To approve the procurement of orientation and support services for Syrian refugees settling in Herefordshire.

Cabinet received a report on the procurement of orientation and support services for Syrian refugees settling in Herefordshire.  The joint commissioning manager presented the report and made the following points:

It had been confirmed that 60 refugees (approximately 18 families), would be accepted gradually from September 2016.  The profile of the expected refugee population was determined by the nature of the government’s Vulnerable Persons Re-settlement programme. People will be brought directly from camps and settlements around the Syrian borders and will meet at least one of the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR)’s seven vulnerability criteria. They would all come in family groups and children would be around half of the cohort. Approximately 20% or 12 refugees were likely to have complex needs in relation to health, social care or education.

The contracted service would be funded through monies allocated to local authorities on a per capita basis for each refugee in order to support them for the first two years. This funding would also be used to meet other costs including interpretation and translation, transport and any net costs of providing housing to refugees. It was one part of a package of financial support from government which also included support for NHS services and education of refugee children. It was expected that refugee families’ specialist and particular needs would largely be met within the initial two year period.

In reply to questions from cabinet members and members in attendance, the following points were made:

·         That it was likely that government would ask local authorities for additional pledges to take refugees in later years.

·         That funding per head to councils for general support tapered off from £5k to £1k by year five. 

·         That schools would receive funding for refugee pupils whenever they arrived on roll, but that they would only receive the additional £4.5k for one year.

·         That the approach being adopted built upon the experience in this area already gained in Birmingham and Coventry.

·         That the council had five Arabic speaking interpreters to hand, one of whom was a Syrian national.  There were a number of Arabic speakers in the city, and there was a campaign in hand to encourage these people to become involved as volunteers in the day to day issues that the refugees would have.  Sensitive areas would be dealt with by professional interpreters.

·         That the voluntary sector was playing its part, and campaign groups in Ross, Ledbury and Leominster had arranged to collect donations of clothes and domestic goods.

·         That the council was confident of receiving a number of bids in response to its tendering exercise.  Contingency plans were being worked up across all areas of the programme, including for a delay in being able to award a contract for the support service.

Resolved:

That:

a)     the  commissioning of an orientation and support service for Syrian refugees by way of an open competitive procurement process be approved; and

b)     authority be delegated to the director for adults and wellbeing to award a contract for the provision of the orientation and support service at the conclusion of a tender evaluation process, for a period of two years and for a total value not exceeding £540,000