Failure of 'confused' asylum scheme
A Government scheme to help failed asylum seekers return home resulted in just one family leaving the UK, it is reported.
The Children's Society said the scheme, which ran for less than a year, failed because of the Government's confused approach.
The charity's Lisa Nandy told BBC 5Live: "The project was mismanaged from start to finish. Unfortunately, when the UK Border Agency set the project up they had no clear objectives or evaluation criteria so they didn't know actually what it was they were trying to achieve."
The project in Kent was an attempt to reduce the numbers of children being locked up in immigration removal centres after their parent's asylum claims had failed.
A UK Border Agency spokesman said: "Keeping families out of detention remains a priority.
"We all believe that it is much better if those found by the courts not to need our protection go home of their own accord.
"We are committed to finding an alternative to detaining families wherever possible."
He told BBC News that a new project in Glasgow was "building on what we learnt from our experiences in Kent".
Share
