મ
ir Crowley
HOME OFFICE
QUEEN ANNE'S GATE
LONDON SWILLOAT
14 August 1979
591
TH Caulcott Esc
Association of Metropolitan Authorities
36 Old Queen Street
LONDON
SWIH 9JE
Dear Cantot.
As you will be aware, my letters of 24 January and 18 June about the reception arrangements for Vietnamese refugees and their subsequent resettlement have to some extent been overtaken by events. The general pattern of the arrangements for the reception and resettlement of these refugees described in those letters remains broadly the same. The government's decision, announced last month, to admit an additional 10,000 Vietnamese refugees, however, changes the scale of the operation very substantially. We are accordingly giving urgent attention to what improvements may be needed in the arrangements to ensure that they are as effective as possible,
We recognise that the role of the local authorities in this exercise will be crucial. The contribution they have alreedy made has been considerable and we have no doubt that they will wish to continue to do all they can to resist in the satisfactory completion of this humanitariaa programme,
No firm decisions have yet been reached about the timetable for the adnicsion of the Vietnamese refugees the United Kingdom has now agreed to accept.
A selection team is at present in Hong Kong and the intention is that the next groups should start oriving during the auburn at the rate of about 500 a month. The programme after Christmas remains to be worked out. It will largely be influenced by the amount of reception accomodation that can be made available, the amount of accommodation that can be found for permantab resettlement and the speed with which the latter can be made available.
**
One of the primary purposes of my earlier letters was to appeal to local authorities to make housing available for refugees for long-term settlement, It will be apparent that the need for this is now very much greater than it vas previously. It is also clear that the greatly enlarged scale of the operation makes it imperative that adequate administrative arrangemonts for co-ordinating should be introduced so that the timing and scale of the need for accommodation and other related matters can be conveyed to local authorities and their response can be handled most effectively.
We are exploring with the voluntary organisations how they can introduce stronger and more centralised co-ordination arrangements capable of handling the administration of a programme of this scale, includ.ng planning the finesable for the reception of the refugees covered by the UK's undertakings. Kne sort of topics that will need to be covered, in addition in the availability of housing for long-term resettlement und the allocation of this to individană
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