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Managing the impacts o migration:Improvements and innovations

www.communities.gov.ukcommunity, opportunity, prosperity



Managing the impacts o migration:Improvements and innovations

March 2009Department for Communities and Local Government: London



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Contents 3

Contents

Foreword 5

Summary o actions 7

Introduction 9

Chapter One: Migration – the national picture 11

Controlling migration 12Earned citizenship 14Employment, skills and bene ts 14Illegal working 16Vulnerable workers 17Gangmasters Licensing Authority 18

Chapter Two: Migration – understanding and managinglocal impacts 20

Local population data 20Impact o migration on local economies 22

Drivers o migration 23Regional strategic migration partnerships 24Migration Impacts Forum 24Housing 25Homelessness support 29Schools 30Health 31Crime and policing 32

Local immigration teams 33Local partnership working and the migration excellence programme 35Fund to manage the transitional impacts o migration 37



4 Managing the impacts o migration

Chapter Three: Managing the impacts on communities 41

Cohesion 41

Supporting local authorities 42Specialist cohesion teams 43Preventing violent extremism 46Young people and cohesion 47Integration 48Re ugee integration 49Local leadership 49Speaking English 52

Conclusion 54



Foreword 5

Foreword

All too o ten the debate about migration becomes polarised. On one hand,you have those who argue or an immediate halt to new migrants coming tothis country. On the other, you have those who eel that even to suggest thatmigration can cause challenges at a local level is tantamount to racism.

While the people at the ringes o opinion shout the loudest the risk is that thosein the middle – who, we believe, represent the majority – do not get heard, andthe acts get lost in the hubbub.

In June 2008, the Government published Managing the impacts o migration:a cross-government approach . It was based on rigorous analysis o the actso migration. The act is that migration brings bene ts –social, cultural andeconomic – at national and local levels. But it is also a act that population change,especially at the rapid rate we have seen in recent years, can cause transitionalpressures in local communities.

As a Government, we committed to taking to an unprecedented level joint workacross a range o di erent departments to make the most o the bene ts whilemanaging the pressures success ully. Our plan set out a series o practical proposals.

Since June, there has been swi t progress putting them into action: romcampaigns to protect vulnerable workers, to a new und to support those places

acing the most signi cant challenges, to the O ce or National Statistics’ workon improving its data about migration patterns. This update summarises thatprogress and outlines the next steps or delivery.

However, we all know that since last June the context has changed dramatically.The global economic slowdown a ects migration as it does virtually every otherarea o li e. In these tough times, migration will continue to bring bene ts to theUK: and it will be vital to ensuring our economic recovery. But now more than everit is crucial that we control migration and migrant numbers or the bene t o thecountry and re ne our understanding o how the downturn will a ect di erentareas; to ensure that everyone plays by the rules; and to equip local communitieswith the skills, the resources and the support to ace change with con dence.

Equally, where migrants choose not to play by the rules, we will work with thepolice to come down hard on those who commit crime and remove those whocause most harm in our communities; take action against rogue employers who

knowingly hire illegal workers; and stop the automatic right to stay by makingnewcomers to earn their citizenship by speaking English, paying taxes andobeying the law.




We will make the most out o migration by being robust in our explanation o itsbene ts, active in our management o its impacts, and dynamic in our responseto its changing patterns and strong where we identi y evidence o abuse. Centrestage in our response will be our und o £35 million per annum provided to localservice providers such as schools to help communities manage the transitionalimpacts o migration.

This document sets out how our departments and others across Whitehall willwork together with public bodies – and with local authorities, community groups,businesses and more besides – to do just that.

Hazel Blears,Secretary o State or

Communities and LocalGovernment

Jacqui Smith,Home Secretary



Summary o actions 7

Summary o actions

In June we said we were supporting local authorities and their partners inmanaging the impacts of migration by:

Providing a und to help local areas manage the transitional impacts o•

migration. We are now announcing £35 million o support or localareas through this Fund in the rst year.

Making available an Exceptional Circumstances Grant or schools•

experiencing a rapid growth in pupil numbers. We have awarded 4schools this grant in 2009-10.

Providing unding to Homeless Link to co-ordinate action to reduce•

rough sleeping among recent EU migrants. Since June we have givenlocal authorities an additional £300 000 to support their work with thevoluntary sector to reconnect A10 rough sleepers.

Providing £50 million over the next 3 years to support community•

cohesion. We have now combined unding with DCSF to provide £12.7million to und residential camps or young people at which they discusscommunity cohesion issues.

Piloting Specialist Cohesion Teams. The pilots in Breckland and Barnsley•

are now complete and evaluation reports will be published shortly.

Working with the Improvement and Development Agency to run a•

Migration Excellence Programme. This programme has now concluded and the evaluation documents and peer mentors remain a resource onwhich authorities can draw.

Developing policy on English or Speakers o Other Languages.• A newapproach is being rolled out in September 2009 with the details o theapproach to be con rmed shortly.

Encouraging local partnership working on immigration issues.• Newlocal immigration teams will be rolled out across the country byDecember 2011 .




In June we said we were also considering new policy on:

Private Rented Sector housing to ensure local authorities have the•

tools they need to tackle abuse. The independent review o the sectorhas now concluded and the Government’s response will include aconsultation on changes to selective licensing schemes.

Re ugee Integration and Employment. The Re ugee Integration and•

Employment service is now up and running and our new Re ugeeIntegration Strategy will be published shortly.

Issues surrounding criminality o EEA nationals. Our review has concluded•

and we will step-up action to remove EEA criminals .

Vulnerable workers. The Vulnerable Workers Forum has now concluded•

and put in place a programme o work to increase protection or allvulnerable workers , including migrants.

In June we said we were improving data and evidence on migration by:

Supporting the O ce or National Statistics’ Migration Statistics•

Improvement programme. ONS have now announced the package oimprovements they expect to see delivered by May 2010.

Undertaking research to identi y the drivers o migration. CLG• has now

received the preliminary ndings rom research into the impact othe economic downturn on migration fows to be published shortlyand is undertaking longer term work on the drivers o migration.

In addition• we will shortly be consulting on re orming theMigration Impacts Forum to increase our analytical capability onmigration impacts issues.



Introduction 9

Introduction

In June 2008, Communities and Local Government (CLG) published Managingthe impacts o migration: a cross-government approach which set out ourcommitment to helping communities maximise the bene ts migration brings tothe UK while mitigating the local impacts.

This document provides an update on the progress we have made since Juneon delivering against the commitments we made then and refects on what weintend to do as patterns o migration change.

The current economic downturn brings resh challenges to our communities andpublic services. Migration has brought and continues to bring signi cant bene tsto the UK and the contribution migrants make to our economy will be key toensuring the UK’s economic recovery. At the same time, we need to ensure thatUK workers have the skills needed to ll vacancies and the opportunity to apply

or them where they arise. In the current climate it is right that migrants whocome to the UK are either highly skilled or have a speci c job to come to which noresident worker can ll.

We recognise that migration has had impacts on local communities. Just as

these impacts o migration have varied rom place to place, so will the impactso the downturn. Some areas and some sectors will be relatively resilient. Othersmay be more vulnerable to job losses and rising crime or antisocial behaviour,which can lead to increases in community tensions. Our aim is to ensure thatour communities are as resilient as possible. A key part o this is ensuring thatthe system is air and that people only access the services and bene ts they areentitled to receive.

Since June 2008, we have seen how local areas are responding to the

bene ts and in some cases the challenges that migration has brought to theircommunities. This document contains some examples o good practice we haveseen across the country and demonstrates that the Government is continuingto bring orward nancial support and practical measures to help local serviceproviders manage change.

In particular, we are announcing a new und to help local areas manage thetransitional impacts o migration on their communities. The Migration ImpactsFund will be paid or by an additional charge on migrants’ visa ees as they enterthe UK. The und will be made available to all local areas and will be spent oninnovative projects or managing migration pressures, to the bene t o the settledcommunity. Through the und, migrants will be making an additional nancialcontribution to bene t UK society.




This document also sets out our continued commitment to controllingmigration at a national level and shows how we have started to improve ourevidence base to understand and anticipate changing patterns o migration.It commits us to doing more to understand migration impacts in the uture,including our plans to consult on a new, strengthened Migration ImpactsCommittee including independent advisers to build on the work started by theMigration Impacts Forum.

Second, it sets out the progress we have made in putting in place support orpublic services as they continue to manage the local impacts o migration,including orthcoming proposals to consider changes to private rented sectorhousing to make it easier to crackdown on rogue landlords; and new local

immigration teams to increase partnership working on immigration issues atlocal level.

Finally, it sets out how we continue to build cohesive communities that areresilient and can manage change. This includes working with local authorities totailor our support to the communities that need it most and mapping those areaswhich may be the most vulnerable during the economic downturn. We are alsocommitted to supporting migrants to integrate ully into the community and tolearn English where they have made a long-term commitment to the UK.

During the economic downturn it is important that communities pull togetherand become stronger. Fair rules or everyone, and clear consequences or thosewho do not play by them, are key to creating an environment in which everyonehas an opportunity to succeed. It is important that migrants contribute to UKsociety and have a shared understanding o our values.

All o the unding commitments in this document, with the exception o theMigration Impacts Fund, apply to England only. Police unding applies to Englandand Wales and the Migration Impacts Fund applies across the UK. The powers

to act in relation to many local services such as schools, health and social servicesand housing, have been either partially or wholly devolved in Wales, Scotlandand Northern Ireland. The Government plans to work closely with the devolvedadministrations as they develop plans relating to migration impacts in the areas

or which they are responsible. Bene ts and UK border control issues remainreserved to the UK Parliament.



Chapter One Migration – the national picture 11

Chapter One

Migration – the national pictureSince June 2008 we have seen signi cant changes in the patterns o migrationto the UK. As Managing the impacts o migration: a cross-government approachset out, rom 2004 to 2007, the UK saw a sharp rise in immigration rom EasternEurope, largely rom countries that joined the EU in 2004. At the same time, theUK continued to have steady infows o migrants rom outside the EEA and highlevels o emigration rom the UK to Europe and the rest o the world. Evidencesuggests that migration to the UK has slowed through 2008 and is likely to all

urther during the economic downturn.

Communities and Local Government (CLG) has commissioned the NationalInstitute or Economic and Social Research (NIESR) to examine the impact o theeconomic downturn on migration. We expect this research to be published inApril but their preliminary ndings suggest that net migration fows to the UK will

all as a result o the economic downturn. While the extent o the all depends inpart on how other economies per orm in relation to the UK, the research suggests

that net migration is likely to all towards the 2006-based low variant projectionmade by the O ce or National Statistics (ONS).

O those coming to the UK, the analysis we have commissioned suggests thatthe number o migrants rom the Accession 8 countries (A8) is the most likelyto decline urther owing to decreasing wage di erentials and a less attractiveexchange rate. Evidence rom the Workers Registration Scheme (WRS) alreadyshows a decrease in the number o A8 migrants coming to the UK; the number oapplications peaked in quarter 4 o 2006 at 63,000 and ell to 27,000 in quarter 4o 2008.

It is hard to be conclusive about the extent to which migration will decline duringthe downturn and then whether it will pick up again as the economy recovers.Many actors infuence migrants’ decisions to come to the UK. While we arealready seeing some signs o a decline in infows o migrants rom EasternEurope, it is unlikely that there will be a complete cessation o migration to theUK during the downturn. Migrants will continue to come or amily reunion andhumanitarian protection as well as to study, learn English and experience li e inthe UK.




We must also remember that while infows to the UK are likely to decrease duringthe downturn, this does not mean that migrants already living and working in theUK are likely to leave. The research we have commissioned suggests that stockso migrants coming rom the A8 countries living in the UK may increase overtime but potentially at a slower rate than previously anticipated. This slowing isin part in response to the current slowdown in the UK, and to other EU countriesrelaxing their restrictions on the A8. Moreover, some A8 migrants only intendedto stay a short time in the UK and have not made as many bonds in society asother migrant groups. However, many A8 migrants will choose to stay in the UK,particularly i they work in sectors that are relatively resilient to the downturn(such as agriculture and ood processing), i they have dependants at school in theUK, or have established amily ties. Migrants rom the wider world are unlikely to

leave the UK in large numbers during the downturn.

Controlling migration

While numbers o migrants, particularly rom Europe, are likely to decline duringthe economic downturn, the Government remains committed to ensuring thatour immigration system is run or the bene t o the UK. This is why we haveintroduced a airer and more fexible points-based system (PBS). A fexible points-based system allows us to ensure that only those with the skills that the UKeconomy needs are able to work in the UK, in order to maximise the bene ts o

migration. All employment tiers o the new system are now in place:

Tier 1 – 29 February 2008 – highly skilled individuals to contribute to growth•

and productivity.

Tier 2 – 27 November 2008 – skilled workers with a job o er to ll gaps in UK•

labour orce.

Tier 3 – admits low skilled workers rom outside the EEA to the UK and•

remains closed.

Tier 4 – the student Tier will be coming on stream at the end o March 2009 –•

to make the student route simpler and more robust against abuse.

Tier 5 – 27 November 2008 – allows people to work in the UK or a limited•

period o time (a maximum o 1 to 2 years) to satis y primarily non-economicobjectives e.g. entertainers, athletes or ministers o religion.

The Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) provides independent advice onwhether there are skilled labour shortages that can sensibly be lled by migration.Under Tier 2 o the PBS, employers must ensure that the resident labour markettest has been met be ore they can ll a vacancy with a migrant worker, unless theGovernment considers that the sector has a shortage o suitably quali ed residentworkers or the employer is trans erring sta within the same organisation to adi erent location.




On 11 November 2008, the Government published its rst Shortage OccupationList. It gives details o those occupations where employers are not obliged toconduct a resident labour market test be ore they employ a migrant worker

ollowing advice rom the MAC. The list allows the Government to keep tracko where the skilled vacancies in the economy are and to ensure they are being

lled e ciently. The MAC will provide urther advice to the Government on thoseoccupations which should be included in an updated Shortage List in April 2009.

Having considered advice rom the MAC, on 18 December 2008 the Governmentannounced that it would continue to apply restrictions on employment rights ornationals rom Romania and Bulgaria. The Government is committed to graduallyreducing restrictions on Romanian and Bulgarian nationals and is required to

li t these restrictions by 2014 but can delay doing so be ore this date i there isevidence that li ting the restrictions will cause serious labour market disturbance.In the light o the economic downturn it was considered appropriate to retainsome restrictions subject to urther review at the end o 2009.

In the current economic climate it is right that we enhance our selectivity still urther,so that migrants who come to the UK are either highly skilled or have a speci c jobto come to which no resident worker can ll. From 1 April 2009, the Governmentwill be making some temporary changes to support workers in the UK and to bemore selective about the skills levels o those coming rom outside the EEA.

For Tier 1 o the PBS which is the only route that o ers open access to the labourmarket or highly skilled migrants, the Government is raising the quali cationsand minimum salary levels to ensure the bar is set in the right place. Under Tier 1migrants will now need a Masters degree and a minimum salary o £20,000.

For Tier 2, the Government will use each Shortage Occupation List to trigger skillsreviews that ocus on upskilling resident workers or those occupations. JobcentrePlus will also play a stronger role in applying the Resident Labour Market Test

(RLMT) or Tier 2 vacancies in occupations not on the Shortage Occupation List toensure that the jobs have rst been advertised to jobseekers in the UK.

We have also asked the MAC to report on:

whether there is an economic case or restricting Tier 2 (skilled workers) to•

shortage occupations only;

its assessment o the economic contribution made by the dependants o PBS•

migrants and their role in the labour market; and

what urther changes there should be to the criteria or Tier 1 in 2010/11 given•

the changing economic circumstances.




We have introduced a fexible points-based system to ensure that we attract onlythe migrants with the skills we need. These changes together with increaseden orcement activity against illegal immigration and illegal working should leadto a all in migrant numbers.

We will need to review these restrictions as we come out o the downturn andmigration will have an important role in making the UK stronger post-recession.Protectionism is not the answer and a fexible migration system is better orbusiness and or the economy.

Earned citizenship

Many migrants come to the UK or a short time and then return home. For

those who choose to stay in the UK in the long term it is important thatthey integrate and contribute to British society. In Managing the impacts o migration: a cross-government approach we explained that the Governmentwas consulting on making changes to the process by which migrants can stayin the UK permanently. We have now begun the ormal process o changingthe path to citizenship and permanent residence in the UK. On 14 January 2009the Government introduced the Borders, Citizenship and Immigration Bill toParliament. The Bill sets out a clearer journey towards becoming a British citizenby putting in place a three-stage path that will include a new ‘probationarycitizenship’ stage. Our citizenship provisions will ensure the rights and bene tso British citizenship are matched by responsibilities and contributions madeto Britain, ensuring that newcomers earn the right to stay by learning English,paying taxes and obeying the law 1. Further in ormation on our approach tointegration can be ound in Chapter 3 o this document.

Employment, skills and bene ts

UK nationals account or nine out o every 10 people in employment, with only8 per cent o the UK work orce made up o oreign nationals. Around hal thegrowth in employment levels since 1997 is attributable to UK nationals.

However, in the economic downturn the Government remains committed tosupporting people to nd work and provide the skills and training they need tohelp them get into work. Despite the rising claimant count, people are still ndingwork. Large numbers o people are still moving o bene t and into jobs with244,000 people moving o Job Seekers Allowance in January 2009. We alsoo er more advice and training to individuals to help them move back into workthrough Jobcentre Plus and the New Deal.

1 More in ormation on the Borders, Immigration and Citizenship Bill can be ound at www.commonsleader.gov.uk/ OutPut/Page2653.asp




Our aim is to increase the skills o the existing population to ensure that employerscan nd the talent they need in the UK work orce and decrease their relianceon migrant labour. We are providing a range o support to up-skill and re-skillUK workers. Apprenticeship starts have increased rom 65,000 in 1996/97 to arecord high o 225,000 in 2007/08. Our Train to Gain service is supporting directtraining in the workplace. In 2009/10 Train to Gain will support around 950,000employees to improve their skills in the workplace. We will spend almost £1billion in 2009-10. We are also working with regional and national bodies toidenti y areas o strategic long-term importance to the UK economy, and ensurethat government skills provision is targeted accordingly so that UK workers havethe skills to compete or the jobs that become available. We have establishedthe UK Commission or Employment and Skills to give employers an infuential

voice in shaping employment and skills provision. We will work with new andast-growing industry sectors which have identi ed skills shortages, such as in the

ethnic che s and care homes sectors, to ensure there are relevant, high-qualitytraining opportunities or UK workers to access available jobs.

We recognise the contribution migration makes to the UK economy and thatthere is a need or controlled migration to ensure businesses are ready tocompete. Our primary concern must be to ensure that the right training andactive employment measures are in place so that UK workers can meet local skillsshortages. No employer should eel they have to seek migrant labour becausethere are avoidable local skills shortages.

Migrants to the UK also have the responsibility to ensure they are in ormed aboutemployment law and practice be ore they come. We have taken steps to raisemigrant worker awareness o workplace rights, both prior to their arrival andonce they are in the UK. It is particularly important to reach workers in their hostcountry be ore they leave as it is o ten much harder to help workers, who maynot speak English and have no accommodation arranged, once they arrive. Wehave o ered to work with the governments o all the new EU Member States,

to prepare bi-lingual ‘know be ore you go’ leafets aimed at ensuring potentialmigrants are aware o their rights and responsibilities both be ore they leavetheir own country and on arrival in the UK. To date we have produced leafets inpartnership with the Polish, Portuguese, Lithuanian and Romanian governmentsand bene ted rom input rom the TUC, the CBI and other stakeholders. Theyhave been distributed widely in the workers’ home countries and the UK. Forexample, in Poland they have been publicised on television and our Embassyand the Polish authorities have worked hard to distribute them via job centres,recruitment airs and other channels.




The Government is committed to ensuring that the PBS enables only thosemigrants with the skills and talents to be o bene t to Britain to be admitted, andthat only those entitled to access bene ts and services do so. The Governmentremains committed to keeping migrants’ rights to access bene ts under review toensure that enough is expected rom EEA nationals by way o a connection andcontribution to the UK, in return or entitlement to bene ts.

Illegal working

The UK Border Agency (UKBA) continues to take action to crack down on theillegal jobs which lure illegal immigrants to come to the UK. Civil penalties orbusinesses that ail to carry out the proper checks when employing migrantworkers rom outside Europe were introduced by the Government on 29

February 2008, allowing nes o up to £10,000 per illegal employee. Since itsinception, UKBA has issued approximately 1,350 nes to employers who hireillegal workers, totalling approximately £14 million. Employers who have been

ned under the new rules are now also named on the Agency’s website.

The UKBA lead or the London Borough o Wandsworth was invitedto a meeting with the authority to discuss possibilities o joint working.An agreement was reached on the sharing o intelligence between LBWandsworth and UKBA eld intelligence o cers with a view to tackling

illegal working.

This has led to joint working on tackling problematic employers in theWandsworth area. LB Wandsworth has shared intelligence o an employero concern and UKBA investigated this employer to establish potentialimmigration solutions.

Although this relationship is in its early stages, positive results againstemployers have already been seen. A direct result o intelligence sharing sawthe rst operation result in the service o ve Notices o Potential Liability(NOPL) against a single employer in the construction industry who was usingillegal workers.

In another local authority, UKBA sta were invited to be part o a recruitmentday or parking en orcement o cers. The borough had previously beenconcerned that immigration o enders were seeking to gain employmentthrough the use o raudulent documentation. By conducting supplementaryinterviews with applicants, UKBA was able to identi y seven applicants usingcounter eit documents. UKBA intends to be present on uture recruitment

days both to aid the local authority’s recruitment processes and to helpprovide local intelligence on attempts at illegal working at a borough level.




Vulnerable workers

In June, we set out the Government’s commitment to ensuring that migrantworkers who are here to work and contribute do not become vulnerable toexploitation. We are committed to ensuring that all employees have the sameprotection and that all employers play by the rules and do not seek to undermineUK employment law. This is crucial to ensuring that the labour market is notdistorted by those employers who seek to bene t by exploiting vulnerablepeople, which harms UK workers as well as migrants.

The Government has there ore created a air ramework o employment rightsincluding the right to a minimum wage, a right to 24 days paid leave – beingincreased to 28 days rom April 2009 – and the right not to be orced to work

more than 48 hours a week, which applies to all workers in the UK.

In addition, we established the Vulnerable Worker En orcement Forum in June2007, chaired by the Minister or Employment Relations, to look into the natureand extent o abuse o worker rights, assess the adequacy o the en orcement

ramework and identi y possible improvements. The orum concluded its work inAugust 2008.

Following the work o the orum, we are undertaking a programme o work toensure that all workers, including migrant workers, have access to their rights andthat they are properly en orced. Key measures include:

a sustained, three-year government-led campaign to raise vulnerable•

worker awareness o basic employment rights and encourage the reportingo workplace abuses. The campaign will include promotion o a singleen orcement helpline; signi cantly more publicity or the Employment AgencyStandards Inspectorate; more awareness-raising work or migrant workers;an enhanced basic rights section on www.direct.gov ; publicity or the newnational minimum wage (NMW) penalties and air arrears provisions. Phase1 started in early February 2009 with a £1 million campaign to raise agencyworkers’ awareness o their rights ;

establishment o a single en orcement and compliance helpline (replacing•

six separate lines currently operating) through which vulnerable workers willbe able to report abuses and access in ormation and advice about the rightsen orced by government. The new service will be operational this year ;

action to tackle the legal barriers to in ormation-sharing that, or some o the•

en orcement bodies, prevent inspectors passing in ormation to each other.This will enable better targeting o the worst employers ;

http://www.direct.gov/





signi cantly more ace-to- ace contact with advice bodies, community groups•

and local authorities to raise awareness o the national minimum wage,employment agency standards and other basic rights, and build local contacts

or intelligence about non-compliant employers ;

a Fair Employment En orcement Board chaired by the employment relations•

minister bringing together the en orcement bodies and external stakeholdersto drive orward these improvements; and

a third round o the Union Modernisation Fund with a new ocus on protecting•

vulnerable workers.

The Government has also strengthened en orcement o basic employment rightsthrough the Employment Act 2008. The Act introduces stronger penalties ornon-compliance with the national minimum wage and improves protections oragency workers by making in ringements o employment agency regulationsindictable. This means that they can be tried in a Crown Court where tougherpenalties are available and cases can be brought by the en orcement bodywithout a witness. Recent revisions to the Employment Agency ConductRegulations also give agency workers a right to withdraw rom services provided– such as transport – without su ering detriment.

The Government has also heavily publicised the national minimum wage. We

have speci cally put together in ormation to ensure that migrant workers areaware o their entitlement to the national minimum wage and know where togo or advice. A speci c awareness-raising campaign targeting Polish, Lithuanianand Slovakian workers through outreach work, posters and online activity tookplace in 2008. This included pages on www.direct.gov in Polish, Lithuanian andSlovakian. There are also guidance leafets available in a range o languages. Inaddition A8 and A2 workers required to register under the Home O ce’s WorkerRegistration Scheme receive a simple Know Your Rights leafet.

Gangmasters Licensing Authority

The Gangmasters Licensing Authority (GLA) continues to take action againstemployers exploiting workers in agriculture, horticulture, shell sh gathering andassociated processing and packaging industries. The majority o workers involvedin these industries come rom Romania, Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Bulgaria,Lithuania, Latvia, India, Pakistan and Portugal.

More than 1,200 gangmasters are now licensed to operate legally in the UK. Soar, the GLA has uncovered worker exploitation and illegal activity that led to the

revocation o 85 licences. More in ormation about the sort o work conducted bythe GLA is set out below.






A GLA investigation last year led to the immediate revocation o the licence oa Cambridgeshire gangmaster who supplied workers to a arming company

in the area. The investigation was undertaken with close cooperationrom Sainsbury’s and local rm, Produce World, who were supplied by thearming company.

The investigation uncovered:

regular threats and verbal abuse by sta at the recruitment company, as•

well as an alleged assault ;

deduction rom workers’ pay on a regular basis, with no explanation•

provided. Workers were told i they complained they would be red ;

workers’ ears when the vans they travelled to work in were o ten•

overcrowded, leaving some sitting on the foor while travelling athigh speeds ;

en orced use o company transport, with workers orced to pay at least•

£4.50 each a day or the privilege. Anybody who did not use this transportwas threatened with dismissal. One worker stated he had to pay ortransport even i he was not working ;

workers were told they would not be paid i they took holiday and there•

was no evidence that Statutory Sick Pay had ever been paid;

some workers were not given copies o their contracts and contracts o•

other workers were clearly alsi ed, including orged signatures. At leastone worker was red or questioning these details, and

no evidence o health and sa ety training. Some o the workers who•

questioned these practices or complained were red.

As well as assisting with the GLA’s investigation, Sainsbury’s and Produce

World also ound the workers new jobs and pledged to help any workerwho was evicted rom their tied accommodation to nd a new home, sothat the closure o the recruitment company did not add to their stress. Thegangmaster involved can no longer supply workers to the GLA-regulatedindustries, and would ace prosecution punishable by up to 10 yearsimprisonment i he did.

As a result o such investigations, discussions are underway between the GLAand retailers to resolve exploitation issues in the ood supply chain. All majorsupermarkets are involved, and an agreement aimed at helping the workersa ected by exploitation and setting out best practice will be ormally signedshortly.




Chapter Two

Migration – understanding andmanaging local impactsWe know that migration has di erent impacts in di erent areas. In Managingthe impacts o migration: a cross-government approach we set out ourcommitment to understanding more about the changes that have happened inour communities and uture patterns o change. We also committed to providing

support to local public services experiencing challenges as a result o migration –rom schools to hospitals to housing.

Speci cally we said that we would:

improve local population data to ensure that unding to local authorities and•

police services ully refects the changes to their populations

undertake a programme o research to help us better understand the sub-•

national economic impacts o migration and to provide us with in ormation

about what drives di erent migrant groups to settle in di erent parts o the UKcontinue dialogue with local service providers through the Migration Impacts•

Forum

provide tailored support to local public services to help them better manage•

the impacts o migration.

This chapter sets out our progress on delivering these objectives.

Local population data

The O ce or National Statistics’ (ONS) programme o improvement to thepopulation and migration estimates and projections is progressing. On 24February 2009, ONS announced a package o improvements to be implementedin time to eed into the key population statistics published in 2010 and to in ormthe next three-year Local Government Finance Settlement. The package willinclude technical improvements to the migration statistics to produce a morerobust local distribution o international migration, and better internal migrationestimates using student data. Improvements to the International PassengerSurvey implemented over the past two years will also be ed into the underlying

data. More details o the package are set below.



Chapter Two Migration – understanding and managing local impacts 21

Migration statistics improvement programme

ONS package of improvements 2

As well as improvements to national (and intermediate) level estimates ointernational migrants, there is a need or better methods o allocation,distributing these to the local level. Key components are improving methods

or distributing international in-migration and out-migration totals to thelocal levels. At the local level, internal migration is also an important elemento population change. International migration is measured as those staying

or 12 months or more. Separately, methods are being developed to estimatethe number o international migrants arriving in local areas staying less than12 months.

The main improvements to current migration estimates that will eed throughto the population statistics are:

improved local area distribution o in-migrants, using a model-based•

distribution, making better use o administrative data sources available atlocal level

improved estimation o internal migration, more accurately measuring•

student migration between authorities, using administrative data

re nements to models used or international emigration distribution•

reassessing the spatial levels used or immigration estimation•

improvements to the International Passenger Survey (IPS). A number o recent•

improvements in the IPS will eed into the international migration estimates.

Additional migration indicators are also being developed by ONS which willnot input into the o cial population estimates and projections:

provisional short-term in-migration estimates distributed to local area level,•

relating to visits o between a month and a year

more timely national indicators o migration fows using provisional IPS data•

more in ormation on the characteristics o migrants at the local level,•

collated rom existing surveys and administrative sources.

Implementation o the package o improvements is planned to allow su cienttime or nalising the methods being developed, leading to a more completepackage, as well as consultation and ull engagement with stakeholders,including local authorities. Implementation is there ore likely to be in May 2010.

2 www.statistics.gov.uk/about/data/methodology/speci c/population/ uture/imps/updates/downloads/msiwp eb.pd

http://www.statistics.gov.uk/about/data/methodology/specific/population/future/imps/updates/downloads/msiwpfeb.pdf

http://www.statistics.gov.uk/about/data/methodology/specific/population/future/imps/updates/downloads/msiwpfeb.pdf




Impact o migration on local economies

In June 2008, we committed to undertaking research to try to better understandthe contribution migrants make to the economy at a sub-national level. Theresearch we have commissioned to date has ocused on the impact o theeconomic downturn on migration fows and employment at a regional level.We intend to publish the results o this research later in 2009.

Moving orward, we intend to ocus our analysis on the speci c needs o therural economies in terms o migrant labour, both during the downturn and overthe longer-term, and on the impacts o migration on rural communities. We willalso build our evidence base on the contribution o migration to regional growthand development.

The preliminary ndings rom the research suggest that the impact o theeconomic downturn is likely to be elt unevenly across the UK. The regionsthat have had the highest migrant infows o late are likely to see the greatestproportionate economic decline during the downturn. This could result in somemigrant workers returning home, particularly when coupled with the adversee ect on earnings caused by a less avourable exchange rate.

However, there is little evidence to suggest that the potential all in net migration,especially rom the Accession 8 (A8) countries, presents a risk to sub-nationaleconomic development either during the downturn or therea ter. The researchindicates that at the sub-regional level, the anticipated reduction in the size o themigrant labour orce over the next ew years is expected to match the contractionin demand or goods and services produced by those industries in which migrantlabour has been most intensively used.

In some areas, employers have previously stated that their business is heavilydependent on migrant labour – or example in agriculture. The research suggeststhat agriculture is likely to be airly resilient to the economic downturn and thatemployers will there ore continue to seek both native and migrant workers to

ll vacancies. Migrants are more likely to stay in the UK i the sector in whichthey work is relatively resilient to the recession. The extension o the SeasonalAgricultural Workers Scheme (SAWs) which allows Romanian and Bulgariannationals to enter the UK to work in agriculture should help ensure an adequatesupply o labour.




We will be commissioning analysis to examine trends in and out o local areas orEEA migrants with dependants to improve our understanding o how migrant

amilies rom the EEA are responding to the downturn. Communities and LocalGovernment (CLG) is co- unding a easibility study or a UKBA Migrant Survey.Subject to the results o this easibility study and su cient co- unding acrossgovernment, the main stage Migrant Survey is expected to be carried out in2010-11. The proposed Migrant Survey will ask migrants about the drivers orcoming to, and staying in the UK, as well as their experiences and activities inthe UK.

Drivers o migration

We also committed to undertaking a programme o research to help us

understand better what drives patterns o migration to the UK rom di erentcountries; where migrants settle geographically and or how long. The aim o thework is to help local areas understand the changes that have taken place in theircommunities and to help them plan or uture change.

CLG has commissioned NIESR to undertake a programme o work to examinethese issues. Key strands o that work and the timetable or delivery are:

Drivers o international migration to the UK (reports spring 2009)•

This explores the determinants o migration fows to the UK, examining whydi erent groups o people come rom di erent countries and why they cometo the UK rather than elsewhere. It aims to assess whether these determinantsare changing and to what extent political and economic developments havean impact.

Drivers o international migration rom the UK (reports autumn 2009)•

This looks at why di erent groups o people leave the UK and will help buildour understanding about how long migrants to the UK stay and how thisdi ers between migrant groups.

Local geography o international migration to the UK (reports early•

in 2010) This examines the determinants o the geographical patterns osettlement o international migration to the UK. It will consider why thesepatterns are changing – in particular why new migrant groups are settlingin areas without experience o migrant communities. It will also assess thepotential or orecasting migration at a regional level.

This is a considerable programme o work which demonstrates our commitmentto better understanding the changing patterns o migration in our communitiesand providing better in ormation to local service providers to help them respondto change.




Regional strategic migration partnerships

UKBA has invested £1.5 million to manage and support a network o regionalstrategic migration partnerships (RSMPs) with a remit to provide a orum ordiscussion with local communities. RSMPs coordinate issues a ecting migrantswithin each region by bringing together representatives o public servicesand other agencies to discuss migration issues. The RSMPs have a clear role inensuring that migration issues are part o wider local plans and strategies.

Representatives rom each o the RSMPs sit on the National Migration Group(NMG). The NMG brings together experience rom each o the regions andrepresentatives rom central government or discussions on a range o migrationissues. These discussions in orm the work o the Migration Impacts Forum (MIF).

Migration Impacts Forum

As we said in June, the Government is committed to strengthening itsunderstanding o the local impacts o migration. The Migration ImpactsForum (MIF) was established in June 2007 to bring together rontline practitionersto provide ministers with evidence on the impact o migration on public servicesand communities and to o er examples o how they are being managed indi erent areas o the UK. The rest o this document considers the impact omigration on public services in the light o the evidence presented at the MIF.

Since June, the MIF has received presentations and discussed the impactso migration on crime and disorder, employment, education and children’sservices. Presentations at these meetings have eatured many constructivepartnerships orged to meet speci c local challenges, or instance websitesto share in ormation and good practice which are accessible to a range olocal practitioners and local employers working with trade union branchesto develop tailored in-house English or Speakers o Other Languages (ESOL)courses or employees.

Many o the other examples o good practice and collaboration between localpartners in managing and understanding the impacts o migration in thisdocument have come to our attention through the work o the MIF. The MIF willcomplete the round o themes which it was rst convened to consider in June2009, when it will discuss health and social care.




Migration Impacts Committee

As the Migration Impacts Forum approaches the end o the two-year cycle othemes it was set up to consider, the Government believes it is time to reconsiderits role. We want to build on the work the MIF has already done and urtherstrengthen the Government’s analytical capacity on migration issues.

There ore, we will be proposing a consultation on bringing the MIF to an endand replacing it with a new Migration Impacts Committee (MIC) to provideindependent advice and evidence to the Government on the impacts o migration.

The aim o the new structure would be to combine the pro essional credibility andacademic robustness o the Migration Advisory Committee with lessons learnt

rom the day to day experience o rontline migration practitioners. We believethis will provide the Government with accurate, relevant and timely advice onmigration impacts, which has been undertaken by independent experts withadvice rom practitioners. It should signi cantly enhance our evidence base andanalytical capability on the local impacts o migration while continuing to providethe Government with advice rom experienced practitioners.

The consultation will seek to establish with stakeholders – including current MIFmembers – how this might best be achieved.

It is important to ensure that there remains a direct dialogue between rontlinepractitioners and national policy-makers. One approach might be to reconstitutethe National Migration Group – which currently brings together rontlinepractitioners rom all the UK regions, and draws on the expertise o local servicesrepresented on the regional strategic migration partnerships – to include directdiscussions with ministers as appropriate.

Housing

Migration does have an impact on demand or housing and household growthin the UK. The actual contribution o net international migration to the growthin households over the next ew years could turn out to be lower than thelatest 2006-based household projections suggest 3. Net migration is estimatedto account or around two- ths o household growth. However, we believethe e ect o migration on household growth has now peaked and the set o2006-based gures does not take account o more recent trends which indicatea slowdown in migration in-fows. This will not be apparent until the next seto projections (2008-based). The ONS produces variant population projectionswhich demonstrate the sensitivity o the projections to key assumptions,

including migration. Applying the low migration population variant to thehousehold projections shows a lower average annual growth in households.

3 http://www.communities.gov.uk/housing/housingresearch/housingstatistics/housingstatisticsby/householdestimates/

http://www.communities.gov.uk/housing/housingresearch/housingstatistics/housingstatisticsby/householdestimates/

http://www.communities.gov.uk/housing/housingresearch/housingstatistics/housingstatisticsby/householdestimates/




Moreover, recent research commissioned by CLG, explores whether housingis behind the persistence o economic outcomes across the UK regions, andcontains some analysis on the relationship between international migration andgrowth in house prices – it concludes that the direct e ects o immigration onhouse prices are relatively small 4. CLG will be conducting urther research intothe relationship between household growth and house prices to increase ourunderstanding o these ndings.

The research also shows that the e ects o migration on house prices are di usedover the regions. Since a high percentage o migrants are likely to settle in Londonat least initially, the largest e ects on house prices are likely to be in this region.However, house prices also rise to a smaller extent in other regions. This is because

migrants settle outside London and as prices go up in the capital, some move outto the surrounding regions.

The public debate about migration and housing continues to be ocused onaccess to social housing. There is no evidence to suggest that migrants gainpriority over other residents or social housing – in act they make up only a smallpercentage o those being allocated social housing in England. This is supportedby the ndings o the independent Equality and Human Rights Commissionand Local Government Association review into social housing which shows noevidence that social housing allocation avours oreign nationals over UK citizens.In 2006/7 we estimate that about 6 per cent o new general needs lets o socialhousing in England were made to oreign nationals.

The private rented sector (PRS) continues to be the sector where the vast majorityo new migrants are housed. In June, we explained the concerns that had beenraised with CLG by local authorities and others about migrants living in houses inmultiple occupation (HMOs) or in poor condition in the PRS and announced ourintention to examine these issues in more detail.

In October 2008, the Centre or Housing Policy at the University o Yorkconcluded their review o the PRS – The Private Rented Sector: its contributionand potential . The wide-ranging review examined the e ect that migration hashad on the sector. It concluded that the e ects o migration on the PRS vary

rom place to place according to the ‘tradition’ o the area in absorbing migranthouseholds. In some areas, migrants have lled housing in low demand, in othersproperties may have been used more intensively or example as HMOs.

The review concluded that local authorities already have signi cant regulatorypowers under the Housing Act 2004. It also stressed that it is too early to drawconclusions about the e ciency o the regulatory regimes set out in the Housing

4 Geo rey Meen and C. Nygaard’s paper Housing, Migration and Regional Disparities (due or publication shortly)




Act 2004, as these are still being implemented. It was clear that authorities mustdo more to complete the mandatory licensing o the larger, higher-risk HMOsin their area and to identi y and prioritise those they consider to be ‘problem’properties.

However, the review highlighted some areas where government could considerdoing more to ensure that problem private renting is identi ed and dealtwith. These included introducing a licensing scheme or all private landlords,accompanied by an e ective system o redress in the orm o a national registero landlords. It also suggested that government should re-examine the criteria

or the selective licensing o all privately rented property in designated areas.CLG will be bringing orward a consultation paper in response to the review.

The consultation will seek views on reviewing the criteria or selective licensingoutlined above to ensure that there is greater fexibility or local areas to deal withproblem privately rented properties in their area.

We have also commissioned the Building Research Establishment to carry out areview o the HMO licensing provisions, which is currently looking at the practicalimplications, e ectiveness and the impact o the licensing regime since itsimplementation. It is expected to conclude in April 2009 and we will consider any

urther recommendations this makes about the better regulation o HMOs.

In addition to the licensing o HMOs, the Government is aware that particularlyhigh concentrations o dwellings in group occupation can lead to problems insome areas and communities. That is why we commissioned research to identi ygood practice in areas that manage to cope well with high concentrations oHMOs. The research tested whether these ideas could have a wider applicationin those areas which have di culty with such issues. It also considered whetherplanning policy is a suitable lever to tackle these problems.

Following the publication o the research 5, the Government is to consult on

possible changes to the Use Classes Order in relation to HMOs. This consultationis likely to be published alongside our response to the review o the privaterented sector, and together with the BRE review o the HMO licensing provisions,represent a ull consideration o all the powers available to local authorities toregulate existing HMOs and the creation o new HMOs in their local area.

5 Evidence Gathering – Housing in Multiple Occupation and possible planning responses (ECOTEC September 2008)




The Canopy Housing Project in Leeds provides accommodation, training andsupport services or vulnerable and disadvantaged adults, including migrants

and re ugees. The project provides opportunities to learn building, electricaland plumbing skills, as well as contributing to the regeneration o some o themost deprived areas o the city.

The project obtains derelict properties rom Leeds City Council, local housingassociations and arms length management organisations on long-term leasearrangements and re urbishes them to create, decent, a ordable socialhousing. Sta and service users work together to re urbish the properties,which are then let to one o the service users involved in the project.

The principle o sel -help, personal empowerment and team work is integralto the work o Canopy, with service users being heavily involved in the design,planning and implementation o renovation work. The project refects theobjective o building the capacity o vulnerable people to live independentlyand to exercise choice and control over their lives. Service users are able toacquire a wide range o construction skills, which boosts their con dence andsel -esteem, but also enhances their opportunity to secure employment.

Canopy is acquiring and renovating properties or re ugee amilies in Beeston,

a neighbourhood in Leeds with a lot o vacant properties and a growingre ugee population. Young volunteers rom disadvantaged backgroundsare working alongside re ugees to re urbish derelict properties. Re ugeevolunteers who take-up the tenancies o ered by the project are linked with atrading arm that Canopy is developing, so the skills they have gained can beused to secure permanent employment in the housing construction industry.

The project also promotes re ugee community development activities throughsupporting Re ugee Community Organisations in the area. Through thesepartnerships, they are developing a toolkit o good practice and making a

lm to share their experiences and promote positive images on how newand long term resident communities can work together in reviving deprivedneighbourhoods.

Other areas have taken di erent but success ul approaches to managingre ugee housing. The London Borough o En eld has had a long relationshipwith UKBA, which has grown as a result o the housing o asylum seekers inthe borough.




As part o reviewing asylum cases in 2008, over 150 households in En eld weregranted leave to remain. The subsequent joint approach to tackling the housing

issues aced by the new re ugees, resulted greater co-operation between UKBAand the council including the embedding o a UKBA eld intelligence o cer aspart o the council’s housing service. This new approach has greatly improvedthe exchange o in ormation and the mutual understanding o issues. This inturn has resulted in improved service and nancial planning and an increasinglyaccurate approach to en orcement activity.

Homelessness support

While the vast majority o migrants nd accommodation and a job, a small

number o migrants become homeless and, in the worst case, end up on thestreets. The Government has renewed its commitment to end rough sleepingby 2012. Tackling rough sleeping particularly by A10 nationals, will be critical toour success.

A survey by Homeless Link 6, published on 9 February 2009, suggests that roughsleeping by A10 nationals is increasing with this group making up 25 per cento London’s rough sleepers compared to 18 per cent a year ago. At present thismainly a ects London but there are emerging problem areas outside the capital.

We have invested in an extensive in ormation campaign in accession state countriesto discourage those who are unlikely to be able to nd work rom coming to the UKin the rst place. Nonetheless, a limited number o people do come unprepared and

nd they are unable to get a job or they see their arrangements all through. As aresult they may end up sleeping rough on the streets.

As part o our £200 million investment to tackle homelessness over the next threeyears, CLG has provided an additional £300,000 this year to support our Londonlocal authorities to help tackle rough sleeping by A10 nationals. These authorities,

working with their voluntary sector partners, have helped destitute A10 nationalsto travel back to their own countries in cases where they are unable to nd work.The City o Westminster, the borough most a ected, has helped around 600individuals return home.

The Government published its new rough sleeping strategy in November 2008 7.This signals the Government’s intent to work with its partners to end rough sleepingby 2012. A signi cant action in the strategy is to step up e orts across governmentand with local partners to tackle rough sleeping among new migrant populations,in particular through the rollout o UKBA’s new local immigration teams.

6 www.homeless.org.uk/policyandin o/issues/EU10s/repeatsurvey/ 7 No One Le t Out – Communities ending rough sleeping .

www.communities.gov.uk/publications/housing/roughsleepingstrategy




CLG and UKBA are committed to close joint working to minimise the risk thatmigrants end up sleeping on the streets. This work will ocus on:

strengthening joint working at national and local level•

improving communications and disseminating in ormation on potential•

sources o help, such as the provisions o Schedule 3 o the 2002 ImmigrationAct which enable local authorities to reconnect migrants with their homecountry and UKBA resettlement schemes or non-EAA migrants

action to tackle anti-social behaviour among migrants, and urther work with•

the East European embassies

mitigating the risk that the case resolution process will increase homelessness•

closer working with stakeholders such as the national network that supports•

local authorities in addressing the challenges they ace in managing thesupport needs o migrants with no recourse to public unds

sharing in ormation, guidance and best practice to help coordinate responses,•

and

liaison on roll-out o UKBA’s local immigration teams, which will be operational•

in every part o the country rom early 2009 with complete coverage by 2011.

Schools

The impact o migration on schools varies signi cantly in di erent places. Inprimary schools, pupil numbers have been alling or several years and there is ahigh number o surplus places – around hal a million nationally, which is 12 percent o total capacity. In secondary schools there are currently 299,000 surplusplaces which represent 9 per cent o the total capacity. These spare places shouldmitigate against any additional demand resulting from immigration in the short tomid-term and ensure migration does not put pressure on access to school places.

In some places, schools have seen a signi cant rise in the number o pupils withEnglish as an Additional Language (EAL). Overall – in both primary and secondaryschools – EAL pupils represent 12 per cent o the school population. A very smallnumber o primary schools – 3.4 per cent – have 70 per cent or more pupilswith EAL but not all o these pupils are migrants. The Government recognisesthat there are not enough specialist EAL teachers in our schools to respond tothis need, so we have commissioned the Training and Development Agency orSchools to devise an implementation strategy to provide continuous pro essionaldevelopment and quali cation routes or senior school leaders, teachers andsupport sta which will be launched in autumn 2009.




We also continue to provide support or schools through the New ArrivalsExcellence Programme and our Exceptional Circumstances Grant. Four authoritieshave quali ed or the grant in 2008–09: City o London, Barking and Dagenham,Peterborough, and Blackburn with Darwen. Nationally, pupil numbers ellbetween January 2008 and September 2008, with only ve local authoritiesseeing an increase, each o less than 1 per cent. The proportion o pupils with EALincreased nationally by only 0.6 percentage points, with most authorities havingincreases o less than one percentage point. The our authorities that quali ed orthe grant had increases o more than 2.5 percentage points.

Health

Migrants who come to the UK to work or settle here are entitled to register with

a GP practice and to receive ree hospital treatment. However, i migrants do notaccess primary healthcare appropriately it can have an impact both on publichealth generally and on demand or accident and emergency and other hospitalcare such as maternity services. There are many di erent categories o oreignnationals or immigration purposes and the Department o Health in Englandand UKBA are currently considering the rules governing access to the NHS by thislarger group.

The Department o Health is supporting the public health teams in governmento ces with seed unding to assist them in engaging with and representingmigrant health issues at regional strategic partnerships. Research has beenundertaken or is underway; and cross-regional groups bringing together primarycare trusts have now been set up in most government o ce regions. TheDepartment o Health has also commissioned a primary care service ramework

or vulnerable migrant populations. This will be issued later in the year. Theramework can be used to assist primary care trusts to design new primary care

services where none exist or to adopt or add to existing ones to make them moreaccessible in areas with new arrivals.

Most migrant workers in the UK are t and healthy and do not represent asubstantial burden on the NHS. However, tuberculosis (TB) continues to pose apublic health threat to the UK population and the Government is taking steps athome and abroad to address it. The majority o cases o active TB in the UK aremost likely as a result o in ection overseas.

In order to continue to manage this threat, the Government will extend, or aurther 12 months, its pilot programme o pre-entry TB screening or migrantsrom those named targeted countries where high prevalence levels o the

disease exists. This will continue to complement existing on-arrival TB screeningarrangements at major ports. As a direct result o such pre-entry screening, 124cases had been detected by October 2008.




Crime and policing

At the national level , UKBA’sEn orcing the Deal outlined the Government’scommitment to establishing immigration crime partnerships across Englandand Wales. Under a strategic partnership agreement between UKBA andthe Association o Chie Police O cers immigration crime partnerships arecontinuing and increasing in strength. Speci c Immigration Crime Teams(ICTs) have been tested as a new way o working in three areas: London, theEast Midlands and, more recently, the north-east. They combine police andimmigration o cers and ocus on dismantling organised crime networks;tackling organised immigration-related criminality; and providing an immigrationsolution to those who are committing crimes while in the UK illegally.

During 2008/9 ICTs will have instigated in excess o 2,300 prosecutions including:

our Chinese males convicted o acilitation, having cheated the ‘knowledge•

o li e’ test as part o the citizenship process. They were sentenced to eightmonths imprisonment

an Ivorian national was convicted o possession o seven orged French•

identity documents with intent to supply. He was sentenced to 18 monthsimprisonment and recommended or deportation

the identi cation and arrest o a sex o ender with a previous conviction or•

rape who was due to be released rom psychiatric treatment. He was detainedor removal as a visa overstayer

an Albanian national due or release a ter serving six years or controlling a•

child or prostitution had planned to live back in his local borough. He wasremoved back to Albania, and

a man was arrested or possession o counter eit documents and sentenced•

to 16 months imprisonment. He will be removed rom the UK once sentencecomplete.

At the local community level, the National Policing Improvement Agency (NPIA)Citizen Focus and Neighbourhood Policing Programme have produced a numbero guides that support neighbourhood policing teams to respond to the needsand challenges o migrant and emerging communities. These include:

Neighbourhood policing in rural communities•

Neighbourhood pro les guide•

Business communities guide•

Emerging and incoming communities guide.•




Additionally, the NPIA has provided support to the Migrating Communities Group– a multi-disciplinary group established initially by police orces in London and thesouth-east but now including representatives rom the Serious and OrganisedCrime Agency and the UK Human Tra cking Centre. Meeting quarterly, thisgroup allows the sharing o e ective practice around community engagement,problem solving and local orce or organisation initiatives among colleagues andother interested agencies such as the Gangmasters Licensing Authority.

The Government has also completed its review o EEA criminality and, as aconsequence, will:

reduce the deportation re erral threshold or EEA criminals rom 24 months•

imprisonment to 12 months where they have committed drugs, violent orsexual o ences putting them in line with non-EEA nationals, and

target and deport low-level persistent oreign o enders who cause harm in•

the community but have not been given a prison sentence, or example thoseon community service but over a period have continued to reo end.

In December 2008, the Government also published its response to theMagee Review o Criminality In ormation (accepting in principle many othe recommendations) and it continues to improve the exchange o criminal

records across Europe, aiming to prioritise the exchange o criminalityin ormation or employment vetting and barring and immigration purposesin any new agreements.

Local immigration teams

Over the next three years, UKBA is establishing new local immigration teams(LITs) to serve every community in the UK. These teams will work in partnershipwith the police, other agencies and local authorities to en orce immigration lawand to help make the agency more accountable to the public. They will managerelationships between UKBA and its local partners to ensure a local approach tothe impacts o migration.

Nine have already been rolled out and more are set to be rolled out over thecoming months, with total coverage by December 2011. Each LIT will gatherand manage intelligence e ectively to combat immigration crime, track downimmigration o enders and undertake workplace en orcement to tackle illegalworking. They will work closely with partners, including the police, to dealappropriately with o enders, identi ying and recognising the level o harm theycause in a community.

The role o LITs will also be to support the e ective integration o those grantedre ugee status, citizenship or right o stay in the UK into their new communities.




LIT managers will have a key role to play to ensure liaison with local services isworking e ectively. This approach to increasing local accountability has beenstrongly in ormed by the success ul approach to neighbourhood policing and thework o crime and disorder reduction partnerships (CDRPs).

Cambridgeshire police’s Community Cohesion Unit (CCU) was established inJanuary 2007, consolidating previous work to build a rapport with migrantand other community groups. In recent years, migrants rom Eastern Europehave come to the area to work in local ood processing, arming and serviceindustries. There are also a signi cant number o Kurdish and Iraqi re ugees.

The unit comprises o cers and police community support o cers (PCSOs)

rom a variety o ethnic backgrounds with particular cultural and languageskills, including Urdu, French, Czech, Russian, Slovakian, Polish, Lithuanian,and Portuguese. Cambridgeshire Constabulary has actively sought to recruitPCSOs and police o cers rom the ethnic groups who are part o the localcity community.

The unit provides regular support to neighbourhood policing teams andthe CID, including reassuring victims and acting as a link with investigatingo cers. This has helped to improve understanding o , and cooperation on,

investigations and has helped to speed up procedures. O cers have alsobeen able to encourage reporting o hate crime and exploitative employmentpractices, and have assisted with en orcement action by the GangmastersLicensing Authority.

The CCU also supports the Sa er Schools Partnerships in two local schools.For example, at the Thomas Clarkson Community College in Wisbech, theunit holds regular surgeries with students rom many di erent aith andethnic backgrounds. As well as the bene ts o tackling crime and antisocialbehaviour, this initiative has been recognised or improving communitycohesion, building a stronger sense o citizenship among students, andincreasing quality o li e and opportunities or young people, their amiliesand the wider community around the schools. A recent project has involvedstudents working on the restoration o the building and grounds oLeverington Cemetery.

The unit’s regular surgeries at New Link, Peterborough Council’s help centreor migrants, have added value to mediation procedures and helped to

overcome negative impressions o the police, as those who have been

helped by their work at New Link tell their riends and amilies o the positiveexperience they have had, thus encouraging others to make contact.




The CCU works closely with Peterborough Council’s hate crime coordinator.Roadshows at accessible and visible locations in the community, or example

the local supermarket, mosque social centre, the main shopping mall inPeterborough and busy public spaces such as the Cathedral Square, haveraised awareness o what is being done to tackle hate crime and encouragedreporting. A ‘Stop Hate UK’ reporting line also operates round-the-clock.

Neighbourhood policing has been ully introduced in Peterborough, withneighbourhood panels meeting on a quarterly basis. These panels comprisemembers o the local community and take a key role in identi ying localpriorities and concerns. Within this ramework, there are targeted days orweeks o action, where multi-agency teams work together on a small area –sometimes just one street. Resident surveys are regularly carried out and CCUsta play an important part in helping oreign nationals to participate, therebyincreasing understanding and reducing tension between neighbours.

Local partnership working and the Migration Excellence Programme

Over the past year, the Migration Excellence Programme has been managedby the Improvement and Development Agency (IDeA) and unded by CLG.Its objectives have been to develop migration best practice and learning, andto support capacity-building in selected councils which had aced particularmigration pressures in their local communities. A range o resources has beendeveloped or these councils, who have also bene ted rom the support omember, o cer, voluntary and community sector peers.

The programme concluded in October 2008 with a national con erence.The purpose o the con erence was to disseminate lessons learnt rom theprogramme and its 11 support projects with councils and to promote theresources it has created or others to take the work orward.

The legacy o the programme includes a pool o accredited peers, who can becalled upon or advice and support by other local authorities looking to tacklespeci c migration challenges which they ace.

Outputs o the programme include:

good practice report and guidance or those producing migrant in ormation•

packs

development o a pool o 25 accredited peers•

a range o published material, including an learning document which draws•

out a range o lessons rom the programme, and 12 case studies rom theindividual migration support projects




various online resources have been developed during the course o the•

programme, including Ealing’s guidance on the provision o English as asecond language; online training support or rontline sta produced by King’sLynn and West Nor olk; East Lindsey’s awareness raising presentation orcouncillors; Su olk’s work on tenants housing advice and employment adviceto migrant workers; and various other tools and resources, all o which canbe accessed and adapted to the speci c needs o individual local authoritieswishing to take orward similar work, and

development o a Migration Community o Practice. This online acility•

provides migration practitioners with a discussion board and document access.

The programme has demonstrated the importance o using local knowledgewhile drawing upon best practice and on the expertise o local authorities tobene t the community. There is no one size ts all approach, migration issuesand needs vary considerably rom area to area. A clear vision and strong localleadership play a vital role in securing buy-in, support and awareness in driving

orward work to address the local impacts o migration.

An evaluation o the programme has been undertaken and ndings suggestthat peer support has increased knowledge and understanding o migration-related issues in all the councils, particularly where it has challenged councillors’

views about migrants and secured agreement to making strategic changes. Theprogramme also increased leadership capacity and capability in responding tomigration impacts. This has been through increasing awareness o the issues andpolitical support and understanding o problems and their solutions.

Outputs and outcomes produced by the programme can be largely attributedto the programme’s peer support and consultancy. This has infuenced changesin practice, or example, starting en orcement activities on HMOs to improvemigrant living conditions (West Wiltshire). It has also helped to shape new orreinvigorated partner arrangements such as, bringing council sta togetherto share in ormation (Southampton); and bringing councils and local serviceproviders, and community groups together (Ealing, East Lindsey, and HumberImprovement Partnership). Some areas have reported that partnership members

eel that participation has been revived. The programme has led to new orreinvigorated action plans including, an area cohesion action plan or WestNor olk that the LSP will be supporting; orum action plans on employmentand housing in Su olk; and plans or tension monitoring in the Humberpartnership councils.




Allerdale Borough Council: Delivering renewed momentum behind apartnership response

Allerdale Borough Council in Cumbria has experienced a modest butnoticeable increase in migrant workers, accompanied by concerns abouthousing and anti-social behaviour. Some mapping o migrant workers hadbeen undertaken by the council and the West Cumbria equality and diversitypartnership, but the initiative had ended there.

With support rom the Migration Excellence Programme, migration-relatedissues are now being in ormed much more by dialogue with migrantsthemselves. A local community group, the multicultural service in Maryport,which had links with migrant workers, ran ocus groups to identi y theirconcerns. The main issues were about housing, access to in ormation andlimited opportunities to learn English. Following these ocus groups the IDeA

acilitated workshop sessions with the equality and diversity partnership toreview their role and agree priorities.

The West Cumbria equality and diversity partnership is drawing up anaction plan or the area’s response to new migrants. In addition the councilis clearer about the work o groups in the area addressing issues or migrantworkers and the partners have made links with migrant workers through the

community group. By listening to migrants, partner members were able tond out directly about needs.

Details o the 12 case studies and all o the resources produced by the MigrationExcellence Programme, including the evaluation report, can be accessed rom theIDeA Knowledge website www.idea.gov.uk/migration . CLG will be discussingwith IDeA some ollow-up work to see how the councils who participated inthe original best practice work have been able to use the lessons learnt. Support

or local authority capacity building is also available through the regional

improvement and e ciency partnerships unded by CLG.

Fund to manage the transitional impacts o migration

The Government continues to provide a air unding settlement to local services.Local authorities will receive an average 4.2 per cent cash increase per year overthe current settlement period. However, we accept that migration can bring shortterm unding pressures. In February 2008, we announced our intention to collect

unds rom key groups o migrants to contribute towards the transitional impacto migration on public services in local areas.

http://www.idea.gov.uk/migration

http://www.idea.gov.uk/migration




We are creating the migration impacts und which will be made available topublic services to promote innovative ways o managing these pressures andsupport their local communities. Local authorities and schools, colleges, policeand the NHS will all be eligible to receive unding.

The und will be paid or by increases to migrant ees and will operate or the nexttwo years. It will provide £35 million or 2009/10 and – subject to a review in theautumn o the economic position and the migrant ees being received – a similaramount in 2010/11.The und will be targeted at migration-related pressuresidenti ed by local areas through their local strategic partnership (LSP) and by theirregional government o ce.

All regions o England will receive a proportion o the und, with the amounteach receives weighted towards regions where international migration has hadthe greatest impact. These weightings are based on ONS population projectionsshowing levels o inward migration to each region as a proxy or the impact ointernational migration, with consideration also given to the experience a regionhas in dealing with migration. The table below illustrates how much unding thisgives to each government o ce region or one year.

Total und size or UK £35,000,000

Fund or England £29,322,000North-east £1,389,863

North-west £3,606,606

Yorkshire and The Humber £2,929,268

East Midlands £3,034,827

West Midlands £2,873,556

East £3,568,487

London £5,653,282

South-east £3,269,403

South-west £2,996,708

Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland will receive £2.973 million, £1.727million and £0.978 million respectively rom the Migration Impacts Fund. Thisallocation has been determined according to Barnett principles and the devolvedadministrations will determine how these amounts are allocated.




We are not ruling out any activities rom receiving unding so that local areas havethe highest degree o fexibility possible to respond to their local circumstances.However, proposals or unding must be able to demonstrate that they aredirectly targeted at managing pressures on public services, to the bene t o thesettled community where those pressures relate to the transitional impacts omigration. Examples o the type o project this und could support include:

Most migrants live in privately rented housing. A minority o landlords o er•

poor quality housing to vulnerable and transient populations, includingmigrants. Local authorities have adequate powers to deal with this issue, butsome authorities report a lack o initial capacity to commence en orcement.Once selective licensing and en orcement activity around HMOs has started to

operate they should become sel - nancing, as ees will be charged. There orethe und could assist in starting selective licensing o the private rented sector,and subsidising inspections or en orcement o HMO provisions

The ability to speak English is critical or migrants integrating into their local•

communities, maximising their contribution to local economies and ensuringthey do not place undue burdens on local services. There ore the und could beused or ESOL provision targeted at migrants and complementary to existingESOL provision. We consider this a more e ective long-term solution thanusing the und or the translation o leafets

The und could be used or campaigns/projects designed to increase•

GP registration among migrants, and to reduce numbers o migrantsinappropriately attending accident and emergency services

Migrants are more likely to be the victims o crime than the perpetrators.•

However, some o ences such as absence o driving documentation, and non-use o seat-belts are more prevalent among migrants. The und could be used

or community sa ety campaigns, targeting migrant groups on these issues,and

Where there is a signi cant turnover o pupils in schools, local children’s•

services can nd it di cult to support transient amilies. The problem can beparticularly acute in rural areas, where support sta or migrant children aremore geographically sparse. The und could be used or peripatetic supportteachers and children’s services.

These examples are or illustration only. We encourage local services to bringorward innovative proposals or how this und could be spent to manage the

migration pressures in their local area, working through their local strategicpartnership and in collaboration with their regional government o ce. We wouldencourage proposals that bene t a number o public services.




Government o ces will be writing to LSP chairs shortly to alert them to the undand to provide details on how to access it . Government o ces will commissionLSPs to come orward with proposals on how the und could be spent. All LSPshave the option to submit a proposal or allocation o an amount o the regional

und should they eel they have an innovative scheme supported by locally drawnevidence o pressure on services rom migration and can show how the schemewill bene t the settled community. Schemes may also involve voluntary andcommunity sector partners.

There are many common themes around migration impacts across the country.There ore it is important or local service providers to work with government toexploit opportunities or collaboration, and to share experiences and best practice.



Chapter Three Managing the impacts on communities 41

Chapter Three

Managing the impacts oncommunitiesCohesion

The national picture on cohesion is positive. Evidence suggests that cohesion inthe UK continues to improve. Latest data rom the national Citizenship Survey 8 covering April to September 2008, ound that:

82 per cent o people perceived their community as cohesive, agreeing that•

their local area is a place where people rom di erent backgrounds get on welltogether, an increase rom 80 per cent in 2003 and 2005

76 per cent o people elt they belonged strongly to their neighbourhood, an•

increase rom 70 per cent in 2003

Overall, 81 per cent o people mixed socially at least once a month with people•

rom di erent ethnic or religious backgrounds, either at work, at a place oeducation, through a leisure activity, at a place o worship, at the shops orthrough volunteering.

We cannot be complacent about these trends continuing during an economicdownturn. It is not the downturn itsel that impacts upon cohesion. However,where consequences o the downturn combine, or example, unemploymentrising at the same time as rising crime and anti-social behaviour, this might makecommunities more vulnerable to cohesion problems.

That is why we are:

working with the government o ces and local areas to ensure our tension•

monitoring is e ective

mapping those areas where signi cant job losses, crime and antisocial•

behaviour may combine to produce cohesion challenges, and

engaging aith communities early in thinking about the impact on them and•

how they can help. We discussed the economic downturn at the November2008 meeting o the Faith Communities Consultative Council, and it will beamong the issues raised by ministers when engaging with aith communities.

8 www.communities.gov.uk/communities/racecohesion aith/research/citizenshipsurvey/quaterlystatisticalreleases/




Cohesion varies rom area to area depending on how speci c local actorscombine. Research indicates migration on its own does not have a negativeimpact on cohesion but it can do so in places where it combines with deprivationand/or a lack o experience o migration.

This local variation is why we are continuing to ocus support on those areaswhere cohesion issues have already been identi ed. We have already:

allocated £34 million as part o the area based grant over the next three years•

to 92 local authorities most in need o support to tackle particular areas otension

invested £7.5m to support the development o inter aith activity, and•

contributed £4.5 million to help schools and others o er positive activities or•

young people.

More than 90 local authorities have made a commitment to cohesion as part otheir local area agreement (LAA). In addition, we are supporting local areas toimprove community cohesion in a number o ways.

Supporting local authorities

The Cohesion Delivery Framework brings together guidance or local areas under

a single banner. This provides local practitioners with fexible, up to date, organisedguidance to enable them to deliver tailored responses to cohesion locally. The

ramework has three elements: the overview document; speci c guidance or localauthority practitioners; and the single portal or good practice examples.

The overview provides advice to local authorities, such as those working in areaswhich have selected cohesion priorities in their local area agreements, on how toanalyse the issues or cohesion in their area and develop a plan o action. It waspublished on 21 July 2008 and has received positive eedback rom practitioners 9.

Guidance or local authority practitioners is also available10

.Our two most recent pieces o guidance, published on 6 January 2009 were onhow local areas can encourage meaning ul interaction between people romdi erent backgrounds 11 and encourage a greater sense o local belonging 12. The

ormer suggests ways in which local authorities can encourage mixing betweendi erent groups, including existing residents and migrants. By meaning ul wemean that contact would go beyond that o casual greeting, that people wouldhave the opportunity to learn more about each other.

9 www.communities.gov.uk/publications/communities/cohesiondelivery ramework10 www.communities.gov.uk/communities/racecohesion aith/communitycohesion/cohesionpublications/ 11 www.communities.gov.uk/publications/communities/meaning ulinteraction12 www.communities.gov.uk/publications/communities/senseo belonging

http://www.communities.gov.uk/publications/communities/cohesiondeliveryframework

http://www.communities.gov.uk/publications/communities/cohesiondeliveryframework




We have a wider programme to encourage more meaning ul interaction becausewe know that areas that display high levels o meaning ul interaction have highlevels o cohesion (as measured by the Citizenship Survey). We also know thatmeaning ul interaction helps to breakdown stereotypes and prejudice. In additionpositive eelings that are engendered about one person are trans erred to thegroup that person represents.

We will also be working over the coming months with housing associationsand the voluntary and private sectors to promote meaning ul interaction. Thekey message is that the best way to build bridges between people is or them towork together on genuinely shared interests or issues. For example, planningand contributing to a street party can do as much to build cohesion as the actual

party itsel . But the interaction should arise naturally out o the activities peopleundertake, rather than being a pre-determined goal.

The single website available rom the Institute or Community Cohesion websiteand went live on 16 October 2008 13.

Specialist cohesion teams

In June, we announced that specialist cohesion teams (SCTs) would providesupport to local authorities who are experiencing cohesion challenges ollowingrapid change. Pilots have been undertaken in two local authorities, Brecklandand Barnsley.

Breckland and Barnsley are very di erent places, each with their own uniquecohesion challenges. In Breckland, the pilot is ocused on addressing challengeswhich stem rom recent migration rom Portugal and Eastern European countries,and the impact that this is having on community cohesion. In Barnsley the ocusis on improving the capacity o agencies to promote community cohesion, anddeveloping the council’s role in communicating positive cohesion messagesin all that they do. Breckland and Barnsley also have di erent administrative

reporting structures.

The pilots commenced in July 2008 and ran until January 2009. The evaluationreports on both areas will be published in spring 2009.

13 www.cohesioninstitute.org.uk/search/Pages/GoodPractice.aspx.




Breckland specialist cohesion team

The Breckland SCT ocused on the impact that migration is having on

community cohesion in the district o Nor olk. The Breckland SCT comprisedthree local improvement advisors, government o ce East o England o cials,o cers rom Breckland District Council, and Nor olk County Council. The teamalso worked collaboratively with colleagues rom local government (IDeA).

Breckland is one o the largest rural districts in England, covering over 1,305square kilometres, and is one o the most sparsely populated (0.9 people perhectare). There is a dispersed settlement pattern across the district with 50per cent o the population living in the ve market towns – Attleborough,

Dereham, Thet ord, Swa ham and Watton. The other 50 per cent are spreadacross 107 rural parishes that vary in size rom a population o 20 in Stan ordto 2,932 in Scarning – over hal having a population o ewer than 500.

Breckland is also one o the astest growing areas in England; the populationis 128,300 (according to the latest population gures) and is estimated tohave grown by more than 12 per cent since 1991, compared with a nationalaverage o 2.5 per cent. Growth is predicted to increase by a urther 4.9 percent by 2012. There are a growing number o residents moving to the districtmainly, rom Europe (speci cally Portugal and more recently the A8 countries)which is not refected in census data.

Retail, distribution, catering, arming and manu acturing are key economicactivities in the district. Although unemployment is relatively low, below 2per cent or much o the last decade, some o these employment sectors arein decline. Some o its wards are among the most deprived in the region,and there are a relatively large proportion o young people particularly inThet ord entering the job market. To respond to these trends the council’sregeneration and economic development activity ocuses on attracting high

value technology and skilled employment opportunities.

The objective o the SCT was to develop a clear set o actions to enhancecommunity cohesion in Breckland, and which are collectively owned by allsections o the community. The intention is that the agreed actions will leadboth to an improvement in service delivery which can be appreciated by allsections o the community and will help to build a stronger community whereall people eel that they are respected and that they belong.




Outcomes

The team established a clear line o communication with key stakeholders

in the area, including the VCS and Breckland LSP, and agreed with themthe terms o re erence or the programme o work, which has achieved the

ollowing:

SCT members reviewed all o Breckland and Nor olk’s existing documents•

which relate to cohesion and migration and produced a report whichoutlines where improvements could be made

the team has also interviewed over 30 community and voluntary sector•

workers or their views on how community cohesion and service delivery

could be improved locallyworkshops were run or representatives rom a variety o migrant•

community groups and service providers, and

input rom strategic leads was collated and will add to the perspectives o•

leaders and service managers about how they translate policy into practice.

This review utilised the IDeA’s cohesion benchmarking tool to review cohesionand migration policy and practice in Breckland.

A nal report is currently being prepared on the basis o work undertaken todate and will be published in spring 2009. All stakeholders will be asked toadvise on how they will contribute to delivering against the recommendationsmade in this report.

An independent review o this pilot began in February 2009. The evaluationhas three main aims:

to assess whether the SCTs in Breckland and Barnsley are meeting their•

core objectivesto evaluate the use ulness o the Process o Engagement document,•

speci cally the extent to which it is trans erable and useable in a widerange o di erent local authorities, and

to provide trans erable learning to in orm the development o SCTs in•

other localities by identi ying good practice along the lines o what doesand does not work.




The legacy of this pilot

Although the ormal evaluation o this programme has not yet been

published, there are a number o bene ts which are already arising rom theprocess to date. The legacy o the SCT pilot includes:

strengthened capacity o councils to support peer to peer mentoring in•

dealing with cohesion issues. This will have on-going bene t to thoseneighbouring districts sharing similar pro les to Breckland, as the learningwill be able to be rolled out over a wider area

the leadership within Breckland has developed a clearer understanding o•

the issues aced both by local communities and service providers as a result

o the increasing migration to the area, and have received a wide range operspectives on how these issues can be addressed

closer involvement and clearer communication with relevant stakeholders•

has provided added transparency to decision making, and

this has supported the development o policies which should engage and•

bene t all sections o the community.

Subject to the evaluation, the intention is that SCT will orm a ‘cohesionresource’ that ts into a package o local area support, and that regions cancall upon via their RIEPs to help them improve cohesion.

Preventing violent extremism

Our work to support local and community partners to tackle violent extremism atthe local level is also signi cant in this context. Apologists or violent extremismboth exploit and create grievances to justi y terrorism. Some o these grievancesrefect the experiences o some individuals living in this country: racism,discrimination, inequalities, lack o social mobility, under employment, theexperience o criminality or the experience o migration, or example. Our e ortsto address these broader issues can support work to tackle violent extremism.

Strong and empowered communities are better equipped to e ectively rejectthe ideology o violent extremism, isolate apologists or terrorism and providesupport to vulnerable institutions and individuals. CLG and the Home O ce havea central role in putting communities at the centre o our response to violentextremism, ensuring that individuals and groups o all aiths and all diasporacommunities understand the government Prevent strategy and providing themwith the support to take a stand against violent extremism.

These principles were highlighted in the Government’s Preventing Violent Extremism: a guide or local partners, which was launched in June 2008, and




will be part o the Government’s revised counter-terrorism strategy which willbe published shortly. In line with these principles, CLG and the Home O cecooperate on a range o initiatives to embed the principles o the Prevent agendainto areas such as supporting re ugee integration, asylum housing and earnedcitizenship. This work not only recognises the potential vulnerability o migrantsbut seeks to provide support where it is most needed, seeking to mitigate thepossible risks o alienation and radicalisation.

Young people and cohesion

Since September 2008, O sted has inspected schools on their contributionto their duty to promote community cohesion as part o the normal schoolinspection process. In order to support schools in meeting the duty, the

Department or Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) published guidance onthe duty to promote community cohesion in July 2007 and has worked with theInstitute or Community Cohesion (ICoCO) to develop a resource pack which isavailable rom teachernet 14.

School linking is one way that schools can contribute to their duty to promotecommunity cohesion, by providing opportunities or their pupils to interact withpeople rom di erent backgrounds and build positive relations. DCSF is providing£2 million o unding over the Comprehensive Spending Review period tosupport the roll out o the Schools Linking Network programme to schools andlocal authorities.

In addition, we have also combined CLG unding and DCSF unding o£12.7 million in 2009-11 or residential camps or economically disadvantagedyoung people. The Youth Hostel Association (YHA) will deliver these campsat which young people can discuss issues linked to community cohesion.Camps began in October 2008 and will run to March 2009. Just over 200 youngpeople have attended so ar and various groups have been involved, includingchildren o recent immigrants and asylum seekers. Some o the topics thathave already been covered to help address community tensions are: bullying;discrimination; confict resolution; and e ective communication.

Future topics being considered include: gang activity and its impact on thecommunity; managing rivalry and confict between two areas; celebratingdiversity; reducing isolation; and improving sel -worth. We will use the blueprintand learning rom these test camps to determine the strategy or uture camps in2009-11. The YHA and local authorities will explore how these residential coursescan capture young people’s views o their communities (particularly cohesion

issues) and eed these back into the heads o children’s services so that theseviews can in orm the children and young people’s planning process.

14 www.teachernet.gov.uk/wholeschool/Communitycohesion/communitycohesionresourcepack/

http://www.teachernet.gov.uk/wholeschool/Communitycohesion/communitycohesionresourcepack/

http://www.teachernet.gov.uk/wholeschool/Communitycohesion/communitycohesionresourcepack/




We are also supporting the work o Media Box, which o ers grants to youngpeople to make creative media projects or lm, television, radio, online, printand multi-media plat orms. The Mix Mediabox strand speci cally aims to supportcommunity cohesion objectives. Eight projects were awarded grants o up to£30,000 in September 2008 including:

FastForward/Young Bristol media club which is developing an interactive•

computer game drawing on the experience o older members o thecommunity

Ul ah Arts which is working with Muslim girls in Birmingham to produce lm•

and radio, and

198 Contemporary Arts and Learning, working with young people rom•

across South London to produce a campaign around community cohesion andchallenging negative stereotypes o young people.

All projects are due to be completed by spring 2009.The Mix Mediabox strand iscurrently being evaluated to examine the impact on community cohesion.

Integration

In June, we explained that we would take integration orward by working acrossWhitehall – and in collaboration with local authority partners – to develop andspread best practice. We would also consider the easibility o a separate nationalagency to manage the integration o new migrants. The conclusion o our

easibility review was that there is no clear rationale or developing an integrationagency. The unctions it would be expected to discharge can be provided withinexisting structures, and the development o a new agency would not justi y thecost that its establishment would entail. Instead, CLG is taking orward its leadon coordinating work across government around the impacts o migrants onlocal communities.

The Government is stepping up practical support or organisations helpingmigrants to integrate into British society. It is helping und the creation o a newnational in ormation portal or migrant workers, which is being led by the Easto England Development Agency (EEDA). The project will build on the success ulEEDA pilot and will provide in ormation about living and working in the UK, suchas housing, employment rights, health provision, and schooling. It is also receiving

unding rom the European Social Fund with potential o ers o support romother regional development agencies, regional strategic migration partnershipsand local authorities.




We are also looking at how it might be practicable to bring together the widerange o support material developed by public service providers, including localauthorities, the police, re and rescue services and healthcare trusts, to provide asingle, e cient source o expertise and advice or practitioners helping migrantsto integrate. The emphasis will continue to be on responsibilities as much as rights.

Re ugee integration

The Government has rolled out a new service to deal speci cally with theintegration o re ugees. The Re ugee Integration and Employment Service (RIES)was launched in October 2008 to provide practical help to anyone over 18 whohas been granted re ugee status or humanitarian protection.

The RIES o ers a 12 month advice and support service helping re ugees addressinitial critical needs such as housing, education and nancial support enter long-term employment at the earliest opportunity (with at least 30 per cent helpedinto work within this initial 12 months); and be mentored by a volunteer rom thecommunity in which they settle.

RIES operates in each o the English regions with delivery partnerships led by theBritish Re ugee Council (London, east o England and West Midlands), Re ugeeAction (south-east, south-west and north-west), the Metropolitan Support Trust(East Midlands), the North o England Re ugee Service (north-east) and Leeds CityCouncil (Yorkshire and Humberside).

In partnership with the British Re ugee Council, UKBA will shortly publish are reshed re ugee integration and resettlement strategy – Moving on together:Government’s recommitment to supporting re ugees .

Moving on together is a cross-sector commitment to strengthen engagementat national, regional and local level to ensure that wherever possible, the speci cneeds o re ugees are refected in wider policy and delivery considerations –

empowering re ugees to contribute to British li e.

Local leadership

The Government is not persuaded, however, that at this stage it should beconsulting on a wider “high level” national integration strategy covering everytype o migrant group over and above Moving on together .




In November 2008 the Government response to the CLG Select Committee’sreport on community cohesion and migration argued that in the short andmedium term “guidance and capacity building support” or local governmentand other partners was the priority. Experience has been that the impact o newmigration in particular has been overwhelmingly place-based and concentrated.A prescriptive strategy would run counter to the Government’s view that“integration is a long term, non-linear process … which should primarily takeplace at a local level”.

Although there are limits to the applicability o other countries’ experience, theGovernment continues to look at international comparisons to help assess whatworks best in helping migrants integrate. The evidence we have suggests that

learning the host language and participating in the labour market remain themost important actors.

Integration case study – Shpresa Programme

Shpresa, “hope” in Albanian, is a user-led organisation in East London whichworks with local partners – including youth centres, re ugee support groups,health and women’s projects, the Women’s Therapy Centre, Newham PrimaryCare Trust, the Re ugee Council, and the School or Social Entrepreneurs – tohelp the Albanian community to integrate into the wider community.

Shpresa’s objectives are to help Albanian nationals to:

nd work, skills and training opportunities, and get advice on accessing•

local services

understand their rights and responsibilities in the UK, eel socially included•

and avoid isolation

eel sa e and to not su er prejudice or discrimination, either within or•

outside the Albanian speaking community

participate in community li e, vote and take care o the environment•

improve their health and well-being, and•

value their heritage and the contribution it brings to the wider community.•

One o Shpresa’s main programmes is to support younger people and buildproductive relations between younger and older community members. It hasdeveloped close links to nine local schools in the area which have numberso Albanian students. The programme aims to improve: children’s English

and literacy skills; attainment in their mainstream schooling; parent/childcommunication within the amily; parent/teacher communication; and raiseawareness o Albanian culture in the school and wider community.




Under this partnership, the schools o er the use o their premises and acilitiesree while Shpresa provides language learning, sporting and cultural activities

or children, young people and women. These sessions are held a ter-school,during school holidays and at weekends. Over 300 children attend.

In a number o schools, Shpresa has supported parents rom the Albaniancommunity to become school governors or volunteers to help in the classroom.

Shpresa also runs weekly support groups or women. These o er practical andemotional support and provide creche acilities on-site. Women are encouragedto take ownership o the meetings and run the activities themselves, as wellas getting involved in community work outside the con nes o the group.This raises con dence and sel -esteem. The support groups help them to ndlanguage classes and training courses, and develop tailored courses where theyhave established a particular demand. For instance, they o er women trainingin beauty and complementary therapies, enabling them to practice their skills atthe groups, gain a quali cation and nd work.

With local partners, the support groups provide classes in English andIT skills, both with creche provision, and the opportunity to gain ormalquali cations in childcare and childminding. The groups also advise them on

the educational opportunities available to their children and on how to accessother public services.

In partnership with Newham PCT, Shpresa has run a number o healthpromotion workshops or Albanian women, as well as taking the lead onsome community-wide initiatives, on a range o issues such as healthy eating,healthy living, MOT health checks, cancer and TB screening, and accessingtherapy. It has also promoted vaccination programmes.

Shpresa has developed speci c initiatives to promote community cohesion. Itplays a lead role in Re ugee Week in the East London boroughs. It has takenan active part in the Newham Mayor’s Show and One World Week Events,and has provided volunteers to assist other community organisations in theirwork. Jointly with Re ugee Youth, Shpresa has run several “Mix-it Together”events, such as camping trips, where young people rom the Albaniancommunity work alongside their peers rom di erent communities.




Shpresa has organised and taken part in many other local events in andaround East London in recent years. This has brought large numbers o local

residents rom di erent aiths and backgrounds together, participating andsocialising around activities such as international ood stalls, music and danceper ormance, children’s play activities and in ormation sharing stalls. Long-standing and newer residents have thus learnt about each other’s cultureand background, as diverse local groups have been able to showcase theirparticular cultural activities and history at these events.

Speaking English

The ability o migrants to speak English is critical to their ability to interact with

others, to work and to access public services. This is why the Borders, Citizenshipand Immigration Bill, will lay down a radical new approach to British citizenshipthat will require all migrants to speak English and obey the law i they want togain citizenship and stay permanently in Britain – while speeding up the path tocitizenship or those who contribute to the community by being active citizens.

In addition, ollowing their consultation in 2008, the Department or Innovation,Universities and Skills (DIUS) has been developing English or Speakers o OtherLanguages (ESOL) policy to re-prioritise provision and strengthen its role insupporting community cohesion and social inclusion.

By providing more targeted, fexible and e ective services, isolated and excludedpeople in settled communities who have English language needs can beencouraged to access ESOL and progress their learning, as well as achieving theirgoals or employability, supporting their amilies, and being part o their localcommunities.

Key to the success o this policy is that priority groups are identi ed at the locallevel, where the local authority, Learning and Skills Council (LSC) and providers

work together with other local partners to identi y and meet the needs o themost vulnerable people in their area who need to improve their English skills.

With roll-out starting in September 2009, partners will use their knowledge olocal demographics, migration and employment patterns to identi y groups opeople who are not accessing provision and what the barriers are, including lacko places or inappropriate provision or their needs. ESOL provision can then betailored to meet these needs better. The new Migration Impacts Fund can alsobe used to support language provision in line with this approach. In response tothe consultation, DIUS will set out next steps in implementing this new approachshortly, together with the details o the path nder areas which will be the rsttake it orward.




Employment is an important actor in contributing towards community cohesionand integration. Tackling English needs in the workplace remains a priority. PoorEnglish language skills are one o the biggest barriers to access to work, progressin employment and ul lment o potential. For those who are out o work whosepoor English language skills are seen as a barrier to employment, ree provision isavailable to address their needs. For those in work, there is a shared responsibility

or support and the cost o provision between government and employers.

Provision o ESOL to employers has real economic bene ts or the employer.These bene ts include reduced turnover, improved communications andproductivity, more e ective team-building, more e ective addressing o healthand sa ety issues and improved levels o customer service. The ESOL o er within

Train to Gain has been improved so that people can be supported to achieveeither a standalone ESOL quali cation or to access ESOL provision as part oa learning programme leading to a vocational quali cation. Further work isunderway to improve the ESOL o er to employers and their employees, to raiseawareness, increase take up and ensure more individuals are able to access thesupport they need.




Conclusion

This document sets out progress against the commitments we made in Managingthe impacts o migration: a cross-government approach. It also refects on thechanges that have taken place in the cycle o migration owing to the economicdownturn and how we are going to increase our immigration controls and upskillthe UK work orce to ensure that we can compete in a global economy.

As we said in June, the Government’s response to migration needs to keep pacewith change. We can expect urther change over coming months and that iswhy we are strengthening our research and analytical capability so we better

understand patterns o migration. The re orm o the Migration Impacts Forumand the consultation on a new Migration Impacts Committee will strengthenindependent advice to government on these issues.

We continue to provide a programme o support to areas managing the impactso migration. We have introduced the Migration Impacts Fund to provide localareas with signi cant additional unding to build their capacity to managemigration. Longer-term we are making changes to the population statistics usedto determine local unding to make them even more responsive to populationchange. And we continue with tailored packages o support or schools, primarycare trusts and the police to help them manage change in their communities.

Impact of Communities

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