Blunkett announces shake-up of asylum system

Civil liberties groups reacted angrily last night to Government plans to send thousands of refugees to reception centres, including former army camps.

David Blunkett will today announce a radical shake-up of the asylum system including the phasing out of food and clothing vouchers which the Government believes have stigmatised refugees.

The dismantling of the voucher scheme is likely to be welcomed by refugee groups. But the decision to remove asylum seekers from the community and house them in special centres will be greeted with dismay by some human rights organisations.

The open centres, which may include disused holiday camps or military barracks, will enable the Government to process applications more quickly. Secure detention centres, similar to the Oakington secure unit in Cambridgeshire, are to be built around the country for refugees at risk of absconding or due to be thrown out of Britain.

The Home Secretary wants to end the practice of housing asylum seekers in prisons while their cases are being assessed.

Refugees whose claims are rejected by the Home Office will experience a tightening of the rules so that they cannot continue to challenge the decision in the courts.

David Blunkett will today end the policy of dispersing refugees to council estates around the country, which has led to tensions in some communities. The dispersal system, set up to alleviate pressure on London and the south-east, was blamed for the killing of a Kurdish refugee in Glasgow earlier this year.

Food and clothing vouchers are to be "phased out" after a comprehensive review which found they were more expensive than giving refugees cash for essential items, and were subject to fraud.

The new asylum reception centres are expected to provide food and clothing for refugees, and access to legal support and health care. Some refugee groups said the creation of residential asylum centres was a "last resort" answer to resolving the chaos in the system.

Refugees will have the opportunity to come and go but they will have to account to the authorities for their whereabouts if they plan to visit friends and relatives who do not live in their residence.

The human rights organisation, Liberty, said the scheme was being introduced only because of Home Office failures.

The campaign organisation said refugees should not be segregated from the rest of society because of the breakdown of the system.

Mark Littlewood, the campaigns director for Liberty, said: "The concern is that even if they are described as anodyne reception centres we are setting up a system that undermines the civil liberties of these individuals. We should be proud of our Liberal welcoming tradition towards refugees in this country. Housing people in reception centres rather than the community can have a severe debilitating effect on people."

Mr Blunkett also plans to outline proposals to open up legal immigration to refugees with qualifications in sectors where there are skills shortages, such as medicine, nursing and veterinary medicine.

The move, an acknowledgement that many refugees are in fact economic migrants, will allow those who are certain to be refused asylum another opportunity to enter the UK.

The Government has drawn up a list of jobs where there are skills shortages which refugees would qualify for in an American style "green card" system.

* Six Roma people from the Czech Republic are to sue Mr Blunkett, in London's High Court over Britain's "racist" immigration policies. The legal action is being brought after British immigration officers who were stationed at Prague airport refused the six Roma people permission to board flights for England even though they had valid tickets.

Leading article, Review, page 3