the First Minister hit back at criticism the protocol agreed six months ago with the Home Office had not been put in place, insisting progress had been made in implementing reforms aimed at protecting children's welfare.

A joint inspection of health, social work and education services delivered to asylum seekers will take place this month, the spokesman said. Progress had also been made informing schools where asylum-seeker children are enrolled prior to detention, he added.

Mr McConnell was said to understand the difficulties faced by the Home Office in removing failed asylum seekers.

"However, he made clear to John Reid that he is concerned about the impact removals were having, particularly on the children of the families," the spokesman said. "The Home Secretary recognised these concerns and it is something the Home Office ministers are going to reflect on."

A spokeswoman for the Home Office said that enforced removal was always a last resort. She said: "In the vast majority of cases a family will have had ample prior notification they are in the UK illegally and should make arrangements for their departure."

The executive faced further criticism yesterday from Unison over the failure to appoint a lead professional to oversee asylum cases - a key plank of the protocol announced by the then Immigration Minister Tony McNulty in March.

The union also claimed children were being transported to detention centres in separate vehicles from their parents.

John Stevenson, social work spokesman for Unison, said: "If social workers were doing this to any other children, the government would come down on us like a ton of bricks."

The Home Office said its policy is not to separate families being detained but could not comment on whether children and adults were being transported separately.

Source: The Herald