Housing for asylum seekers in Glasgow should be taken out of the hands of private companies and run by the public sector according to a city MSP.
Patrick Harvie, Scottish Greens MSP said that the standards of housing provided currently are not acceptable and called on the Scottish Government to intervene.
Private firm Serco has taken over the contract from Orchard and Shipman, another private firm responsible for sourcing and providing housing for asylum seekers in a contract with the Home Office .Ms Sturgeon said she was concerned about the standards but that it was a matter reserved to the UK Government and although she would like the Scottish Government to have control that was not the case.
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However when Mr Harvie suggested that there be a public sector bid to take over the running of the asylum housing contract Ms Sturgeon said she would instruct her Cabinet Secretary, Angela Constance to look into it.
Ms Harvie said: “We know that the Scottish public sector and Scottish non-governmental organisations and charities can provide them to a higher standard of dignity than is being provided at present.
“The UK Government is putting pressure on Scottish local authorities to expand the asylum seeker dispersal programme. That may well be a legitimate goal, but it has to be done in a decent way, involving negotiation and respect, with communities and local authorities.”
The First Minister shared his concern.
She said: “We have said before that we are deeply concerned about the continuing allegations about the standards of asylum seeker accommodation and about allegations of the mistreatment of asylum seekers.”
She added: “I am certainly happy, together with Angela Constance, to consider Patrick Harvie’s suggestion of a public sector bid and to consider whether that would be feasible. I am happy to engage further with him on that.
Orchard and Shipman has managed the contract worth more than £200m for housing asylum seekers in Scotland and Northern Ireland since 2012.
The biggest number of those dispersed around the country have been in Glasgow, the first local authority to take asylum seekers in Scotland.
That have been a number of allegations and incidents that have sparked anger among campaigners.
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Claims have been made of asylum seekers and their families locked out of their homes, leaving them homeless once the right to remain has not been granted.
Others have centred on the condition of flats used for housing.
The Scottish Refugee Council produced research showing multiple unrelated families housed in a single one bedroom flat and others in properties with no hot running water.
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