§ Mr. Arthur Lewisasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he is aware that, notwithstanding the Government's appeal to the Ugandan 196W Asians not to go to Red areas, this is happening, and that 7,382 children under the age of 16 have entered Great Britain up to 20th October, 1972; how many of these have gone to Red areas; and what action he is taking to ensure that there are adequate schooling and other welfare services available for these new arrivals.
§ Mr. LaneMany refugees from Uganda have joined friends and relatives already settled in this country. The Uganda Resettlement Board discourages, but has no power to prevent, the refugees from going to areas where social facilities are under pressure. It is not possible to give statistics of the present whereabouts of Ugandan Asian children who entered this country up to 20th October.
The board has given local authorities detailed advice about special financial assistance for those who incur expenditure on resettlement, including schooling and welfare services.
§ Mr. Arthur Lewisasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he will arrange for Members of Parliament to visit the Ugandan Asian resettlement camps for the purpose of examining the facilities and conditions of these camps.
§ Mr. LaneMembers of Parliament are welcome to visit the Uganda Resettlement Board's centres and a number have already done so. An hon. Member who wishes to visit a centre is asked to get in touch with the board in order to make the necessary arrangements.
§ Mr. Arthur Lewisasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he will make a statement on the threatened strike of the Asians in the Ugandan resettlement camps; what complaints he has received about segregation and about food; and to what extent the occupants are arranging and cooking their own food and arranging their own diets.
§ Mr. LaneA few complaints about food have been made at two of the centres. At one centre some residents objected to the staff, who have European food, eating their meals in a different part of the dining room from the refugees who have Asian food. Reports of threatened strikes are exaggerated.
197WMost catering has so far been done by contract but this arrangement is now being reviewed.
§ Mr. Arthur Lewisasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department why contractors are employed for the cleansing of accommodation in Ugandan Asian resettlement camps; and whether contractors are also employed for the preparation of diets and the cooking of food for those resident in such camps.
§ Mr. LaneAs regards contract cleaners, I would refer the hon. Member to the reply given to his Question on 9th November. Catering contractors are at present employed in all but one of the centres used by the Uganda Resettlement Board, but these arrangements are being reviewed.—[Vol. 845, c. 217.]
§ Mr. Arthur Lewisasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he will give the dates when the Uganda Resettlement Board consulted the local authority associations regarding the details of financial assistance that would be available; whether the letter sent on 1st November, 1972, to local authorities contained details of an agreed financial settlement; what this amount was; and whether he will publish the text of this letter in the OFFICIAL REPORT.
§ Mr. LaneThe local authority associations were sent a draft of the board's letter on 16th October and a revised draft on 18th October. The letter sent on 1st November explains which categories of expenditure are eligible for grant. Copies of the letter have already been placed in the Library of the House.
§ Mr. Arthur Lewisasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many of the 3,000 letters he received from the general public since August on the Ugandan Asian expulsions and the 400 from Members of Parliament offered accommodation to these refugees.
§ Mr. LaneThe Uganda Resettlement Board has received 2,000 offers of accommodation; these offers have come by various channels.
§ Mr. Arthur Lewisasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what services in addition to accommodation, furniture, heating, lighting, bedding, food. 198W entertainment, television and the cleaning of the establishments are provided by the authorities to those in the Ugandan resettlement camps; and how much, and on what basis, the users are called upon to contribute towards the costs of these services; and whether he will seek to make arrangements based upon the charges made to British-born homeless people in local authority resettlement homes.
§ Mr. LaneThe answer to the first part of the Question is "None, except for education and advice on resettlement". Those refugees who are able to contribute towards their maintenance are required to do so according to the following scale of charges:
A week £ Single person over 16 years 4.00 Man and wife 6.00 Each dependent child over 2 and under 16 years. 1.50
§ Mr. Arthur Lewisasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department, in view of the statement by Mr. P. Patel, a member of the Ugandan Asian Resettlement Board, that Asians are seeking to make the resettlement camps their permanent homes, whether he will make a statement on this matter.
§ Mr. LaneThe Uganda Resettlement Board's initial task was to make arrangements for the reception of the refugees from Uganda. The priority now is to get them resettled in the community, and the board's resettlement teams are doing all they can to achieve this objective as quickly as possible.