§ Mr. Gordon Wilsonasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many refugee centres for Vietnamese refugees remain open; how many such centres have been closed; when the remaining centres will close; and what steps have been taken for the aftercare of refugees in the community.
§ Mr. RaisonEight reception centres for Vietnamese refugees remain open. Thirty-seven such centres have already been closed. It is expected that two of the remaining centres will close at the end of this month, that four will close during the next two months and that the remaining two will close later in the year.
Care for Vietnamese refugees who have left reception centres falls within the normal responsibilities of the various statutory services. Before any refugee leaves a centre, a settlement officer of the refugee agency which manages the centre will have made appropriate arrangements with the relevant services in the area of proposed resettlement, and, where possible, with one of 105W the local voluntary support groups established to assist refugees to resettle into the community. As an exceptional measure, the Government are providing funds to enable the three refugee agencies conducting the Vietnamese refugee programme to provide specialist support to these refugees for a limited period after they have left the reception centres.