Current status: Answered by Shona Robison on 6 August 2021
To ask the Scottish Government what action its officials can take to ensure the safety and wellbeing of residents at the Glasgow mother and baby unit for asylum seekers.
Asylum is a matter reserved to the UK Parliament. This includes the provision of asylum accommodation, which is delivered by the Home Office through contracts with private sector companies, known as Asylum Accommodation and Support Services Contracts (AASC). In Scotland this is being delivered by Mears Group, who operate the mother and baby unit in Glasgow.
Scottish Government officials have no direct role in the delivery and management of the Home Office’s Asylum Accommodation and Support Services Contract. We have made it clear that the Scottish Government's preference would be for asylum accommodation to be delivered by the public sector or the third sector.