28 November 2003
Local authorities, refugee groups and social workers have condemned controversial plans put forward by the government in this year's Queen's Speech to take the children of failed asylum seekers into care.
Under the proposals, outlined at the state opening of Parliament on November 26, asylum seekers whose applications have been rejected would be offered free passage back to their home country.
If they refused, they would be stripped of their benefits, deportation proceedings would begin and their children would be placed in the care of social services departments.
The proposed asylum and immigration Bill will also introduce a single-tier system of appeals to cut the number brought by failed applicants.
Jane Held, chair of the children and families committee of the Association of Directors of Social Services, told Public Finance the policy was 'distasteful' and 'fundamentally misconceived'.
She also warned it would have a deeply damaging effect on staff morale and already overstretched departmental budgets. She said: 'Being used as a punishment agency is not comfortable, and we do not have the budgets, the foster carers or the staff to do it.'
The Local Government Association denounced the plans as 'draconian'. Alison King, chair of the LGA's social services committee, said they undermined all the efforts of social workers to help families.
'Using children as pawns in this way is unthinkable and those responsible for children's welfare in local government cannot accept it.'
Maeve Sherlock, chief executive of the Refugee Council, said the main problem with the asylum system was the low standard of decision-making on applications, which led to large numbers of successful appeals. She said: 'Refugees who have fled torture and persecution would be penalised by this legislation.'
Local authorities will be called upon to implement a range of other measures included in the Queen's Speech, which included 23 Bills and seven draft Bills.
A child protection Bill will create a children's commissioner and merge education and children's social services departments.
A traffic management Bill will give councils new powers to tackle gridlock in their areas, and will allow the government to impose 'traffic directors' on those deemed to have failed to address the problem.
A housing Bill allowing councils to license private landlords, ensuring adequate standards of accommodation, should give greater protection to tenants.
A fire and rescue services Bill will scrap national standards of cover and replace them with locally determined risk assessments.
But LGA chair Sir Jeremy Beecham said some proposals revealed ministers' reluctance to trust local politicians with implementation.
'Too often this government and its predecessors have reverted to a tendency to create new structures, regulators, bureaucrats and imposed plans, when simpler solutions would be more effective,' he said.
'The government risks creating a gridlock of structures and bureaucrats and confusing lines of accountability. Councillors are elected as champions of local communities and are best placed to make effective decisions.'
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