Issue - meetings

Report of the Assistant Director of Place (Communities)

Further to Minute No. 52 (2) of the meeting held on 27 February 2024 the Committee considered the report of the Assistant Director of People (Communities) that updated on visas issued to refugees as part of the Homes for Ukraine scheme, and how this would impact those that arrived in Sefton.

The report provided information on the Government announcement on 19 February 2024 to various visa schemes currently open to Ukrainians as follows:

·       the Ukraine Family Scheme closed to all new applications on 19 February 2024

·       the Ukraine Extension Scheme closed on 16 May 2024

·       the intention to create a new Ukraine Permission Extension Scheme

·       changes to the Homes for Ukraine Scheme

The report also identified that currently, 105 individual Ukrainians were living with Sefton hosts on the Homes for Ukraine programme and detailed when their visas would expire; and that there were 140 Ukrainians that had moved on into their own accommodation and were no longer on the Homes for Ukraine scheme.

Attached to the report was a fact sheet that provided a brief overview of the different types of international migrants that may come to the UK and a summary of some of the schemes that they may have accessed.

Members of the Committee asked questions/commented on the following issues:

·       the excellent support provided to Ukrainian families resettled in the Formby area

·       acknowledgement that Ukrainian families would like to move back home but due to the ongoing conflict in their country this was impossible

·       the number of Ukrainian families who had not yet moved into their own accommodation

·       the numbers of unaccompanied Asylum-Seeking Children and young people who were seeking asylum in the UK but who had been separated from their parents or carers; and how they were looked after and cared for 

RESOLVED:

That the report updating on visas issued to refugees as part of the Homes for Ukraine scheme, and how this would impact those that arrived in Sefton, be noted.