Ukraine Resettlement: Stakeholder Reference Group minutes - August 2024

Attendees and apologies

 

• Maureen Chalmers, COSLA Spokesperson for Community Wellbeing (co-Chair)
• Kaukab Stewart, Minister for Equalities, Scottish Government
• Sabir Zazai, Chief Executive Officer of Scottish Refugee Council (SRC) (co-Chair)
• Elodie Mignard, Senior Partnership Manager, SRC
• David Beauchamp, Policy Officer (Ukraine), Migration, Population and Diversity Team, COSLA
• Olha Maksymiak, Communications Officer, Association of Ukrainians in Great Britain (AUGB) Glasgow
• Tanya Balanova, Community Coordinator, AUGB Edinburgh
• Linda Allison, AUGB Edinburgh
• Fiona Bennet, Assistant Director, Children’s Services, Barnardo’s Scotland

• Anna Kulish, Chair of Housing Group, Ukrainian Collective
• John Hawryluk, Senior Leader, EVOC
• Emma McCarthy, British Red Cross
• Luliia Kochubei, AUGB Dundee

Apologies:

• Kateryna Campbell, Branch Chair, Association of Ukrainians in Great Britain (AUGB) Glasgow
• Fiona Bennet, Assistant Director, Children’s Services, Barnardo’s Scotland
• Rob Murray, Director for Scotland, Health and Local Crisis Response,  British Red Cross
• Maria Jemicz, Branch Chair, Association of Ukrainians in Great Britain, (AUGB) Dundee
• Oleksandra Novatska, Chair of Language and Culture Group, Ukrainian Collective  
• Hannah Shepheard, Assistant Service Manager, Aberlour (Ukraine Children and Host Family Service)
• Billy McKenzie, Unit Head, Asylum and Refugee Integration, Scottish Government

Presenter:

• Professor Alison Phipps, Independent Chair, New Scots Core Group, University of Glasgow

Secretariat:

• Mandy Watts, Team leader, Refugee Integration and Resettlement, SG
• Claire McKenna, Ukraine Policy Manager, SG
• Ian Maclean, Ukraine Policy Officer, SG

 

 

 

 

 

Items and actions

Welcome

Councillor Chalmers, as Chair, welcomed everyone to the sixth meeting of the Stakeholder Reference Group (SRG).Focus of discussions would be on the ‘New Scots Refugee Integration Strategy: Delivery Plan’. Minister for Equalities, Ms Kaukab Stewart was invited to say a few words and introduce herself as the new Minister to Co-Chair the SRG.

The Minister thanked everyone for their warm welcome and hoped that she can make a tangible difference to this group and do what she can in her role as Minister.

The Minister touched on the recent riots in the UK. She emphasised the importance of community cohesion and diverse communities as the heart of everything we do across our local authorities. Stressed the importance of having people with lived experience with a wide range of opinions included in the New Scots Plan.

Cllr Chalmers reminded everyone about raising individual issues through the correct channels and if unsure, to contact the Secretariat for further advice.

Cllr Chalmers noted further apologies from Kateryna Campbell, AUGB Glasgow, Oleksandra Novatska, Chair of Language and Culture Group, Ukrainian Collective and Hannah Hawryluk. AUGB Edinburgh with Linda Allison substituting.

Actions from previous meeting on 12 March (Reflections)

The Secretariat advised all actions from the previous meeting where we focussed on ‘Reflections’ were now complete and incorporated into the New Scots Delivery Plan. No issues were raised.

Personal ambitions for New Scots from co-chairs

Cllr Chalmers asked Co-Chairs to give their own personal ambitions for New Scots.

Cllr Chalmers emphasised the need for accessible services to be at the centre of the New Scots Plan, (e.g. housing and access to ESOL), hopes that by working in partnership we can resolve these issues and find solutions. Welcomed the new plan's clear framework for a crisis response and that people with lived experience are more included in the plan.

Ms Stewart reflected on her own unique lived experience and links with this work and her previous anti-racist work including her role as Convener of the Equalities, Human Rights and Civil Justice Committee last year during the ‘Human Rights of Asylum Seekers in Scotland’ inquiry which in turn had advanced our New Scots work.  

Ms Stewart is delighted that the plan is based on partnership and collaboration. As Minister, she pledged to support the plan, help minimise any sticking points that may arise and help deliver what we have agreed in the plan.  

Sabir expressed his delight that the plan has now been published and echoed the significance of including people with lived experience. He was pleased that SRC have supported 5 events across Scotland involving local authorities, public bodies, local charities and refugee leaders and also supported 81 events with over 2000 refugees. The New Scots vision recognises what people bring with them. Scotland is being enriched by those who are displaced from Ukraine and other countries. Discussion today will look at relevance of actions to the Ukrainian community, the commonalities as well as the unique issues. Critical that the actions taken forward in the strategy are the priorities for the people it seeks to serve and how it can help us better respond to/plan for any future crisis. SRG’s experience and Ukrainian communities play a significant role in this planning.

Presentation: The New Scots Refugee Integration Strategy and Delivery Plan, Professor Alison Phipps Independent Chair, New Scots Core Group

•    Alison Phipps (AP) praised the work of the Ukrainian Collective and what they have achieved in the last two years - even when resources are restricted it is still possible to restore and rebuild communities.
•    Community consultations held across Scotland helped to shape the Delivery Plan and the actions within it.
•    (AP) explained that the actions in the plan are organised and aligned to the six outcomes of the Plan and talked through the six principles and outcomes set out in the refreshed strategy.
•    Key elements in the delivery plan had come from the SRG including housing, language and ESOL.
•    The plan would need to be continually revised and refined and stressed the importance of learning from others who have gone through a crisis previously.

Cllr Chalmers invited questions on the presentation.

Questions

John Hawryluk (JH) queried how we can deliver the action plan in the current situation of continued public finance cuts in particular enabling the participation and remuneration of people for their time and attendance at meetings etc.

(AP) highlighted her voluntary role in the work and that travel to meetings is something that she funds herself.  There are small scale schemes  that have been working to encourage every project that puts forward a bid for funding to include a strand for participation of people. 

(SZ) informed the group that the Scottish Refugee Council are looking into reviewing their refugee involvement policy and the remuneration aspect recognising the need for clarity and greater transparency on how existing resources are invested to support this remuneration. He mentioned that funding is a complicated landscape with most of it being ring fenced.

(SZ) explained that SRC had received SG funding to deliver their refugee support service and SRC teams and would be keen to help and work alongside other existing groups to strengthen local support groups.

Action
Cllr Chalmers suggested that these issues should be raised at the New Scots group  to discuss governance to ensure participation is properly resourced and supported. Wider funding resources attached to the plan to also be raised. An update to be provided on these for the next SRG meeting. 

Anna Kulish (AK) thanked everyone for their hard work and Alison for her presentation. (AK) asked how the delivery plan aligns with the Scottish Government Warm Scots Future policy position. 

(AP) outlined that the Warm Scots Future has helped to inform New Scots and that the delivery plan would now become the umbrella and framework for all New Scots, capturing common principles and common outcomes.

Roundtable Discussion on the New Scots Refugee Integration Strategy and Delivery Plan

Cllr Chalmers thanked Alison for her presentation and reminded members of the group of some questions that had been previously shared for the group to consider for discussion.

Key points from round table discussion

• The housing crisis and access to ESOL were highlighted as the current biggest challenges faced by displaced Ukrainians. These are also mirrored in calls to SRC’s helpline along with employment.
• (SZ) suggested a meeting as per action 2.2 of the New Scots Delivery Plan to bring together ESOL providers, local communities and refugees to understand the challenges being faced and understand where the gaps are.

Cllr Chalmers stressed that it would be helpful to understand more about the Independent  Review of Community Learning and Development led by the Minister for Higher Education.and how this feeds into our aspirations for ESOL for new Scots.

•  (JH) informed the group that EVOC have set up a special ESOL strategic group to look at dissemination of funding and are mapping out the gaps within ESOL.
• (JH) stressed the importance of getting funding for the plan to reach our communities to ensure fair access instead of funding getting stuck at a national level.
•  Olha Maksymiak (OM) reminded the group that access to the employment market was not always related to the proficiency in the English language and that some people with high proficiency in English and with specific skills are not able to have their qualifications recognised.
• (OM) also highlighted that there was a need to improve communication between guests in host accommodation and some local authorities and there was a need for more sharing of good practice across local authorities.
•  (OM) also highlighted that some people displaced from Ukraine were experiencing very difficult issues with their mental health and needed more information on what support was available to them.
• (JH) highlighted that there needs to be a more consistent level of support for those that needed mental health services and support, mentioning that Edinburgh Council has funded Feniks a third sector organisation to support people displaced from Ukraine.

Action:  Cllr Chalmers suggested finding out more about the recent Independent Review of Community Learning and Development and how this feeds into our aspirations for ESOL for New Scots.

Cllr Chalmers thanked everyone for the contributions to the round table discussion. 

SRG governance/updates

Cllr Chalmers asked the group to note that Paul Wilson, Volunteer Edinburgh had left as a member of the group and offered her congratulations to Kateryna Campbell on her recent promotion to Branch Chair of AUGB Glasgow. 

Terms of reference: Frequency of meetings.

Cllr Chalmers proposed to reduce the meetings from quarterly to at least twice a year (6 monthly) with the opportunity to add in an extra meeting if it needed.

The group were asked to approve these changes in the terms of reference.

(JH) proposed one further meeting before reviewing the terms of reference.

(SZ) stressed the importance of efficiency and making the best use of everyone’s time and reflected on the number of meetings already taking place.

Cllr Chalmers proposed to have the next meeting in November and then move on to 6 monthly meetings as detailed in the revised terms of reference.  All agreed with this proposal.

Progress Report on the work of the Ukrainian Collective 

Anna Kulish, Ukraine Collective gave a brief update on a report prepared by the Ukrainian Collective which details the progress they have made over the last 20 months.

Anna thanked everyone for their support and Co-Chairs for having the opportunity to have this platform to raise the voices of Ukrainians with lived experience. The report will be available on 24 August (Ukraine Independence Day).

Cllr Chalmers thanked Anna for all the work the UC had done covering the key issues raised by displaced Ukrainians which have been really helpful - highlighting their input into the housing paper and the recent letter to UK government expressing concerns about the visa situation.

Date of next meeting and close

November 2024 with the focus of discussions to be decided by Co-Chairs.
Cllr Chalmers closed the meeting and thanked everyone for their attendance.