Ukrainian community supported with homes, visas, sponsorship in Scotland: FOI release

Information requested

1. The UK Government's ‘Department of Levelling Up, Housing and Communities’ provides details of the number of 'Homes for Ukraine' per-person TARIFF GRANTS (£10.5k) which have been provided to local authorities across the UK. These Tariff Grants support local authorities in their provision of wrap-around support to individuals and families from Ukraine to rebuild their lives and integrate into communities. In the response to FOI REF: 202400393609 the Scottish Government stated that, it is ‘incorrect’ to use the number of Tariff payment claims as a ‘means of counting all Ukrainians living in a given area’. Please provide information on the method used by the Scottish Government to establish the number of displaced Ukrainians ’living in a given area’, information which is presumably required for current planning, budgeting and future forecasting purposes.

2. In an article in the 'Edinburgh Evening News' titled ‘Ukrainian support unwavering’, published on the 26th February 2024, Angus Robertson MSP stated that, ‘Over 26,000 Ukrainians have been given homes here in Scotland and, as External Affairs Secretary, I will continue to work with Ukrainian Consular representatives to ensure members of the Ukrainian community are supported’. As the Scottish Government has stated that it is ‘incorrect’ to use the number of Tariff payment claims as a ‘means of counting all Ukrainians living in a given area’, please provide confirmation on whether it is ‘correct’ or ‘incorrect’ to use the figure of over 26,000 Ukrainians, which is the number who have arrived into the UK with a Scottish or Scottish Government sponsor, as the number of Ukrainians who have been given homes here in Scotland.

3. On the 24th February 2024, Humza Yousaf, the First Minister of Scotland, during an interview with ‘Forth 1 News’ stated ‘I want to say to those Ukrainians who are living in Scotland that this country, Scotland, will be their home for as long as they want it to be. I am very proud of the fact that over 26,000 Ukrainians have been given homes here in Scotland’. Please provide confirmation of whether this statement from the First Minister, that,’26,000 Ukrainians have been given homes here in Scotland’ is a correct statement or an incorrect statement, in relation to the number of Ukrainians who have been given homes here in Scotland.

4. As of the 27th February 2024, 20,871 displaced Ukrainians sponsored by the Scottish Government had arrived into the UK. Please provide information on the total number of displaced Ukrainians who have benefitted from the temporary ‘Welcome Accommodation’, provided by the Scottish Government, in the form of hotel rooms or cabin accommodation on board the M/S Victoria and M/S Ambition, as part of the Super Sponsor Scheme.

5. Please provide information on the number of displaced Ukrainians sponsored by the Scottish Government who remain housed in some form of temporary accommodation, rather than the ‘matched’ long term accommodation offered as part of the Super Sponsor Scheme of the Scottish Government.

6. Please provide information on the most recent figure for the total number of displaced Ukrainians sponsored by the Scottish Government who have been ‘matched’ into their longer term accommodation. This should include a figure for ‘combining the outcomes from the different types of matches available for displaced people from Ukraine sponsored by the Scottish Government’ as previously provided in the Scottish Government’s ‘Ukraine Sponsorship Scheme in Scotland: Statistics’ reports.

Response

1. The UK Government's ‘Department of Levelling Up, Housing and Communities’ provides details of the number of 'Homes for Ukraine' per-person TARIFF GRANTS (£10.5k) which have been provided to local authorities across the UK. These Tariff Grants support local authorities in their provision of wrap-around support to individuals and families from Ukraine to rebuild their lives and integrate into communities. In the response to FOI REF: 202400393609 the Scottish Government stated that, it is ‘incorrect’ to use the number of Tariff payment claims as a ‘means of counting all Ukrainians living in a given area’. Please provide information on the method used by the Scottish Government to establish the number of displaced Ukrainians ’living in a given area’, information which is presumably required for current planning, budgeting and future forecasting purposes.

If a displaced person from Ukraine has been issued a visa, they are free to travel anywhere within the UK or to leave and re-enter the UK when they wish, as long as they are meeting the conditions within their visa. Not everyone entering the UK through the Ukraine Sponsorship Scheme (including those sponsored by the Scottish Government) will need accommodation provided to them. They may make their own arrangements, including renting their own accommodation or staying with friends and family. Some arrivals may have also self-matched with a volunteer host, assisted by a charity or support network. Those arrivals may never be in contact with a welcome hub or local authority seeking accommodation or services. As such no tariff grant will have been claimed for them. Scottish Government do not collect data on this subset of displaced people from Ukraine and, as such, do not track all displaced people from Ukraine living in a given area. The number of tariff grant can be understood as the number of displaced Ukrainians a given local authority is aware of.

2. In an article in the 'Edinburgh Evening News' titled ‘Ukrainian support unwavering’, published on the 26th February 2024, Angus Robertson MSP stated that, ‘Over 26,000 Ukrainians have been given homes here in Scotland and, as External Affairs Secretary, I will continue to work with Ukrainian Consular representatives to ensure members of the Ukrainian community are supported.

As the Scottish Government has stated that it is ‘incorrect’ to use the number of Tariff payment claims as a ‘means of counting all Ukrainians living in a given area’, please provide confirmation on whether it is ‘correct’ or ‘incorrect’ to use the figure of over 26,000 Ukrainians, which is the number who have arrived into the UK with a Scottish or Scottish Government sponsor, as the number of Ukrainians who have been given homes here in Scotland.

3. On the 24th February 2024, Humza Yousaf, the First Minister of Scotland, during an interview with ‘Forth 1 News’ stated ‘I want to say to those Ukrainians who are living in Scotland that this country, Scotland, will be their home for as long as they want it to be. I am very proud of the fact that over 26,000 Ukrainians have been given homes here in Scotland’. Please provide confirmation of whether this statement from the First Minister, that,’26,000 Ukrainians have been given homes here in Scotland’ is a correct statement or an incorrect statement, in relation to the number of Ukrainians who have been given homes here in Scotland.

As stated above, if a displaced person from Ukraine has been issued a visa, they are free to travel anywhere within the UK or to leave and re-enter the UK when they wish, as long as they are meeting the conditions within their visa. The UK Government’s Department for Levelling up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) regularly publish statistics on the numbers of visa applications, visas issued and arrivals to the UK with a Scottish Sponsor. The latest release shows that as of 5 March 2024, 26,729 individuals have arrived in the UK sponsored by an individual in Scotland or the Scottish Government. These arrivals have all been offered sanctuary by Scotland as they have arrived in the UK as a direct result of visas sponsored by an individual in Scotland or the Scottish Government, and they are all eligible to travel to Scotland and to enter welcome accommodation provided by the Scottish Government if they wish to. The UK and Scottish data available however, makes it difficult to determine that all of these individuals have indeed travelled to Scotland and have been housed within Scotland. . I am therefore unable to provide all of the information that you have requested. This is a formal notice under section 17(1) of FOISA that the Scottish Government does not have all of the information you have requested.

4. As of the 27th February 2024, 20,871 displaced Ukrainians sponsored by the Scottish Government had arrived into the UK. Please provide information on the total number of displaced Ukrainians who have benefitted from the temporary ‘Welcome Accommodation’, provided by the Scottish Government, in the form of hotel rooms or cabin accommodation on board the M/S Victoria and M/S Ambition, as part of the Super Sponsor Scheme.

It is estimated that at least 10,000 displaced people from Ukraine have been in welcome accommodation in Scotland, since the beginning of the Ukraine Sponsorship Scheme. This figure is based on both individuals with data captured by local authorities on the Warm Scots Welcome app and data on hotel rooms occupancy. Please note, this estimate is provisional management information drawn from administrative records in live operational systems and are subject to change. This estimate has not gone through the same levels of quality assurance as official statistics. Additionally, the Scottish Government released an ad-hoc publication on the M/S Ambition and the M/S Victoria disembarkations, including the total number of guests. More details can be found here: https://www.gov.scot/publications/ukraine-sponsorship-scheme-in-scotland-the-m-s-ambition-and-the-ms- victoria-disembarkations/.

5. Please provide information on the number of displaced Ukrainians sponsored by the Scottish Government who remain housed in some form of temporary accommodation, rather than the ‘matched’ long term accommodation offered as part of the Super Sponsor Scheme of the Scottish Government.

The Scottish Government regularly publish the latest data on the total number of displaced people from Ukraine in welcome accommodation across Scotland and by local authority.

More details can be foundhere: https://www.gov.scot/collections/ukraine-analysis-and-statistics/ Statistics published on 25 January 2024, show that an estimated 2,700 displaced people from Ukraine were in welcome accommodation as at 18 December 2023. An update to this data will be published on 25 April 2024.

6. Please provide information on the most recent figure for the total number of displaced Ukrainians sponsored by the Scottish Government who have been ‘matched’ into their longer term accommodation. This should include a figure for ‘combining the outcomes from the different types of matches available for displaced people from Ukraine sponsored by the Scottish Government’ as previously provided in the Scottish Government’s ‘Ukraine Sponsorship Scheme in Scotland: Statistics’ reports.

An exemption under Section 17(1) of FOISA applies as the Scottish Government does not have all the information you have requested. The figures included in previous publications were drawn for a survey of local authorities which is no longer being collected. The Scottish Government are conducting ongoing improvements to how operational data are recorded and reported. We are currently undergoing a data quality assessment of the Warm Scottish Welcome web application. While this programme is ongoing, the data are not considered robust enough to be used to estimate matching outcomes thus there is no current estimate of matches held.

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