ethnic Chinese origin (71%) and has little proficiency in English even after several months intensive practice in reception centres (79% have no English, survival English or 'limited social proficiency and only 20% have 'minimal working proficiency' or better). The typical refugee is also unemployed (83%), and comes from unskilled or semi-skilled employment background (only 7% have employment backgrounds in Vietnam in the professional/managerial category and of those among them who have found jobs in the UK, 87% have had to accept work in a lower category).
82. In view of all this we believe that it is quite unrealistic to expect the Vietnamese community to support itself, even though the development of Vietnamese associations may in the long run (5-10 years minimum) provide a significant contribution towards certain aspects of the welfare of the community.
83. The three agencies have all made significant usé of volunteer support from within the host community. While this has been a vital factor in promoting the successful settlement of many Vietnamese families, it is clear from many sources again including Home Office research, that there are important limitations on what can be achieved. Local volunteer support groups tend to start out with enthusiasm, but lose heart if things go wrong or take longer than expected. The number of people remaining active in an area may drop to just one or two, and they are easily subject to 'compassion fatigue'. These problems are compounded if local volunteers do not themselves receive support and regular information from full-time agency staff. They need a forum in which to discuss problems, a feeling of belonging to a wider network of people dealing with similar problems, and they need to be able to call for professional help in a crisis. It has also to be recognised that in some areas where Vietnamese are suffering the most difficult adjustment problems, particularly in hard-to-let inner city housing estates, it has not been possible to establish volunteer support groups within a local community which is itself desperately deprived. In these areas agency staff provide services to the refugees..
84. We believe that community volunteer support can continue to make a significant contribution towards the settlement of the Vietnamese in many areas of the country, provided that it is supported and encouraged by a network of full-time agency staff.
85. The three agencies on the Joint Committee have always accepted that they would have a diminishing role in ensuring the satisfactory long-term settlement of the Vietnamese. Our report should have made clear, however, that the 16,000 Vietnamese refugees dispersed across the country are still in desperate need of the specialised support which, at the moment, only the agencies are providing. We urge that funds should be made available to continue support for a skeleton agency service during 1983/84 while efforts are redoubled to develop other forms of long-term funding and support. (We hope very much that something will come of recent contacts made by the agencies with the Association of Social Services Directors, the Manpower Services Commission, the Central Council for Education and Training in Social Work, the Institute of Librarianship, and other similar bodies, as well as with departments in individual local authorities).
86. The activities which the agencies have proposed they should continue to undertake in 1983/84 are set out in Appendix D. It is estimated that a minimum core staff of 60 full-time employees forming a network around the country will be necessary at a cost of £700,000. Full budgetary details of the proposal are being submitted separately.
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