LGA responds to Home Affairs Select Committee Report on Migration

Responding to the Home Affairs Select Committee Report on Migration that suggests councils need to do more to support Syrian refugee families, Cllr David Simmonds, Chairman of the Local Government Association's Asylum, Refugee and Migration Task Group, said: "This report is out of date. We are confident that there will be sufficient places that will support the Government's pledge to resettle 20,000 people by 2020 and 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. They have no say over when people will be allowed to enter the UK, but stand ready to help when they do.