Maurice Wren

Tomorrow - risk-assessed, socially distanced - some of these lovely people will, for the first time since March, sing with @colla_voce! Byrd's 'Sing Joyfully' for starters, ending with Parry's 'My soul, there is a country'. (The fate of next week's group depends on @DCMS.)

Head still spinning after @refugeecouncil Board meeting. So much happening, so much that's concerning. But an amazing team of staff and volunteers are doing a fantastic job supporting refugees and advocating for fairer treatment for them

April to June of this year 4,732 people claimed asylum in the UK – 40% less than in the same period in 2019. No refugees came to the UK through resettlement programmes. 131 family reunion visas were granted - 90% less than for the same period in 2019.

Last year we arranged clinical attachments for 19 doctors on the Building Bridges Programme. Clinical attachments provide the opportunity for refugee doctors to learn about the legal and cultural context of medical practice in the UK through the observation of hospital teams.

My paper on why the UK reduced its use of immigration detention by 60%, even before Covid, when across the world governments are detaining more migrants detentionforum.org.uk/2020/09/02/how…

For 20 years successive governments have taken a similar approach to migrants crossing the Channel. It has to change.

The reality is that the UK can do so much more to show compassion and help refugees to rebuild their lives in safety. Help us fight misinformation and hold the Government to account; read and share our FAQs about Channel crossings on our website ➡️refugeecouncil.org.uk/latest/news/ch…

This time yesterday we had 933 followers. WE JUST HIT 10,000!!! Thank you all so much. You are all bloody lovely and we are a bit overwhelmed frankly!

Londinium sings again! We hope you enjoy our lockdown version of Howard Skempton's 'He wishes for the Cloths of Heaven' with @colla_voce. Make sure you watch right to the very end for a moment of cuteness... youtu.be/hiL22cd3H4k

We are immensely proud of our volunteers today. Every site in Calais has been cleared by Police, so our volunteers have driven round searching for people wandering without shelter or food. They gave out tarps, sleeping bags and food to 300 refugees.

We are deeply concerned to hear that the Home Office are due to restart evictions of newly granted refugees in the midst of a global health pandemic. Our CEO Maurice Wren sets out our concerns and our call for urgent action in this @Politics_co_uk piece politics.co.uk/comment-analys…

The first ever virtual Refugee Week is coming, and you’re invited! Take part by joining an online event, watching a film or doing one of our eight #SimpleActs. Find out more: refugeeweek.org.uk/6-ways-to-get-… #RefugeeWeek2020 #Imagine Please share 💛💛

With the announcement that the #Dubs scheme is ending after all 480 places have been filled, child refugees in Europe without family in the UK will lose their only safe, legal route to sanctuary in the UK. Now more than ever, we must fight for safe passage.

Today the Home Office published the latest Immigration Statistics. There were 35,099 asylum applications in the year ending March 2020, 11% up on the previous year. Applications from Iranians and Albanians showed the highest increase on the previous year. gov.uk/government/pub…

Stunning session at the Refugee Solidarity Summit @2020Refugee on 'Educating our Allies' - frank, true and challenging.

Great buzz of excitement as we await the start of the Refugee Solidarity Summit @2020Refugee

@m_collings Excellent news Matthew, congratulations. Bring on the election. Maurice

Brilliant to have so many businesses at our refugee employment event today eager to learn from Starbucks' experience and develop their own partnership with the Refugee Council's Integration and Employment team.