AC
27
15.UK ASSISTANCE TO DOMESTIC REFUGEE ORGANISATIONS
(a)
1.
Assistance to voluntary refugee organisations
Assistance to the voluntary refugee organisations by the Home Office during 1978/79 amounted to £343,000. During 1979/80,
this assistance will have to cover not only the commitments inherited from the previous year but also the costs of receiving the refugees from the Sibonga and Roach Bank and the balance of the quota. A precise estimate of these extra costs is not yet available, but total expenditure for the year could be of the order of £2 million (an element of this will be central Government expenditure incurred in making ready the reception centres at Sopley and Moreton Hall, Lincolnshire).
2.
The cost of receiving significant additional groups of refugees depends on whether their numbers, and the phasing of their arrival, requires new camps to be opened from scratch (as opposed to taking over a going concern such as an existing teachers' training college). If the refugees could be received in existing accommodation, the cost of assistance to the voluntary bodies for dealing with (say) 1,000 refugees in the course of a year could, on past experience, be of the
order of £0.5million but this can only be a rough estimate. The
figure could more than double if expenditure is incurred on new
camps.
This estimate is exclusive of social security payments (which could be of the order of £.5-.6 million for 1,000 refugees in a full year).
(b) Local authorities
3.
Local authorities in whose areas the latest refugees from the Sibonga and the Roach Bank are being received will be asking the
Government for assistance towards extra costs incurred by them on
education and social services etc. It is not yet know what these will
amount to.