Refugees' skills wasted

Female refugees with experience and qualifications as teachers, nurses and doctors face major obstacles to working in the UK, a skills survey among those living in London reveals.

The study, by the mayor of London and the Refugee Women's Association, found that 90 per cent of the 231 respondents wanted to resume their careers but feared the cost of requalifying. Mayor Ken Livingstone said that although these women could not cure the staffing problems in public services, the cost of retraining them was far lower than training someone from scratch.