FOI/202600519685 · FOI · unclear
Homes for Ukraine Super Sponsor Scheme queries: FOI release
Information requested
1. Immediate reopening of the Super Sponsor Scheme for new applications. No alternatives, no further reviews, no closures. Honour the route you created. The Homes for Ukraine infrastructure exists; you simply need to resume listing the Scottish Government as a sponsor.
2. Full official explanation why the three-month review promised for October 2022 was never completed. Provide all minutes, cabinet submissions, and correspondence from July to December 2022 relating to that commitment.
3. Explain why you buried the programme. Publish the decision, date, and minister responsible for abandoning the scheme after the 2023 review, which set seven criteria for reopening. Show evidence for each criterion.
4. Disclose the financial truth. Confirm from which portfolio the original £60 million for temporary accommodation was diverted in 2022, and state the current annual Scottish Government spend on Ukrainians in welcome accommodation now that the UK tariff has been cut by 75%.
5. Stop hiding behind reserved matters. Confirm in writing that the Scottish Government accepts it has full legal capacity to act as a super sponsor under the existing Homes for Ukraine Scheme, as it did in 2022.
Response
1. Immediate reopening of the Super Sponsor Scheme for new applications. No alternatives, no further reviews, no closures. Honour the route you created. The Homes for Ukraine infrastructure exists; you simply need to resume listing the Scottish Government as a sponsor.
Since the war against Ukraine began over 29,000 people sponsored by an individual in Scotland or the Scottish Government have arrived in the UK, and over 21,000 of these arrivals have been through the Scottish Government’s Super Sponsor Scheme.
To date, £390 million of funding in relation to Ukraine Resettlement, from which the majority has been for the provision of welcome accommodation has been invested.
Findings from the review of the scheme highlights the need for sustainability and consideration of the impact on public services. The details below set out the criteria necessary in consideration of reopening the super-sponsor scheme.
Some of the information you have requested has been published and is available from:
Scotland's support for displaced people from Ukraine: Super Sponsor Scheme review - gov.scot Scotland’s humanitarian response to the Ukraine crisis: Ministerial statement - gov.scot
Under section 25(1) of FOISA, we do not have to give you information which is already reasonably accessible to you. If, however, you do not have internet access to obtain this information from the website(s) listed, then please contact me again and I will send you a paper copy.
2. Full official explanation why the three-month review promised for October 2022 was never completed. Provide all minutes, cabinet submissions, and correspondence from July to December 2022 relating to that commitment.
While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the Scottish Government does not have the information you have requested as the review was completed and published at Scotland's support for displaced people from Ukraine: Super Sponsor Scheme review - gov.scot on 1 November 2022.
3. Explain why you buried the programme. Publish the decision, date, and minister responsible for abandoning the scheme after the 2023 review, which set seven criteria for reopening. Show evidence for each criterion.
The Super Sponsor Scheme remains paused. Review of the Super Sponsor Scheme focused on sustainability and longer-term accommodation, and to develop a set of criteria against which any plan to lift the pause on the Scheme could be objectively assessed. Assessment of the pause on the Scheme against these criteria was conducted by officials in March 2023, June 2023 and then on a 6 monthly review thereafter. Further to the information published within the links provided in requests 1 and 2, additional information on review to pause Super Sponsor Scheme can be found at links below and documents attached.
scottish-super-sponsor-scheme.pdf Minister for Community Safety and Legal Affairs.dot
4. Disclose the financial truth. Confirm from which portfolio the original £60 million for temporary accommodation was diverted in 2022, and state the current annual Scottish Government spend on Ukrainians in welcome accommodation now that the UK tariff has been cut by 75%.
The annual published Budget Bill sets out details of the Scottish Government’s spending plans for the upcoming financial year. Once the Budget Act has been approved by the Scottish Parliament, there are usually two opportunities to amend the budget as the year progresses - the Autumn Budget Revision and the Spring Budget Revision. These revision windows, the details of which are also published after being concluded, detail amendments made to better align the Government’s budget with its planned spending profile as changes emerge through the financial year. These amendments can include transfers between Scottish Government portfolios and transfers from UK Government. Below are details of the Spring Budget revisions relating to the financial year 2022/23.
Spring Budget Revision 2022-23: Supporting Document
Further information on how budgets are set and allocated for the Scottish Government can be found at Setting the Scottish Budget - Government finance - gov.scot
5. Stop hiding behind reserved matters. Confirm in writing that the Scottish Government accepts it has full legal capacity to act as a super sponsor under the existing Homes for Ukraine Scheme, as it did in 2022.
Scotland has a long history of welcoming people of all nationalities and faiths - including those seeking refuge and asylum from war and persecution - and supporting their integration into our communities. Immigration is a reserved matter for UK Government, the changes to the Homes for Ukraine sponsor guidance do not impact the ability of the Scottish Government to act as a sponsor but should the Scottish Government wish to re-open the super sponsor route approval of the UK Home Secretary would be required.
About FOI
The Scottish Government is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. View all FOI responses at https://www.gov.scot/foi-responses.
Contact Please quote the FOI reference Central Correspondence Unit Email: contactus@gov.scot Phone: 0300 244 4000 The Scottish Government St Andrew's House Regent Road Edinburgh EH1 3DG
Detected exemption language
Some of the information you have requested has been published and is available from: Scotland's support for displaced people from Ukraine: Super Sponsor Scheme review - gov.scot Scotland’s humanitarian response to the Ukraine crisis: Ministerial statement - gov.scot Under section 25(1) of FOISA, we do not have to give you information which is already reasonably accessible to you.
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