MALE asylum seekers are to be given cookery lessons after complaining they did not know how to look after themselves in the kitchen.

Council bosses are looking for a teacher for groups of single men, mainly Iraqi-Kurds who have fled Saddam Hussein's regime in the Middle East. The move comes after a group of men complained to their council support workers that, although they had kitchens in their homes, they were separated from their families and did not know what to do.

Miranda Curruthers-Watts, in charge of asylum seekers for Blackburn with Darwen Council, said: "There are problems which arise all the time, and one of the more recent ones is that many of the single men do not know how to cook. They are from countries where maybe they have never had to cook before, or haven't used the equipment we have in this country. So we are helping them to get cookery lessons so they can look after themselves. We hope to find someone from a similar background to show them how to cook."

Council officers have also been instructed to show new arrivals how to empty bins and use wheelie bins after complaints were received in the Sunnyhurst area of Darwen that rubbish was being dumped in the street.

And the asylum seekers are also being advised on what to expect if they go for a night out in Blackburn town centre. Mrs Carruthers-Watts said Blackburn at night could be totally different to anything asylum seekers have experienced before.

She said: "In many of the countries where they have come from, women are covered up from head to toe all the time so it can come as a shock when they see women wearing relatively little on nights out. We are just making sure they understand that just because these women are wearing unusual clothes, they are not immoral. Clashes of culture like this have caused problems in other places and by explaining when they arrive, we are helping asylum seekers to understand what goes on in Britain.."

Today, an opposition councillor expressed concern at the classes, saying they will 'create a dangerous backlash.' Coun Paul Browne, leader of the Lib Dems, said: "We need to make sure that the asylum seekers aren't seen to be getting things other people don't. Students come to this borough and live while at college and they may not know how to cook. There are no classes for them. The danger is that the council, in trying to help asylum seekers, will make them more vulnerable by making people angry."

Blackburn with Darwen has agreed to house up to 700 asylum seekers at any one time.