Hansard

It has now been eight weeks since Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine began. That dreadful act of aggression has triggered the biggest displacement of people in Europe since world war two within Ukraine and across Europe. The International Organization for Migration estimates that more than 7.1 million people have been internally displaced. Almost 5 million people fled Ukraine between 24 February and 18 April this year according to the United Nations refugee agency.

Each day, we see and hear increasingly grim reports of war crimes, including sexual violence. The bravery and resilience of the people of Ukraine in conflict and resistance is remarkable. We also see the fundamental importance of the role played by the free media and human rights organisations in exposing atrocities. That should be contrasted with the disinformation and denials issued by the Russian state and media in the face of convincing, mounting evidence.

Since the invasion, Putin’s regime has rightly been isolated by the international community. In early March, the UN General Assembly voted overwhelmingly for a resolution demanding that Russia immediately end its military operations in Ukraine. Earlier this month, the UN Human Rights Council voted to suspend Russia’s membership of that body.

Scotland has played a part in that global response. Many Scottish exporters have done the right thing and severed links with Russia, for which I am grateful. We call upon others to do the same where it is safe to do so. We have withdrawn enterprise agencies’ support for exports to Russia and produced guidance for public bodies on how to reject bids to procure a contract for goods or services from firms that are established in Russia or Belarus.

There has also been a huge effort to ensure that humanitarian aid reaches Ukraine. The Scottish Government has committed £4 million in humanitarian assistance: £1 million to the British Red Cross and the Scottish Catholic International Aid Fund, which are both members of our standing humanitarian emergency panel; £2 million via the Disasters Emergency Committee appeal; and £1 million to UNICEF to support work providing life-saving services and support families, including children with disabilities.

I am also grateful to people across Scotland for their incredible community fundraising efforts to support people in Ukraine or to prepare for their arrival here. The generosity has been truly inspiring. We have also taken significant steps to establish a warm Scots welcome.

The whole chamber will want to join me in recognising, again, the generosity demonstrated by the people of Scotland and the United Kingdom. In their tens of thousands, people have offered to open their homes to Ukrainians. The speed and scale of that response has been remarkable. Unfortunately, the speed and scale of bureaucracy from the Home Office has been predictable.

Given the UK Government’s regrettable decision to insist that people escaping war had to secure a visa to enter the UK, trying to cut out some of the other barriers was one of the key reasons for our supersponsor approach. However, until recently, the key blocker has been not only the requirement for displaced Ukrainians to have a visa to enter the UK but the on-going and serious issues around the speed with which visas and permission to travel are issued to applicants. We have consistently pursued that issue with UK Government ministers in meetings and in correspondence. Initial changes have now been made, but we are aware that delays are still occurring for a range of applicants across the various schemes.

The latest information that has been shared by the UK Government shows that 31,400 Ukraine family visas have been granted, with 13,200 people arriving in the UK. For the homes for Ukraine scheme, 25,100 visas have been issued at UK level, of which 570 visas have been issued naming the Scottish Government as the supersponsor and 1,050 have been issued naming a Scotland-based private sponsor. Across the UK, of the 25,100 sponsorship visa holders, 3,200 people have arrived so far, and we assume that more will begin to arrive in the coming days and weeks. However, at present, numbers of arrivals to Scotland remain low. We will continue to closely monitor that.

To further alleviate issues with the process, the UK Government should immediately implement automatic status updating for applications that are outstanding for more than five days and an escalation process for applications that are outstanding for more than a week. It also needs to commit greater resource to visa processing and helplines for updates. One of the greatest frustrations that has been reported to me and, I am sure, to colleagues, has been the total lack of information available to applicants or people here who are seeking to support them.

For those people who choose to come to Scotland and secure a visa, the welcome that they receive will be a warm one. I commend the approach of the councils, health boards, local chambers of commerce, third sector organisations and community groups that continue to work with the Scottish Government to make sure that that is the case. Last week, I visited the Edinburgh welcome hub and was able to pass on my thanks to the City of Edinburgh Council, Edinburgh airport, private partners and the staff of hotel accommodation who have been key in preparing and delivering that initial welcome.

The welcome hub model, which is currently focused in Edinburgh, at Glasgow airport and in Dumfries and Galloway, provides vital initial support and an opportunity to begin to assess needs such as health, education, employment and translation services. It is important that the hubs offer a safe space and a place where people arriving under the supersponsor scheme can rest their heads and eat a warm meal as we work hard to secure longer-term accommodation options for them in Scotland.

The hub model is local authority led with local partners who are best placed to determine the right level of support and the right structures to meet the immediate needs of Ukrainian arrivals. Although local authorities are firmly in the lead, the Scottish Government is supporting them in establishing their response, and other partners, including third sector and community groups across Scotland, are playing a key role in ensuring that the warm Scottish welcome is in place.

We have made a number of changes, at speed, to be ready to welcome people, despite the delays in getting people here. We have passed emergency regulations to allow specified groups coming to Scotland from Ukraine to access social security benefits from day 1. We have made changes so that, from 1 April, householders who accommodate a Ukrainian refugee will not lose their council tax single person discount.

Subject to parliamentary approval, displaced Ukrainian students settling in Scotland will be given access to free tuition and living costs support. Legislation has also been laid to put in place a safe, fast and free vetting system for those who open their homes to displaced Ukrainians. Enhanced disclosure checks will ensure an adequate level of vetting to minimise the risk of placing displaced Ukrainians with unsuitable individuals, while also allowing for the homes for Ukraine scheme to achieve its aims.

With operational partners, we have produced bespoke public protection guidance to ensure that displaced people of all ages receive the necessary care and support and any required protection. That guidance makes clear our preferred approach to identifying, supporting and maximising safety, the principles that should be applied and how that can be achieved within the existing safeguarding and child or adult protection legal frameworks. That will be an iterative document and will be updated with time.

We have also produced initial guidance for local authorities on the supersponsor and homes for Ukraine routes, which includes information on the quality assurance of accommodation, and we have published an information document that will be updated as necessary—I sent a link to that document to every MSP on Thursday. That is in addition to the information that is available on the Ready Scotland website. Support and information are also available through the NHS National Services Scotland’s national contact centre helpline and on the mygov.scot website.

The UK Government has indicated that it will provide a £10,500-per-person tariff to the Scottish Government for those arriving through the supersponsor arrangements. However, it is confusing and illogical that public funding is only attached to certain visa routes and not others. There remains uncertainty about whether those who arrive on the Ukraine family scheme will attract the same tariff. I made it clear to the UK Government, in tandem with my Welsh counterpart Jane Hutt, that there will be revenue implications for local authorities regardless of the type of visa that is held by someone from Ukraine. The Scottish Government has committed significant additional funds to local authority partners, over and above the UK Government tariff, to assist their preparations.

The newly announced Ukraine extension scheme goes some way to help existing Ukrainian residents in Scotland. The scheme will provide reassurance to many Ukrainians in Scotland, including seasonal workers, but others will be left out. Ukrainian seasonal agricultural workers play a vital role in soft fruit and vegetable production. As a result of the conflict, a range of issues are likely to be of concern to them, and it is essential that they receive support to navigate those. The Scottish Government has therefore committed £41,000 to fund a worker support centre to provide an enhanced package of advice and practical support to Ukrainian seasonal horticultural workers.

The UK Government should provide a firm commitment that all individuals from Ukraine without the correct immigration status should be supported to secure that status. The Home Office needs to deliver support to finalise displaced Ukrainians’ three-year visas, which should include ensuring that biometrics can be taken locally, timeously and without charge, with appropriate signposting to immigration advice.

All those who flee conflict and seek refuge, wherever they are from—Ukraine, Afghanistan, Syria or elsewhere—should get the care, compassion and sanctuary to which they are entitled. It is not their fault that the UK Government took a decision not to establish a separate resettlement scheme for people who are displaced by the conflict in the Ukraine, but rather to build on the existing immigration system. That has resulted in a complicated range of different visa routes for individuals, which risks causing confusion for people who are seeking refuge as well as for service providers. The immigration system is clearly in need of urgent reform—it does not work for people or for Scotland.

The war in Ukraine shows little sign of abating. We will work for as long as is necessary to ensure that everyone and anyone who comes to Scotland seeking sanctuary receives a warm welcome and the care and support to which they are entitled. Scotland has a proud record of helping those in need. The fact that all 32 local authorities in Scotland participated in the Syrian programme and welcomed more than 3,300 refugees into their communities is testament to that.

As set out in the new Scots refugee integration strategy, we have a tried and tested approach to integrating refugees into our communities, schools and workplaces. Nonetheless, we will continue to seek to improve our approach where we can. We are learning all the time, and will learn more over the coming weeks. We will continue to highlight and address bureaucratic barriers and call for further improvements from the UK Government where necessary. I encourage all colleagues across the chamber to continue to engage positively with that work, highlighting issues to me and recognising that we all share the same goal, which is to help the people of Ukraine.

As with other groups who have come to Scotland, we know that the Ukrainians who come here will make a valuable contribution to communities the length and breadth of the country. They are welcome and will have a home here for as long as they need it.