What grants under European Structural Funds and EU community initiatives such as EQUAL have been made available since 1999 to assist asylum…

Refugees and asylum seekers with permission from the Home Office to work on either a temporary or a permanent basis are eligible to benefit from European Social Fund grants available since 2000 under the Highlands & Islands Special Transitional Programme, the Objective 2 Western Scotland Programme and the Scottish Objective 3 Programme, provided that the individuals meet the eligibility criteria set out for each programme.In particular, Objective 3 Priority 2 aims to address social exclusion and has one Measure worth 71 million euros over seven years specifically to assist excluded groups such as refugees and asylum seekers.The EQUAL Community Initiative, of which Scotland has been allocated about 33 million euros, will also tackle issues relating to those groups most disadvantaged in the labour market. It will be delivered in Scotland through seven Development Partnerships, which will be operational from November this year. An additional strand
- to be administered across the UK by the Department for Education and Employment and worth 19 million euros
- will be devoted to action to promote the social and vocational integration of asylum seekers.