TNAG-1418-FCO40-1901-Hong-Kong-Parliamentary-Sub-Committee-on-Race-Relations-and--1985 — Page 36

THE HOME AFFAIRS COMMITTEE

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SEAT

6. The FCO should make resolution of Hong Kong's Vietnamese refugee ' problem a major priority in its dealings with foreign governments. (Para 40).

Part 2: The Vietnamese in BRITAIN

7. The MSC should amend its information systems so that they identify the Vietnamese as a separate group. (Para 59).

8. A joint working group consisting of Home Office, MSC and refugee agency representatives should be established to assess the type and scale of assistance needed in respect of training and employment and to press for it to be provided. (Para 60).

9. The MSC should expand its provision of skills-linked ESL courses sufficiently to meet the need for them amongst the Vietnamese, and ensure that these courses are of sufficient length to lead to employment or further training. (Para 61).

10. The MSC should considerably increase the number of places on residential skills-linked ESL courses for the Vietnamese. (Para 62).

11. The MSC should be permitted to relax its eligibility criteria in respect of the Vietnamese, particularly for YTS, and should ensure that the intended expansion of the Community Programme enables many more Vietnamese to find employ- ment. (Para 63).

12.

(i) The MSC should provide more business start-up courses with ESL

support in areas with substantial Vietnamese populations.

(ii) The DTI's Small Firms Service should compile a register of

interpreters who could be called upon to assist clients not fluent in English, and ensure that the availability of interpreters is made known within the ethnic minority communities. (Para 64).

13. The MSC should produce leaflets in both Cantonese and Vietnamese to explain to the Vietnamese the training and employment services available to them, whether MSC-provided or otherwise. (Para 65).

14. The DES should examine the problem of Vietnamese professionals unable to obtain grants for requalification, with a view to issuing instructions to local authorities or providing central funding on the modest scale necessary, in order that no Vietnamese needing professional requalification is prevented by lack of finance from obtaining it. (Para 66).

15. Section 11 of the Local Government Act 1966 should be amended to enable Section 11 assistance to the Vietnamese. (Para 74).

16. The Home Office should endorse the proposal to create the facilities which attract the Vietnamese in as many cities as possible, identify a number of cities for this purpose, and through its network of contacts make particular efforts to promote the provision of facilities in those cities. (Para 75).