Asylum review 'does not mean failure'

Tensions have risen in some dispersal areas

A decision to review the current system of dispersing asylum seekers around the country does not amount to an admission of failure by the government, Downing Street has said.

The review - dismissed as pointless by the Conservatives - was an opportunity for the government to "look at how the system is working", a spokesman for Number 10 said.

The review, due to report in October, follows the murder of a Turkish refugee in Glasgow, a knife attack on an asylum seeker in Hull and protests over detention conditions in Cardiff.

The dispersal system is in chaos

Ann Widdecombe

Home Secretary David Blunkett is understood to be concerned about the way the dispersal system is working in practice.

The Downing Street spokesman said: "The review is going to see how asylum seekers are being integrated into communities and whether there is enough consultation with local authorities before people are placed.

"We also want to look at the people providing housing and other facilities."

But shadow home secretary Ann Widdecombe dismissed the move, saying: "I don't actually think it is going to achieve a great deal.

"His own officials can tell him here and now without any review what is going wrong.

"I think the entire system has to be scrapped... and he should adopt the policy of reception centres for all new applicants," she told the BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

Tailored packages

Such centres, Miss Widdecombe went on, could help to avoid trouble like that seen recently "because instead of going in for this awful hit-and-miss business of just sending people across the country you have proper, tailored resettlement packages".

Miss Widdecombe said detention centres were cost-effective

For the first time asylum seekers would have easy access to services such as medical support, education for children, social services and legal advice, she added.

One of the main areas covered by the home secretary's review will be how asylum seekers are integrated into local communities.

Tighter scrutiny

It will focus on whether there is sufficient consultation with local councils when asylum seekers are placed in their care.

It will also look at whether there is a need for tighter scrutiny of contractors who supply their housing.

The dispersal system itself is not a bad one bit it has to be handled very sensitively

UNHCR spokesman

Rupert Colville, a spokesman for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), said dispersal is "inherently a perfectly reasonable idea".

"But it doesn't seem to have been working very well in certain parts of the UK, he told the BBC.

"In other parts I think it has worked quite well but clearly the events in Glasgow and Hull last week make a review very, very welcome."

Mr Colville agreed that more work needed to be done preparing local populations for the arrival of dispersed asylum seekers and for swift action to be taken at the first sign of trouble.

'Vilification' claim

He rejected the idea of building more secure detention centres as they were "the worst possible thing to do to people".

Days ago the UNHCR repeated criticism of the "climate of vilification" asylum seekers face in Britain from some politicians and some sections of the media.

Liberal Democrat foreign affairs spokesman Menzies Campbell also welcomed Mr Blunkett's review, but said it did not go far enough.

David Blunkett: concerns over dispersal system

"What is now required is a full-scale review of Britain's policy towards asylum seekers," he said.

But speaking on the BBC's World at One programme left-wing Labour MP Jeremy Corbyn called into question the point of the review.

He said: "I think to announce a review and say you are going to look at the scandal of millionaires holding bed and breakfast accommodation and things like that is good, but if at the same time you say you are not going to change the system then you have to ask the question `what's the point of the review?"'