PRESS RELEASE: 2nd Nov. 2022: REFUGEES RAISE SAFEGUARDING AND HEALTH CONCERNS AT STOCKPORT HOTEL4/12/2022
 Rubbish piled in SERCO-run hotel RAPAR'S OPEN LETTER TO COUNCIL LEADER MARK HUNTER AND GREATER MANCHESTER MAYOR ANDY BURNHAM
Refugees living in a Serco managed hotel in Stockport have raised serious safeguarding and health concerns that remain unaddressed despite numerous complaints. RAPAR has written an open letter to Stockport council leader Mark Hunter, senior council officers and cabinet members, to draw their attention to the unsafe and unhygienic conditions at the hotel and the violation of people's rights. The letter has also been sent to Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham and the four Stockport MPs. The disclosure follows concerns about a similar Serco managed hotel in Manchester and recent hard-hitting criticism from the Chief Inspector of Prisons about escalating problems at the Manston short-term holding centre in Kent. "This is a UK wide issue," says RAPAR founder Dr Rhetta Moran. "Vulnerable people, for whom raising these concerns has involved great courage, have done so out of a real desire to improve things for everyone at the hotel." The hotel has had cases of scabies with residents living in permanent anxiety about acquiring it, and other skin complaints have been reported. Rubbish is left to pile up in stairwells and corridors and includes medical waste hazards. Residents say it is also a fire hazard but their suggestions about handling waste have been ignored. Transport help for essential hospital appointments has been refused, including for a child with mobility challenges. Requests for interpreters have not been followed up. Some children are not in school and this situation has not been helped by the withdrawal of school transport. Food quality is poor, unhygienic and frequently inedible. People with medical conditions are given inappropriate diets. Yet residents are banned from cooking in their rooms and the £8 per person they receive each week is not enough to cover take-outs. Children are able to leave the building without supervision, and there have been instances of non hotel residents entering the building and posing security risks. Serco staff walk into residents' rooms without permission and sometimes without knocking. There have been reports of Serco staff shouting at children, showing disrespect towards women, and ridiculing residents who have mental health issues. Complaints about these violations have been made to Migrant Help, which Serco and the Home Office say is the correct procedure, but nothing has been done. Serco manages the hotel on behalf of the Home Office. Along with similar hotels throughout the UK, it is meant to be temporary accommodation while people wait for their asylum claims to be processed. But families and individuals often end up living there for long periods of time so Safeguarding and Education are the responsibility of the local authority which covers the location of the hotels. Dr Moran adds: "Calls are mounting for the removal of the latest Home Secretary. She is the Government representative with ultimate responsibility for the safeguarding of so many people who are being 'looked after' by the State, including the people seeking asylum in the UK's processing and detention centres, dispersal hotels and houses in the communities. "Racists love her language. It dehumanises, stokes scapegoat fires, and tries to distract our attention away from the real 'invasion' - by multinational capital. It isn't the 'refugees' or the cost of 'living' that is creating our current crisis, including the gross hotel conditions described by our members. It is the cost of 'corporate greed' that is embodied in organisations like Serco." For more information, see the RAPAR updates section of the website. Or contact Dr Rhetta Moran 07776 264646 Kath Grant 07865 713474 RAPAR sends Open Letter to the City Solicitor asking for immediate action
Manchester-based Human Rights Charity RAPAR has written to Manchester City Council’s chief legal officer about conditions at a hotel housing refugees which is managed by Serco on behalf of the Home Office. People living in the hotel desperately need to speak about their fears and anxieties - but there is no safe whistleblowing mechanism in place that allows them to do this. In an Open Letter to City Solicitor Fiona Ledden, RAPAR spokesperson Dr Rhetta Moran says that, over the last four months, a number of people have been slowly sharing disturbing information about serious safeguarding issues. RAPAR acknowledges that the Home Office is responsible for the contract they have with Serco, and for the agreement Serco has with the hotel for accommodation and provision of food. “We have tried to work through formal structures to address ongoing human rights issues but it seems to us that Manchester City Council is hiding behind the contractual relationship the Home Office has with Serco to avoid acting on genuine adult and child safeguarding concerns,” Dr Moran adds. In the Open Letter to Ms Ledden, copied to senior health officials and council staff - including council leader Bev Craig - Dr Moran says RAPAR has consistently raised concerns with the City Council as the relevant body with statutory responsibilities for the hotel residents. In March, lack of action by the Council led RAPAR to publicise the fact that children at the hotel were being denied their right to education. Refugee pupils with no school places have lessons in Manchester car parks (guardian) “Despite this and, as far as we are aware, there is still no systematic mechanism to ensure that this violation of children’s rights ceases for good,” Dr Moran adds. Since then, people at the hotel have told RAPAR they are worried about:
Earlier this month, Dr Moran attended a meeting about the hotel with two senior city council officers and a representative from another third sector organisation. She was unable to discover who from Manchester City Council has named, statutory responsibility for ensuring the fundamental safeguarding of residents at the hotel. RAPAR knows that OHID (Office for Health Improvement and Disparities) is fully aware of the problems at this particular hotel and others managed by Serco across the North West and would like to know what they are doing about this public health matter. At the meeting, the absence of a transparent, secure and accountable mechanism for reporting safeguarding issues prevented Dr Moran from sharing any primary evidence from RAPAR members who live at the hotel. “The residents are extremely vulnerable and they want to whistle blow about these safeguarding issues but they must have a secure mechanism to do so.” On behalf of RAPAR, Dr Moran has previously sent a letter asking for a meeting with the Local Authority and Health officials to agree a mechanism for joint working. This could then be presented to the Home Office, Serco, the hotel chain management and Go To Doc which has recently replaced the local GP practice at the hotel. There was no response to this letter and it was this failure to respond that prompted the Open Letter to the City Solicitor from RAPAR. |