Local authorities are ‘confident’ they will be able to fulfil the Government’s pledge to resettle 20,000 Syrian refugees by 2020.
Home Secretary Amber Rudd said at the weekend enough council places had been secured to resettle all the refugees arriving under the Syrian Vulnerable Persons Resettlement Scheme.
She said 2,800 Syrians had arrived by the end of June and had been settled in more than 100 council areas.
The home secretary also pledged an extra £10m to help the refugees learn English.
The chairman of the Local Government Association’s (LGA) asylum, refugee and migration task group, Cllr David Simmonds, responded that council chiefs had already said they were ‘confident’ in ensuring there were sufficient places to settle 20,000 people by 2020.
He said the focus ‘must now be on ensuring families are matched to the right placements and that they arrive safely and are well supported.’
‘Councils have an excellent track record in welcoming asylum seeking and refugee children and their families for many years and continue to work hard to support the Syrian resettlement scheme, alongside all the other schemes in current operation,’ Cllr Simmonds said.
‘They have no say over when people will be allowed to enter the UK, but stand ready to help when they do.’
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