COHESION & MIGRATION Chris Eade Assistant Director, Communities & Regeneration Place Directorate

POLICY CONTEXT Building cohesive communities Commission on integration and cohesion Our Shared Future – 57 recommendations Public Service Agreement (PSA 21) on community cohesion £50 Million investment Local Area Agreement (LAA) – NI 1 – The percentage of people who believe that people from different backgrounds get on well together

PSA 3 Ensure controlled, fair migration that protects the public and contributes to economic growth. This PSA focuses on four key delivery priorities: Strengthening UK borders by using tougher checks abroad so that only those with permission can travel to the UK; and ensuring that the Government knows who leaves so that action can be taken against those who break the rules; Fast-tracking asylum decisions, removing those whose claims fail and integrating those who need protection; Ensuring and enforcing compliance with UK immigration laws, removing the most harmful people first and denying the privileges of the UK to those here illegally; and Boosting Britain’s economy by bringing the right skills here from around the world, and ensuring that this country is easy to visit legally Lead Department – UKBA

Points Based System Five tiers of managed migration, instead of the more than 80 that there was previously: Tier 1 – Highly skilled individuals to contribute to growth and productivity Tier 2 – Skilled workers with a job offer to fill gaps in the labour market Tier 3 – Limited numbers of low skilled workers to fill temporary labour shortages – currently suspended and replaced by Seasonal Agricultural Workers Scheme (SAWS) Tier 4 – Students Tier 5 – Youth mobility and temporary workers: people allowed working in the UK for a limited period of time to satisfy non-economic objectives

Borders, Citizenship and Immigration Bill The Bill published in parliament on 15th Jan 09 Migration Impacts Forum (MIF) – Chaired by Sadik Khan MP The Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) Funding – Migration Impacts Fund (MIF) – national announcement on fund size on the 19th March

Regional Picture The West Midlands has a higher proportion of its population who are not in the "White: British" group than any other region apart from London. (WM 15.9%, England 15.3%, London 41.8%) The largest settlements of migrants from the A8 from 2004 to 2007 are in Herefordshire (7,140) and Birmingham (7,110) 90% of migrants are employed. It is estimated that migrants make around a 4-5% annual contribution to the West Midlands’ economy

Integration Birmingham picture – Somalian community Herefordshire – seasonal workers – initial teething problems - in 2006 they produced a web site www.welcometoherefordshire.com Stoke-on-Trent – NASS dispersal area – far right activity