ASYLUM seekers in Scotland may soon be granted free bus travel after MSPs backed proposals to improve the lives of those within the asylum system.
’s Equalities, Human Rights and Civil Justice Committee called on the Scottish Parliament to sanction concessionary bus travel after hearing evidence about the tough choices many asylum seekers are faced with.
"But I was in a hotel. Some people think that it's kind of cool to be living in a hotel, like it's a luxury.While immigration and employment law is currently reserved to the UK Government, MSPs said they would endeavour to use what powers they do have to help asylum seekers. The committee urged the Scottish Government to implement its rollout by the end of the parliamentary session and noted that language learning and interpretation services could also be improved.In June, it was revealed that more than 600 asylum seekers were living in hotels in the country.While councils told MSPs that there were no unaccompanied children living in Scottish hotels evidence from the charity JustRight Scotland appeared to contradict this.
A UK government spokesperson said:"A recent High Court judgment upheld that local authorities have a statutory duty to care for unaccompanied asylum-seeking children.We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
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