The Home Office has confirmed that Penally Training Camp will become a facility to house asylum seekers from next week.

Penally Community Council have shared a statement today (September 18) on correspondence received from the Home Office on the situation regarding the village’s MOD training camp.

The statement reads: “It is the intention of the Home Office to have the camp up and running from Monday, September 21. The residents of the camp will be demographically single male adults, up to 250 persons staying in the dormitories.

“The Camp will not be a detention facility with residents of the camp being able to leave and return to the camp as and when they see fit.”

MP for Carmarthen West and South Pembrokeshire, and Welsh secretary of state Simon Hart has also provided an update this afternoon (September 18) on the matter: “There has been a lot of media and online activity during the last week around the proposal to house asylum seekers at the MoD facility in Penally.

“Since notification of this (which we received last weekend) there have been a number of questions raised which I have taken up with the Home Secretary, the MoD and others.

“Since the issue became public, the Home Office has created what they call the ‘Asylum Accommodation Strategic Group for Wales’ which includes the local council, heath board, police, Public Health Wales, Welsh Government, Wales Office and others. It is worth remembering that the Home Office has extensive legal powers in this policy area.

“Whether we agree with the legal position or not, we remain bound by EU law on this matter until the end of the transition period in December. It is therefore important that the organisations listed above are able to devote their full effort to minimising the local impact, while exercising the compassion and tolerance for which the UK and Wales has built an international reputation.

“If we compromise this, rather than addressing the fears some have expressed, we will increase the prospect of tensions and restrict the ability of the authorities to address them.

“As ever during Covid, the position changes all the time, so I will remain in daily contact with residents and stakeholders as well as the Home Office to make sure that local interests are protected in what is a very difficult time for everybody,” continued Mr. Hart.

Mr. Hart has also shared on his website some factual information from the Home Office which he has received about the facility in Penally, which reads as follows:

• This will be a temporary arrangement, with the Home Office able to use the site for up to 12 months.

• The emergency situation required that the Home Office took urgent action and so were regrettably not able to consult in the usual matter. This site was selected because it met the required needs following an assessment by the MOD of potentially suitable and availabale sites.

• At present no further additional accommodation has been identified in Wales.

• The Home Office will provide onsite security, however these people are not being detained so they are able to leave the site if they wish. The HO will be providing all of their meals and wellbeing services onsite, so would anticipate they have limited need to leave the site. In the event that they do leave there will be a checking in and out system to monitor.

• The Home Office does not provide direct additional funding in connection with any of the accommodation provided for an asylum seeker. However, council taxes will be paid to the Local Authority, and the police are able to apply for special grant funding to cover their costs. The HO will be providing onsite medical services, ensuring the site is not reliant on local healthcare resources.

• With current Covid-19 measures in place and the need to maintain social distancing, the site will be operating to a maximum of 250 persons. The facility will only be used for single, adult males. It will not be used for families, women children or vulnerable males.

• All residents and staff will have already been in the UK for more than 14 days so will not present a quarantine risk. If somebody onsite becomes symptomatic, they will be taken to an isolation unit in London, with transport provided by the local team. The Home Office are in the process of introducing a testing regime, the precise form of which is not yet confirmed.

• Whilst processing individual claims for asylum, there may be requirements for claimants to attend interviews. In these cases, transport or remote access to those services will be organised by the HO.