Refugee integration - role of local authorities: research

Appendix C

Research on the role of local authorities in delivering humanitarian protection and refugee integration in Scotland: Overview for refugees and asylum seekers

Who is doing this research?

This research project is being conducted by the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) Scotland. IPPR Scotland is an independent charity which carries out research and policy analysis in Scotland. The research team are Marley Morris, Lucy Mort and Casey Smith.

What is this research about?

Through research with people across Scotland we hope to understand how Scotland’s local authorities are supporting the integration of refugees and asylum seekers. We will explore:

• How councils and other organisations support refugees and asylum seekers to integrate into their new communities
• What has worked well and what the challenges or barriers to successful integration are
• The impact of government policies on refugee integration
• How policy and practice can be changed to better support refugee integration in the future

Why have I been asked to take part?

You have been asked to take part because you are a refugee living in Scotland.

As someone with lived experience, you have a unique perspective that will be invaluable to understanding how refugee integration works in practice in Scotland. We want to hear from you about what has worked well to support your integration, and what have been the greatest barriers or challenges to integrating in Scotland. Your experiences will help to shape future policy and practice on refugee integration in Scotland.

What will happen if I decide to take part?

If you agree to participate, you will be invited to a one-to-one interview with one of the research team at IPPR. We will contact you to organise a date and time to talk that suits you.

The interview will either be over the phone or online (via Zoom or Teams) – you can tell us which you prefer. The interview is likely to last around one hour. If you like, we can also arrange for an interpreter to be present.

During the interview we will ask you about your experiences of receiving support from the council, charities and community groups to help you settle and integrate into your local community. We will also ask for your opinion about what needs to change to better support refugees to integrate in Scotland.

After the interview, you will receive a £40 supermarket voucher as a thank you for sharing your insights with us.

How will researchers take care of participants?

We hope that this will be an interesting research project to be involved in. It is an opportunity to share your experiences of being a refugee in Scotland, and to share ideas about how local authorities and communities can better support refugees and asylum seekers to integrate into Scottish society.

The researchers will work to ensure you have as comfortable an experience as possible, and you only need to tell us as much as you feel happy to share.

During the interview you can take a break if you think it would help. Please feel free to talk with the researcher about how else we can support you to take part, for instance, you may want to be joined by a key worker or an interpreter during the interview.

With your permission, we will ask that someone from the organisation that referred you to IPPR checks in on you following the interview, to check that you’re happy with how everything went and help you with any queries that you may have.

If you share something with the researchers that suggest you or someone else is in danger, then we may have to share information with other organisations. This is because we are required to do so by law, for example to prevent the risk of harm to an individual, or if we think a serious crime is likely to happen.

IPPR is independent from government and your participation in this project will in no way impact on any governmental support that you receive. If you decide not to take part, this will not have any impact on any support you receive from public services or charities.

How will you use what I say in the research?

Our interview with you will be used to evaluate where things are going well and where there are challenges for integration in Scotland. Our findings will directly inform the Scottish Government’s next New Scots strategy.

To ensure we have an accurate record of our conversation, the interview will be recorded and transcribed. That means that someone will listen back to the recording and type up what was said in the session. These documents will be stored on a secure computer system. These are confidential, that means only the researchers working on the project will have access to these. Only when these are anonymised will these be shared with COSLA and the Scottish Government. This means that what you say will not be linked to your name or other identifying personal details.

At the end of the research IPPR will share a report of our findings with COSLA and Scottish Government. If we publish what you say we will make sure this is anonymous. This means we won’t use your name or anything else that could identify you such as email addresses and phone numbers, and all personal data will be kept separate from the research data.

If you decide that what you have said in the interview should not be used for the research, you can speak to the researchers about this, and we will not include anything you have said in the final report. Please let us know by September 2022 if you want us to do this.

Who is funding this research?

This research project is commissioned and funded by the Scottish Government and COSLA, and is funded by the EU Asylum Migration and Integration Fund (AMIF). The research project will be conducted by independent researchers at the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) Scotland.

Do I have to take part in the research?

No, it is completely voluntary. If you agree to participate, you will be asked to show your agreement by completing a consent form. You can withdraw your consent at any stage of the study without giving any reason for your withdrawal. Please let us know by September 2022 if you would like to do this, and we will delete your data.

More information

If any questions or concerns arise during or after your participation, please contact:

• Lucy Mort on 0161 694 9685 or at l.mort@ippr.org
• Marley Morris on 020 7470 6112 or at m.morris@ippr.org

IPPR is an independent charity that carries out research and policy analysis. For more information please visit our website: https://www.ippr.org/

COSLA is a representative body which works on behalf of Scotland’s local authorities to focus on the challenges and opportunities they face and engage positively with the Scottish and UK governments. For more information, please visit their website: https://www.cosla.gov.uk/

Privacy notice

Our puroses for collecting your personal information are:

• to assist with research
• to send you the incentive
• to maintain a record that you have consented to this research

The data controller for this project is Scottish Government which means that they decide what personal data is collected from you as part of this research. The data processor for this project is IPPR, which means that IPPR will be responsible for collecting information from you via this survey, securely storing data and using the data to write a report on behalf of the Scottish Government and COSLA.

The legal basis we rely on for collecting and processing your personal data is ‘public task’. This means that your data is being collected in the public interest and will aid the functioning of government. In this case your data will be processed to conduct social research into the delivery of humanitarian protection programmes and refugee integration in Scotland.

Where you provide personal data, we will keep your name, contact details and consent form on our records until the end of the project (March 2023) when we will securely destroy them.

We won’t share any other personal information that could identify you, unless for safeguarding reasons we are required by law to do so.

We will keep your information safe and only use it in the ways you agree to.

You have the right to withdraw your consent at any time - if you do that, we’ll delete the personal data we hold about you. To withdraw your consent, contact the researchers listed below.

The data you have contributed to the research will be stored securely by IPPR and only the IPPR research team and third party transcribers, translators and interpreters will have access to your personal data. Staff within the research teams at COSLA and the Scottish Government who have commissioned this project, will only have access to anonymised data.

The information IPPR collect from the research will be used to write a report for the Scottish Government and COSLA; however no personal information will be published which can reveal your identity. The information will be used for research purposes only and all handling of data will adhere to the relevant data protection legislation. At the end of this research project, IPPR will delete all personal data. Anonymised transcripts and final outputs will be transferred to the Scottish Government and COSLA.

As a data subject, you have a number of rights. You can:

• access and obtain a copy of your data on request;
• require us to change incorrect or incomplete data;
• require us to erase or restrict processing your data under certain conditions;
• object to the processing of your data under certain conditions;
• request that we transfer the data that we have collected to another organisation, or directly to you, under certain conditions.

If you have any questions or concerns regarding how your personal data is collected or used, or if you believe we have not complied with your data protection rights you can contact IPPR’s data protection lead by email at: r.geffen@ippr.org or alternatively you can contact the Scottish Government’s Data Protection Officer by email at: DataProtectionOfficer@gov.scot.

Details of your rights under the Data Protection Act 2018, your rights as a Data Subject, and your right to complain over how your personal data is being processed to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) are available at the following link: https://ico.org.uk/concerns or by calling the ICO helpline on 0303 123 1113.

More information

If any questions or concerns arise during or after your participation, please contact:

• Lucy Mort at l.mort@ippr.org
• Marley Morris at m.morris@ippr.org

IPPR is an independent charity that carries out research and policy analysis. For more information please visit our website: https://www.ippr.org/

COSLA is a representative body which works on behalf of Scotland’s local authorities to focus on the challenges and opportunities they face, and engage positively with the Scottish and UK governments. For more information please visit our website: https://www.cosla.gov.uk/

Research on the role of local authorities in delivering humanitarian protection and refugee integration in Scotland: Informed consent to participate in research and to share your contact details with us

Please tick if you agree:

I have read the information sheet, or it was read to me, and I understand the contents.

I agree that the interview can be audio recorded.

I voluntarily agree to participate in this study.

I agree that IPPR can record my name and a copy of my consent form, so that they know what I have consented to.

I understand that audio recordings, transcripts and relevant personal data will be stored securely and destroyed by the end of the project.

Name of Participant (printed):

Signature of Participant:

Date: