PICTURED: Afghan refugees look out from hotel rooms in Manchester as 10,000 remain stuck in quarantine - but only a THIRD of councils in England offer to house the 13,000 needing homes after fleeing Taliban
- Ministers say around 15,000 Afghans have been evacuated in the last fortnight
- Around 8,300 refugees here under the Afghan Relocation and Assistance Policy
- Scheme is for those who have worked with Britain during Afghanistan conflict
- But today ministers admitted around 100 councils had so far come forward
A group of Afghan refugees locked in Covid quarantine after fleeing the Taliban have today been seen looking out the windows of their hotels, as outside a row brews over their future accommodation.
The refugees were today seen looking out from the windows of their rooms at the Raddison Park Inn hotel in Manchester city centre.
It is where some of the 15,000 refugees rescued by UK troops from the grips of the Taliban have been staying in quarantine since being evacuated from Afghanistan.
Ministers say around 10,000 refugees are currently in hotel quarantine - where they will have to stay for at least 10 days due to Afghanistan being on the UK's red list for travel.
Many of the refugees are due to be released from quarantine in the coming days, sparking ministers to launch a rapid search for temporary accommodation.
It comes as it was revealed that just a third of local councils have signed up to the Government's scheme to help resettle Afghan refugees.
As few as 100 councils - around a third of the 333 local authorities in England - have so far come forward to help families find homes under the Afghan Relocation and Assistance Policy (ARAP), officials say.
Around 8,300 are eligible under the Government's ARAP scheme - set up for Afghans who worked alongside the British Government and the British Army during the Afghanistan conflict.
Officials say they are working 'at speed' on ways to rehouse the thousands of Afghan refugees who have so far been evacuated.
The Government could even turn to using holiday parks for 'bridging accommodation' due to a shortage of available housing.
Ministers also faces a clash with council chiefs, who have raised concerns about the possible impact on their social housing stocks.
Some council bosses are asking the private sector to offer up accommodation as a way to avoid using their social housing stock to house refugees.
Victoria Atkins, the minister in charge of leading efforts to resettle Afghans refugees in the UK, said she remained 'confident' that more authorities would join the scheme.
But, speaking to LBC during a round of interviews this morning, Ms Atkins admitted more council houses needed to be built.
She said: 'We continue all of our work on social housing and affordable housing. We need to get more houses built.
'But we have to face facts, we have 10,000 people staying in quarantine hotels today.
'I've got to get them out of quarantine over the coming days into probably bridging accommodation, because, I've got to be frank, we haven't got the housing stock to put them straight into homes.'
Asked by host Nick Ferrari if Afghan refugees would be allowed to 'skip the housing list' over people who have been on 'waiting list for some years', she said: 'I don't think it's quite as clear cut as that.'
She later added: 'We've got to do this in a way that's fair to British people.'
Ms Atkins' comments came as:
- Dominic Raab today revealed he is heading to the Afghanistan region;
- He also told MPs Britain had believed it was 'unlikely' Kabul would fall to the Taliban this year;
- Meanwhile spy chiefs have begun discussions with the Taliban over safe passage for Brits and Afghans left behind after troops withdrew - amid claims 9,000 UK allies may be stranded;
- However a former MI6 boss warned the UK terror threat is now a 'notch greater' because of exit from Afghanistan;
- MP Tom Tugendhat also blasted the Taliban after they claimed foreigners will be allowed out of Afghanistan as it emerges MI6 discussed safe passage for Brits with the group;
- Meanwhile, it was reported that leaked emails revealed how UK embassy staff 'advised evacuees to go to site of blast despite warning threat was imminent'
A group of Afghan refugees locked in Covid quarantine after fleeing the Taliban have today been seen looking out the windows of their hotels, as outside a row brews on their future accommodation
The refugees were seen looking out from the windows of their rooms at the Raddison Park Inn hotel in Manchester city centre, where they have been staying in quarantine since being evacuated from red-list Afghanistan. Today ministers revealed that 10,000 refugees are currently in hotel quarantine - where they will have to stay for at least 10 days under the UK's strictest travel rules.
Many of the refugees are due to be released from quarantine in the coming days, sparking ministers to launch a rapid search for temporary accommodation
Around 15,000 Afghans have been evacuated from the country in the last fortnight following the Taliban 's takeover, say Government officials, of which around 8,300 are eligible under the Government's Afghan Relocation and Assistance Policy (ARAP)
Victoria Atkins, the minister in charge of leading efforts to resettle Afghans refugees in the UK, said was 'confident' that more authorities would join the scheme in the comings weeks.
During a round of interviews this morning, Ms Atkins also admitted only around a third of councils had currently offered their support to the ARAP scheme, echoing an early claim by Housing Secretary Robert Jenrick.
But she spoke of her confidence that more councils would soon sign up.
Speaking to BBC Radio 4's Today programme she said: 'We are a little bit further forward that those figures suggest, because we have had offers, firm offers, from at least a third of local councils and we are in talks with many many more.
'So I am confident that that number will change over the coming days.'
During her appearance on the programme it was suggested that if all councils signed up to the scheme the each council would take around 25 Afghan refugees.
Ms Atkins, who holds the role of Minister for Safeguarding, replied: 'Well this is a very strong argument in favour of all councils taking part.
'We want to bring people with us on this and we've set up already a portal to help members of the public if they are able to make offers of accommodation.
'We are going to be expanding that over the coming days so people can make donations. We want local councils to work with us.
She added: 'We've found local councils are overwhelmingly interested and supportive.'
But one authority already pulling its support of the Government's rehoming efforts is that of Stoke on Trent city council.
The council's Conservative leader, Abi Brown, said the area had offered support despite 'one in 250 people' in the city being an asylum seeker.
Today she questioned why more local authorities are not helping with Afghan evacuees.
She told Radio 4's Today Programme: 'How could you not watch those scenes on the television over the last few weeks and put forward over this?
'But the question I would like to ask the other local authority leaders, 66 per cent who haven't nominated is - why can't they?
'If I can, with the challenges that we have, one in 250 people in Stone on Trent are an asylum seeker, and as a result of the pressure around that we have withdrawn from the asylum dispersal system, what's their excuse?'
Meanwhile, it was reported that Pontins has offered to put up hundreds of Afghan refugees in temporary accommodation.
Ministers are said to be 'looking into' the offer, with two specific sites thought to be under consideration.
The Home Office today refused MailOnline's request for a list of local authorities who have already signed up to the ARAP scheme. It also refused to give a list of which councils had declined to take part in the scheme and which authorities it was currently in talks with to join the scheme.
It comes after the Telegraph reported last week that around 30 councils have refused to take any Afghan refugees who have arrived in the UK after fleeing the Taliban. The authorities were not named in the article.
Meanwhile, the Home Office today confirmed that Afghans who worked with the British government and military will be able to move to the UK permanently under the ARAP scheme.
The department announced the decision on Wednesday as it revealed more details of how its plan, dubbed Operation Warm Welcome, to help Afghans rebuild their lives in the UK would work.
Former Afghan staff and their family members eligible for the ARAP scheme, which prioritises relocation to the UK for current or former locally employed staff who have been assessed to be under serious threat to life, will be given immediate indefinite leave to remain as opposed to only five years' temporary residency as previously permitted.
Those who have already been relocated in the UK with temporary residency can now upgrade their immigration status for free, allowing them access to permanent jobs with unrestricted rights to work.
Separate to ARAP is the Afghan citizens resettlement scheme for citizens deemed most at risk under the Taliban.
It comes as the Home Office today confirmed that Afghans who worked with the British government and military will be able to move to the UK permanently under the ARAP scheme
Stoke on Trent City Council's Conservative leader, Abi Brown, said the area had offered support despite 'one in 250 people' in the city being an asylum seeker. She criticised other authorities for not doing the same
Ms Atkins said it is yet to be decided whether those individuals will get indefinite leave to remain.
'These decisions will be made in due course,' she told Sky News.
'But I very much hope from the announcements today British people, but also importantly Afghans who have moved to our country very recently, really get the sense of how warm and welcoming the Government wants to be towards them.'
So far councils across the country have already publicly announced their desire to support the Government's efforts to rehome Afghan refugees.
Around 70 refugees are already thought to have arrived in Derby, where the city council says it 'stands ready to help' those fleeing the Taliban.
In Nottingham, the council has also pledged support, though it has not revealed how many Afghan refugees it has already taken in, similar to nearby Leicester.
Southampton City Council last month also pledged to house rehouse a 'small number of families' and said it would offer 'further support if needed'.
And at least 27 of the 32 borough councils in London have so far said they would help support and resettle Afghan families, according to London Councils.
But other authorities, such as as Dorset Council, have publicly stated they will not be using social housing to support Afghan refugees.
The authority has pledged its support to rehoming Afghan refugees, but said it will instead look to the private sector for support.
It will be seeking privately owned, self-contained accommodation to house families.
Cllr Graham Carr-Jones, Dorset Council's portfolio holder for Housing and Community Safety said: 'I am acutely aware of the demand for emergency accommodation for local families on our housing register and in temporary accommodation.
'I want to reassure people in this situation that they will not be disadvantaged by the work we are doing to help the government resettle Afghan families.'
The Government is still developing the Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme, to take in up to 20,000 refugees who were forced to flee their home or face threats of persecution from the Taliban.
This, ministers say, is likely to include prominent female rights activists in Afghanistan, as well as politicians who have previously denounced the Taliban.
As many as 5,000 could arrive in the first year and will also be offered permanent residency. Some £200 million has been committed to the scheme so far.
Meanwhile, fears have been raised about the safety and conditions of the temporary accommodation some of the Afghan refugees are being kept in.
It comes after a coroner offered her 'heartfelt condolences' to the family of a five-year-old Afghan refugee who fell to his death from a hotel window onto the top of a multi-storey car park.
Mohammed Monib Majeedi, who enjoyed playing cops and robbers, was looking from his ninth floor room when he plunged to his death at 2.30pm last Wednesday at the Sheffield Metropolitan Hotel.
Mohammed Munib Majeedi (pictured) fell from the window of the Sheffield Metropolitan Hotel on August 18 after the boy's family had 'recently' been moved from Afghanistan
The boy had been staying with his mother Shekiba, father Omar Majeedi, two brothers and two sisters since arriving in the UK after fleeing the Taliban last month.
Assistant coroner Tanyka Rawden said in a five-minute inquest opening on August 24 that it had been a 'truly awful time' for the boy's family.
She adjourned the inquest until a further hearing on November 16 and no further details of the incident were given.
Last month that councils are set to get grants from the government to rent or buy large homes for thousands of Afghan refugees.
The average size of the families coming to the UK is thought to be seven, but at least one family is believed to be made up of 12 people.
So far local authorities have offered to host up to 2,500 people, but the numbers seeking refuge under the scheme for Afghans who helped British forces could reach five times that level.
Thousands more are expected to come to the UK under a separate longer-term resettlement scheme for those vulnerable to persecution by the Taliban.
Although the details are unclear, the suggestion of grants to buy homes could spark resentment in local communities, with many Britons struggling to afford such properties.
It comes amid fears more than 1,000 Afghans who assisted British troops face being left behind when mercy flights cease in the coming days.
A Government source told the Times: 'The greatest challenge is that councils simply don't have enough vacant properties.
'We are looking at other options which could see councils renting properties of the right size or even purchasing them and adding them to their long-term housing stock.'
Meanwhile, the government today insisted all Afghan refugees will undergo intensive security screening, including by MI6.
Immigration experts told MailOnline the vetting process would be similar to that undergone by all asylum seekers, including biometric checks to confirm the identity of the applicant.
Home Office statistics published last month showed that around half of asylum claims by Afghans over the 12 months to the end June 2021 were rejected, with some of the refusals being issued as the Taliban was taking control of Afghanistan.
Professor Thom Brooks, an immigration expert and Dean of Durham Law School, said: 'I would suspect that those flown back from Kabul airport may be known to UK authorities already which should expedite their applications.
'These are not individuals arriving at the border or making themselves known in the UK. This may make the security vetting somewhat easier, but I would expect the same vetting as normal.'
Dr Peter Walsh, a researcher at The Migration Observatory, Oxford University, said officials would carry out a combination of biographical research, biometric tests - such as fingerprinting - in addition to conducting interviews.
He expected checks for Afghan refugees would be conducted both at Kabul airport and after evacuees had arrived in the UK.
Explaining what Home Office officials look for when scrutinising asylum applications, he told MailOnline: 'Firstly, military service, and whether this could correspond with the commission of certain crimes.
'Secondly, whether they have been arrested or detained or have a criminal record.
A map showing where Afghan refugees have arrived in the UK after evacuation from Afghanistan - as of August 24
'Thirdly, has the person has been involved in the conflict they are fleeing from? If they are a combatant that may work against them, particularly if they've been on the wrong side.
'Another one is whether they have any links to extremism or terrorism. The government will have a list of political groups and parties that are associated with terrorism or extremism.'
Dr Walsh said the applicant's occupation would be checked.
'There are certain occupations that could be prejudicial to their transfer - it's not exactly clear what these might be, but you can imagine that certain military occupations or things like weapons manufacturing might be red flags.
'The final thing they will be looking at is travel history. As part of a screening interview they'll want to know where the individual has been and there may be certain areas that are identified with risk factors. Such as conflict areas.
'It is likely caseworkers would be issued guidance specific to the Afghan context.'
A Government spokesman said: 'There are people in Afghanistan who represent a serious threat to national security and public safety.
'That is why thorough checks are taking place by government, our world-class intelligence agencies and others.
'If someone is assessed as presenting as a risk to our country, we will take action.'
A welcome to make us proud: Relief as 10,000 Afghan heroes who risked their lives helping UK troops are given permission to live here indefinitely
By Jason Groves and David Williams for the Daily Mail
Thousands of Afghans who risked their lives to help British forces will be allowed to live and work indefinitely in the UK.
The Home Office last night said the coveted status would be granted immediately – and automatically – to around 10,000 refugees.
It will allow them to work and enrol their children in school as they try to build a new life here.
The decision fast-tracks a process that can take years and with only a limited right to remain.
Boris Johnson said the policy reflected the 'immense debt' owed to translators and others who had helped the UK military during the 20-year engagement.
Thousands of Afghans who risked their lives to help British forces will be allowed to live and work indefinitely in the UK. Pictured: Afghan refugees arrive at Heathrow Airport, London
The Home Office said the coveted status would be granted immediately – and automatically – to around 10,000 refugees. Pictured: Afghan refugees arriving into Heathrow last week
A Whitehall source said that the package, codenamed Operation Warm Welcome, was 'the least we could do' following the chaotic and bloody withdrawal from Afghanistan.
Ministers are still however under pressure to do more to help hundreds, and possibly thousands, of Afghans now in hiding from Taliban reprisals for helping British troops.
Its leaders have claimed they will not seek revenge but militants yesterday raided the homes of former translators in Kabul.
Former interpreters told the Mail they were living in fear for their lives after failing to secure a place among the 10,000 flown to Britain.
A 35-year-old who has qualified for relocation to the UK said: 'No one believes the Taliban's words of forgiveness. We helped the British kill and capture their men.
'We provided the intelligence to fight against them. We questioned their captured and injured – so it is simple that they will want revenge.'
Refugees from Afghanistan arrive on a evacuation flight at Heathrow Airport on August 26
Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab yesterday denied reports that more than 7,000 Afghans with links to UK forces had been left behind, but was unable to provide another figure.
He said the number of British citizens left in Afghanistan was in 'the low hundreds', following the evacuation of more than 15,000 people in the second half of August.
Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said around 300 Afghans granted refuge in the UK had been left behind, along with 700 relatives.
Normally, asylum seekers are banned from working while their claims are assessed. They are entitled to minimal financial support if they would 'otherwise be destitute'.
Permission to work may be granted only if their claim has not been processed within a year through no fault of their own.
If they are eventually granted leave to remain it is typically capped at five years.
Dominic Raab (pictured with Borish Johnson) denied reports that more than 7,000 Afghans with links to UK forces had been left behind but was unable to provide another figure
By contrast, those who have served British forces will immediately be granted indefinite leave to remain, which brings with it the right to work and the option to apply for British citizenship.
Those eligible under the Afghanistan Relocations and Assistance Policy will also be eligible for immediate access to NHS services.
Councils have been offered a modest £5million to help with housing. Officials said they were working with more than 100 town halls and had so far found accommodation for more than 2,000 people.
Councils will be given an extra £12million to provide additional school places for Afghan children and further funding will be provided to create 300 university places.
Arrivals from Afghanistan will also be offered the Covid vaccine and given access to a portal where members of the public will be able to share offers of work and housing and make donations.
A Whitehall source last night told the Mail the package was 'likely' to be extended to 20,000 Afghans expected to come under a wider resettlement scheme – but this has not been decided.
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