Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill clashed with senior immigration officials yesterday over the impact that major reforms to UK asylum law would have in Scotland.

Setting out the Scottish Government's "clear lines in the sand", Mr MacAskill said he was opposed to detaining children prior to removal from the country and wanted to see asylum seekers integrated into communities from "day one" of their arrival in the UK.

Speaking at a conference organised by the Scottish Refugee Council in Glasgow, the minister also backed the idea of allowing people to work while their asylum claim is being processed.

His stance is likely to inflame tensions between the devolved administration and Westminster, which has reserved power over asylum and immigration issues, ahead of an overhaul of legislation which is intended to simplify decades of separate laws covering both issues.

As part of the consultation on the Immigration and Citizenship Bill, due to be laid before parliament early next year, First Minister Alex Salmond has written to the Home Secretary to push for a "flexible" approach which would take account of Scotland's situation and ensure its effect on devolved areas of responsibility were highlighted, Mr MacAskill said.

He added: "We welcome moves to speed up the immigration process and bring greater transparency. But we have to ensure that Scotland's particular needs, as well as values, are taken account of.

"Asylum seekers and refugees who move to Scotland bring with them valuable skills and experiences and it makes sense for us and for them to utilise those."

The Justice Secretary also disclosed that the Borders and Immigration Agency (BIA) is working with the Scottish Government, SRC and councils to pilot an alternative system of removing families whose asylum claims have been rejected to avoid the need to lock them up in removal centres such as Dungavel, in Lanarkshire.

Lin Homer, BIA's chief executive who attended yesterday's conference in Glasgow, said she welcomed consultation and was open to the idea of regional variations in applying UK asylum policy - an approach which she said had already borne fruit with the establishment of the regional BIA covering Scotland and Northern Ireland.

But she added: "We're not after a position where there are basic differences in how asylum applicants are treated in the system depending on where they enter. That seems to go against their human rights and the basic principle that you have to be consistent across the piece."

Ms Homer said the UK Government was opposed to allowing asylum seekers to work while their claim was being processed and wanted to ensure they integrated into communities only if they received approval to remain in the UK.

But she claimed BIA has had notable success in bringing down the time it takes to process asylum claims and was now on target to finalise 60% of claims within six months by the end of the year.