North Lanarkshire Council, working with its partners, will be the first local authority in Scotland to participate in an international resettlement programme that gives some of the world's most vulnerable refugees a safe route to a country where they have automatic and indefinite leave to remain.

Through this programme, the council will be offering a safe home to around 80 Congolese refugees, for as long as they choose to remain in North Lanarkshire. Some key facts follow:

·        The Gateway Protection Programme is a partnership between the Home Office and the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), which helps the government to meet its resettlement obligations under the 1951 Convention on the status of refugees.

·        It aims to provide a safe and controlled route into the UK for survivors of torture, rape or other severe trauma. Such refugees can be trapped in squalid, dangerous camps for many years at a time.

·        The programme will be delivered in North Lanarkshire in partnership with the Scottish Refugee Council, NHS Lanarkshire, Strathclyde Police, local housing associations, faith groups, community groups and others.

·        Best practice advice is being provided by the Home Office and Bolton and Sheffield Councils, which have also accepted refugees from Liberia and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

·        The Home Office will be underwriting relevant costs for accommodation, healthcare, education, housing, social work etc, therefore the programme will be cost-neutral to North Lanarkshire Council.

The first group of refugees, arriving on Wednesday 15 January, will be housed in Motherwell. The 22 refugees are part of a larger group of approximately 80 people who will be given the opportunity to build new lives in North Lanarkshire over the next three months. 

A number of UK local authorities have already offered a home to refugees in their area, however North Lanarkshire Council will be the first to participate in Scotland. It has taken two years of preparation to bring the project to fruition, including painstaking research, extensive dialogues with other UK local authorities and in-depth consultation with community groups in the area selected for housing the new arrivals.

"It was essential to involve the community as far as possible in this programme if it was to achieve its aims," said Mary Castles, Assistant Chief Executive of North Lanarkshire Council. "That is why the council has been liaising closely with community groups across Motherwell for the last few months.

"We have spoken with Motherwell Community Forum; with leaders of local faith groups; with community workers and with representatives of community groups from Forgewood, Flemington, Muirhouse and North and Central Motherwell. 

"The response from these groups has been fantastically supportive. We are confident that these community representatives are 100% behind the council's efforts to offer these refugees a safe new home and to help them to build positive, active, useful lives here in Scotland."

Leader of North Lanarkshire Council, Councillor Jim McCabe, was the first to suggest that the council should become more involved in the Gateway Protection Programme, and he is delighted now to be preparing to welcome the first group of refugees into the country.

"We are very proud to be part of this project, and to be able to offer help to those who are in such need," he said. "I personally hope our involvement in it will help to encourage other local authorities in Scotland and throughout the UK to take part.

"I look forward to welcoming our new residents to North Lanarkshire, and to helping them create a new, safe and happy life here in Scotland."

Ends