Refugee and Asylum Seeker Delivery Plan 2016-2019 Plain English version
Hello! Wales is a great place to live! We have many different people from different cultures, faiths and backgrounds. The Welsh Government welcomes refugees and asylum seekers. i An asylum seeker has left their country to escape war, harm, or natural disaster and is looking for protection in another country. A refugee is an asylum seeker who has been given protection in another country. We want everyone to have the same opportunities for an education, work, and enjoying life in Wales. But, we can t do everything. The UK Government makes many of the laws on refugees and asylum seekers. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 This is our new Refugee and Asylum Seeker Delivery Plan. It has eight areas: Housing and advice services Health, wellbeing and social care Maternity and children Unaccompanied asylum-seeking children Education Employment Gender based violence, hate crime, modern slavery and community cohesion Arts, culture and sport 2
1. Housing and advice services This plan will help refugees or asylum seekers to get: Move on all the information they need We want new refugees to be able to get help and advice. support Local Authorities to have up-todate information, plans and policies to support refugees have information in different languages. i Local Authority is the council that looks after services in your area. Housing to be available for single people or couples without children. encourage Local Authorities to use private housing and landlords to meet needs. Better support services for refugees who rent homes. have local renting support services encourage Local Authorities to have easyto-use internet systems for support. all the services they need all the support they need. It will also help refugees to find housing so they won t be homeless. Homelessness Advice services We want to make sure all housing meets health and safety standards. make sure Local Authorities offer safe, healthy housing for people get Local Authorities to check properties before they offer them to people. We want landlords to look after properties well. use the Renting Homes Bill (law). It says landlords must give tenants a contract that sets out what the landlord will do to keep a house to a healthy standard. We want all asylum seekers and refugees to get advice and support. This includes failed asylum seekers. have free advice services on welfare benefits, debt, housing, employment and discrimination support services to work together better listen to the views of staff and people using services to make things better fund an organisation to provide training so staff understand the needs of refugee and asylum seekers, laws and policies to meet needs. 3
2. Health, wellbeing and social care This plan will help refugees or asylum seekers to: Mental health We want mental health services to be the best they can be and easy to use. have new healthcare guidance to help staff understand refugee and asylum seeker rights work with communities, organisations and services to understand mental health issues better. We want more opportunities for people to get help and use mental health services. set out our goals in the new healthcare guidance. get the services they have a right to take part in programmes and projects that improve their health know about mental health issues and the services that can help them. Physical health We want to have the right resources and funding in place. work with the UK Government and health services in Wales to put the right resources and funding in place have new NHS Wales healthcare guidance to help train staff. We want failed asylum seekers to know they still have a right to health services. set out the rights of failed asylum seekers explain to refugee and asylum seeker communities their rights to healthcare. 4
3. Maternity and children We want health screening to happen at the first assessment. work with the UK Government and health services to have enough resources and funding for this. We want to respect different cultures and languages. have language support rewrite the guidance on language support in healthcare. This plan will help pregnant refugees or asylum seekers to: get the services they need including screening and assessments get support quickly. 4. Unaccompanied asylum seeking children (UASC) This plan will help unaccompanied asylum seeking children to be: kept safe from harm We want support for all children and young people. let services know what they have to do have new resources and support in the All Wales Multi- Agency Toolkit look at more ways for asylum-seeking children to have an advocate someone to listen and support them. We want better guidance for services who make decisions. have information that s easy to understand so decisions are made quicker. supported so they don t feel alone. 5
5. Education This plan will help refugees or asylum seekers to: reach their goals Further education We want more opportunities for refugees and asylum seekers with basic skills to go on to further education. make sure colleges give information and advice about applications and financial support have Careers Wales support young asylum seekers in schools have Careers Advisers give information about college, training or work. get information about education opportunities, services and places improve their English language skills have advice about ways to go to university. Higher education We want more opportunities for higher education. work with the Higher Education Funding Council Wales (HEFCW), universities and other places fund the Trinity Centre to provide with Cardiff Met University advice on ways to access university. 6
5. Education English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) We want to support people who don t have English as their first language. make sure the ESOL programme is delivered in the right ways check ESOL plans and classes are meeting learners needs. We want ESOL to be just as important as other training and skills. fund ESOL classes in the same way as we do other basic skills. School age education We want to keep children safe. add more information to our Keeping learners safe guidance have a new website of training resources. We want to check how many pupils are using culturally sensitive counselling services in schools. use the information already sent from schools use this data to improve all counselling services. We want to tackle bullying in schools. work with our All Wales Anti- Bullying Leadership Group tell schools about our Respecting Others: Bullying around race, religion and culture guidance. 7
6. Employment This plan will help refugees or asylum seekers to: use their skills have more opportunities to get a job or volunteer Employment, volunteering and training have less time without a job. We want advice services for employment and setting up a business. give business advice through the Business Wales website and helpline have free business workshops and online teaching give information and advice through Jobcentre offices. We want training for refugees and asylum seekers so they can get a job when they are eligible for work. fund projects and organisations which will help: increase the skills and confidence of refugees and asylum seekers increase volunteering and employment opportunities for refugees and asylum seekers. 8
7. Gender based violence, hate crime, modern slavery and community cohesion Hate crime We want to build trust between the police and communities. support victims build trust with refugee and asylum seeker communities. We want to tackle hate crime. increase awareness and provide information about hate crime using the Tackling Hate Crimes and Incidents: A Framework for Action work with an Independent Advisory Group to understand the views across refugee and asylum seeker communities fund programmes and projects that support victims support more people to report hate crime when it happens. This plan will help refugees or asylum seekers to: take part and live in healthy happy communities grow to be full citizens who belong and find their identity in Wales be seen positively in the media know about support for victims of hate crime. Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) We want to support communities to tackle FGM and gender-based violence. work with Voices over Silence to let young people know about issues like FGM and forced marriage have events and workshops in communities use our new resources in schools to encourage people to speak out about these issues. We want to work with services and organisations so staff have good training. work with Universities to train 1st-year medical students have new national training standards about these issues. We want professionals to respect different cultures when planning care and support. have a new FGM Survivor Care Pathway for Wales that everyone uses. 9
7. Gender based violence, hate crime, modern slavery and community cohesion Violence against women, domestic abuse, and sexual violence. We want all staff in services to respect the needs of refugees and asylum seekers. give new guidance and training find ways to train staff in our new Maternity Care Pathway to keep pregnant women safe have a helpline website that gives information and support. We want to collect more information and data so we understand these issues better. have new ways of collecting FGM data with NHS Wales check how many people get support from services for domestic and sexual violence. We want services to support everyone no matter where they re from. look at how services advertise and let communities know they re there have a new standards framework so services are the same quality across Wales have a new kite mark for organisations tell people about the Live Fear Free helpline and website. Modern slavery We want to keep people safe. help services and communities spot when children are at risk and know how to keep them safe. We want more people to understand the risk of slavery. make sure communities know how to spot modern slavery train organisations so they know how to spot people at risk use the Organised Crime and Modern Slavery course to train professionals help businesses understand the impact of slavery and how to spot it collect more information on the levels of slavery in Wales. 10
7. Gender based violence, hate crime, modern slavery and community cohesion Community cohesion strong, healthy places where people can live and work together. We want more positive stories and images of asylum seekers and refugees. keep funding the Welsh Refugee Council (WRC) to work with the Media and hold events like Refugee Week keep funding the Trinity centre to break down barriers through sport and music use a new Media Representation guide to help organisations use our new Welcome to Wales information pack. We want to tackle poverty and lack of money in communities. link to the Tackling Poverty Action Plan and the Strategic Equality Plan make sure this plan works with other plans like Families First and Flying Start. i Families First supports families with their needs and learning skills. Flying Start supports families with young children so they have the best start in life. We want all communities to get support from local Community Cohesion plans. fund and support Community Cohesion Coordinators. 11
8. Arts, culture and sport We want more opportunities for everyone to take part in arts, culture and sport. have more cultural activities and projects that include asylum seekers and refugees continue to offer free entry to places like museums and galleries make it free to enter 98 of the 129 Cadw castles and other historical places. We want more people to understand the cultural and religious needs of refugee and asylum seeker women. work with The Welsh Refugee Council (WRC) and other groups to run Women Get Active. It s a 12-month project that gets women involved in sports and other activities have more opportunities and better links with sports clubs train staff to understand the barriers refugee and asylum-seeking women face. This plan will help refugees or asylum seekers to: take part and improve their health and wellbeing take part in community activities enjoy activities that don t cost a lot of money. Thanks for reading this. If you want to know more: e-mail: FairerFuturesMailbox@wales.gsi.gov.uk 12 Crown copyright 2016