Council aims to end Dungavel controversy by housing failed asylum families

A PILOT scheme aimed at ending the detention of children at a controversial immigration centre could be up and running by the start of the new year, it was revealed today.

Under the £150,000 project, failed asylum seekers awaiting deportation would be housed in former council houses in Glasgow before being sent back to their country of origin.

It is designed to end the incarceration of youngsters at the Dungavel facility in Lanarkshire.

Announcing the scheme, new Scottish Secretary Jim Murphy told BBC Radio Scotland: "This is a trial based on the concerns raised in particular by churches in Scotland.

"As Secretary of State for Scotland – I've only been in the job a couple of weeks – one of the first things I did was to see whether we can bring this process forward.

"I would hope to be able for it to be actually launched at the start of the new year."

Dungavel has been a constant target of criticism from politicians, pro-asylum activists and church leaders since it opened in 2001.

The pilot project would see families having access to basic amenities, including a washing machine, fridge and furniture, until they are repatriated.

Mr Murphy, who described the issues surrounding Dungavel as "very emotional", explained the thinking behind the scheme.

Speaking on Good Morning Scotland, he said: "I want to see if we can do something that is sensible, but also sensitive, that looks after the children.

"The truth is that no politician of any party would ever like to see families being put behind the barbed wire in Dungavel."

He went on: "The worry in the past has been that if they weren't behind barbed wire and walls at Dungavel then they abscond.

"Now, on a pilot basis, we're trying to do it differently."

The move follows negotiations with the UK Border Agency and Glasgow City Council.

Mr Murphy said the families involved would be vetted carefully to assess the threat of them absconding.

"The intention is to prepare families for returning to the country which they came from on a voluntary basis," he said.

"I think most fair-minded people in Scotland would say that where there's a genuine threat of them absconding, then living in a flat in Glasgow isn't the right solution.

"But what we've got to do is look at the families, particularly those with younger children, and to see whether we can keep the families together in a home in a supervised way and prepare them for going home."