A paper said that there were potential economic benefits associated with immigration, especially to fill gaps in the labour market where there were shortages of workers, whether high-skilled or low-skilled. Although there might be costs to particular groups, there was little evidence of an overall negative impact on jobs or wages.
Source: Jonathan Wadsworth, Immigration to the UK: The evidence from economic research, PA10, Centre for Economic Performance/London School of Economics (020 7955 7673)
Links: Paper | LSE press release
Date: 2007-Dec
A paper said that the influx of workers from Eastern Europe had tended to increase labour supply in the United Kingdom by more than it had increased demand (in the short run). This had acted to reduce inflationary pressures and reduce the natural rate of unemployment.
Source: David Blanchflower and Chris Shadforth, Fear, Unemployment and Migration, National Bureau of Economic Research (011 1 817 7955)
Links: Abstract | Guardian report
Date: 2007-Dec
A think-tank report said that although many areas of the country had benefited from an influx of migrant workers, the existing funding mechanism for local authorities could be reformed to help communities cope. It advocated rewarding areas that increased levels of employment by devolving a section of the starting rate of income tax directly to councils. This 'taxes as grants' system would allow councils a better automatic fiscal incentive to help local services adapt to local population shifts.
Source: Matthew Clifton, Managing New Migration: A local approach to a global phenomenon, New Local Government Network (020 7357 0051)
Links: NLGN press release
Date: 2007-Dec
The statistics watchdog sought to clarify the relationship between the various published estimates for the number of foreign workers in employment in the United Kingdom. Using the best available population estimates, the number of people in employment increased between 1997 and 2007 by 2.7 million. More than half of the increase was accounted for by foreign/migrant workers.
Source: Foreign Workers in the UK: Briefing Note, Statistics Commission (020 7273 8008)
Links: Briefing note | Guardian report | Personnel Today report
Date: 2007-Dec
The government began consultation on proposals to ensure that visitors to the United Kingdom complied with the conditions of their visa, including: requiring people to put up a financial deposit to ensure any foreign national family members returned home following their visit from overseas; and reducing the length of time a tourist could stay in the UK from six to three months.
Source: Visitors: Consultation Paper, Home Office (0870 000 1585)
Links: Consultation document | Hansard | Home Office press release | Guardian report | Telegraph report
Date: 2007-Dec
A report examined the scale of recent population changes, in particular rising immigration, and their impact on local services. It highlighted concerns regarding the adequacy of official population estimates, the speed and flexibility of funding adjustments, and whether the population projections and financial adjustments reflected the new range of diversity and the challenges that population change created.
Source: Institute of Community Cohesion, Estimating the Scale and Impacts of Migration at the Local Level, Local Government Association (020 7664 3000)
Links: Report | LGA press release | EHRC press release | Liberal Democrats press release | Guardian report | Telegraph report | Community Care report
Date: 2007-Nov
The number of people who applied for asylum in the third quarter of 2007 was 5,890 (19 per cent higher than the previous quarter, and 0.5 per cent higher than a year earlier).
Source: Asylum Statistics: 3rd Quarter 2007 – United Kingdom, Home Office (020 7273 2084)
Links: Report | Home Office press release | Refugee Council press release | Guardian report
Date: 2007-Nov
A think-tank report said that the phenomenon of globalization was at root a force for progress. Increased trade, development, migration, and 'green capitalism' all had the potential to make the world richer – financially, ecologically, and culturally.
Source: Julian Astle, Mark Bell and Alasdair Murray (eds.), Globalisation: A Liberal Response, CentreForum (020 7340 1160)
Links: Report
Date: 2007-Nov
A study examined the housing experiences of new immigrants, and the consequences of their arrival for local housing markets and neighbourhoods. Rather than taking much needed housing from local residents, new immigrants tended to fill voids in the housing stock left behind or rejected by other households.
Source: David Robinson, Kesia Reeve and Rionach Casey, The Housing Pathways of New Immigrants, York Publishing Services for Joseph Rowntree Foundation, available from York Publishing Services Ltd (01904 430033)
Links: Report | JRF Findings | JRF press release | Liberal Democrats press release
Date: 2007-Nov
A report said that refugees experienced a 'discongruity of belonging', where Britishness was not cultivated through local integration but experienced on a national level through freedom and peace. It called for the government to provide English language courses for all newly arrived refugees; set up flexible funding for English language provision in schools; and review the 5-year time limit on refugee status, and extend it to allow permanent residency.
Source: Jill Rutter with Laurence Cooley, Sile Reynolds and Ruth Sheldon, From Refugee to Citizen: 'Standing On My Own Two Feet' – A research report on integration, 'Britishness' and citizenship, Metropolitan Support Trust/Refugee Support (020 7501 2200)
Links: Report | Summary | Community Care report
Date: 2007-Nov
The government responded to a report by a joint committee of MPs and peers on the programme for highly skilled migrants. It said that changes to the programme did not breach human rights law, because there were safeguards in place to ensure that in each particular case the individual's human rights were considered and protected.
Source: Highly Skilled Migrants: Changes to the immigration rules – The Government Reply to the Twentieth report from the Joint Committee on Human Rights, Cm 7268, Home Office, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Date: 2007-Nov
The government announced (in the Queen's Speech) plans to publish a draft Citizenship and Immigration Bill. Eventual legislation would take forward recommendations from a review of citizenship (led by former Attorney General Lord Goldsmith). The review was seeking to: clarify the legal rights and responsibilities associated with British citizenship, in addition to those enjoyed under the Human Rights Act; consider the difference between the different categories of British nationality; examine the relationship between residence, citizenship, and British national status, and the incentives for long-term residents to became British citizens; and explore the role of citizens and residents in civic society, including voting, jury service, and other forms of civic participation.
Source: Her Majesty's Most Gracious Speech to Both Houses of Parliament, 6 November 2007, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Queens Speech | Downing Street press release | Guardian report | Telegraph report
Date: 2007-Nov
An independent report strongly criticized the way in which complaints made by immigrants and asylum-seekers about their treatment by the immigration agency were dealt with. It found that just 8 per cent of complainants were interviewed, and 89 per cent of investigations were 'neither balanced nor thorough'.
Source: Annual Report 2006/2007, Complaints Audit Committee/Border and Immigration Agency/Home Office (0870 606 7766)
Links: Report | Liberal Democrats press release | BBC report
Date: 2007-Nov
An article questioned claims that migrant workers from the new European Union accession states were gaining access to scarce social housing at the expense of English citizens.
Source: David Robinson, 'European Union accession state migrants in social housing in England', People, Place & Policy, Volume 1 Issue 3
Links: Article
Date: 2007-Nov
An article examined the concept of 'race hate' that had emerged and flourished in British society in recent years. It discussed a number of inter-related issues that constituted important causal factors in articulations of 'race hate' among sections of the white working class. Many of these issues related to deep-seated structural factors like socio-economic marginalization and perceived challenges to hegemonic white identity.
Source: Diane Frost, 'The "enemy within"? Asylum, racial violence and 'race hate' in Britain today', Twenty-first Century Society, Volume 2 Number 3
Links: Abstract
Date: 2007-Nov
A report said that government policies on asylum – including restrictions on the right to work, benefits below the poverty line, and lack of early help with settling into the United Kingdom – hindered integration by refugees, and created more divided communities.
Source: Gaby Atfield, Kavita Brahmbhatt and Therese O'Toole, Refugees' Experiences of Integration, Refugee Council (020 7820 3042)
Links: Report | Summary | Refugee Council press release | Inside Housing report
Date: 2007-Oct
The Criminal Justice and Immigration Bill was given a second reading. The Bill included measures to: end automatic sentence discounts for offenders re-sentenced to an indeterminate sentence after an initial sentencing decision had been ruled unduly lenient; stop the 'plainly guilty' having their convictions quashed because of procedural irregularities; give powers for courts to make dangerous offenders given a discretionary life sentence serve a higher proportion of their tariff before becoming eligible for parole consideration; and create a presumption that trials in magistrates' courts would proceed in the absence of the accused.
Source: Criminal Justice and Immigration Bill, Ministry of Justice, TSO (0870 600 5522) | House of Commons Hansard, Debate 8 October 2007, columns 59-131, TSO
Links: Text of Bill | Explanatory notes | Hansard | JCWI briefing
Date: 2007-Oct
The government said that the net total of foreign nationals working in the United Kingdom was 1.1 million, not 800,000 as previously reported, following the discovery of survey errors.
Source: Letter from Peter Hain MP (Secretary of State for Work and Pensions), 30 October 2007
Links: BBC report | Guardian report | Telegraph report | FT report
Date: 2007-Oct
The UK Borders Act 2007 was given Royal assent. The Act provided for tougher powers for immigration officers, and compulsory identity cards for non-European Union nationals. It also made deportation of some foreign prisoners automatic once their sentence ended.
Source: UK Borders Act 2007, Home Office, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Text of Act | HOC research brief | Home Office press release
Date: 2007-Oct
An article said that migrant workers from the eight central and east European countries acceding to the European Union in May 2004 (the A8 countries) were more broadly spread across the United Kingdom than traditional migrant groups.
Source: Viktorija Bauere, Paul Densham, Jane Millar and John Salt, 'Migrants from central and eastern Europe: local geographies', Population Trends 129, Autumn 2007, Office for National Statistics, Palgrave Macmillan (01256 329242)
Links: Article | ONS press release | Telegraph report
Date: 2007-Oct
A government report said that in recent years migrants had made a more positive contribution to the public finances than native workers, and had very little discernible negative impact on labour market outcomes for native workers. But in 7 out of 8 regions migrant workers from eastern Europe had placed increased pressure on housing, and in more than half there had been a rise in crime, health, and housing problems associated with migration.
Source: The Economic and Fiscal Impact of Immigration, Cm 7237, Home Office and Department for Work and Pensions, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Report | Home Office press release | REC press release | Liberal Democrats press release | Guardian report | BBC report | Personnel Today report
Date: 2007-Oct
The government announced that it would maintain restrictions on the labour market access of migrants coming to the United Kingdom from Romania and Bulgaria until at least the end of 2008.
Source: House of Commons Hansard, Written Ministerial Statement 30 October 2007, columns 34-35WS, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Hansard | Home Office press release | TUC press release
Date: 2007-Oct
A think-tank report said that the immigration debate should be 'reframed' to welcome the economic and social benefits that came from migration. The increased resources and greater diversity of experience which migrants brought with them could contribute to the drive for a modern, more responsive, progressive direction for public policy.
Source: Don Flynn and Zoe Williams (eds.), Towards a Progressive Immigration Policy, Compass (020 7463 0633)
Links: Report | Compass press release
Date: 2007-Oct
A think-tank report said that the earnings of 'native' workers were depressed in order to provide capital and wealth for immigrants.
Source: Anthony Scholefield, Warning: Immigration Can Seriously Damage Your Wealth, Social Affairs Unit (web publication only)
Links: Report
Date: 2007-Oct
A report provided estimates of short-term migration, and gave an update of the progress made on definitional and methodological issues. In the year to mid-2005 there were a total of 1.02 million visits lasting 1-12 months made to England and Wales by overseas residents.
Source: Research Report on Short-term Migration, Office for National Statistics (0845 601 3034)
Links: Report | ONS press release | LGA press release
Date: 2007-Oct
A report said that the United Kingdom lagged behind many other European Union countries when it came to helping migrants integrate into society and participate in politics. Although it had strong anti-discrimination laws and a good record of allowing migrants to stay in the country, it could do more to reunite families, and help migrants find work.
Source: Migrant Integration Policy Index, Migration Policy Group (+32 2 230 5930) and British Council
Links: Report | MPG press release | Guardian report | BBC report
Date: 2007-Oct
A new book provided a comprehensive account of government policy on immigration since 1997. It said that immigration policy had undergone an 'intense and innovative' transformation during the period.
Source: Will Somerville, Immigration under New Labour, Policy Press, available from Marston Book Services (01235 465500)
Links: Summary | Guardian report
Date: 2007-Sep
The Office for National Statistics published the long-term assumptions of future fertility, mortality, and net migration on which the 2006-based population projections would be calculated. The key assumptions for the United Kingdom were: an average family size of 1.84 children per woman (an increase of 0.10 compared with the 2004-based projections); an expectation of life at birth in 2031 of 82.7 years for males and 86.2 years for females (compared with 81.4 years and 85.0 years respectively in the 2004-based projections); a long-term assumption for net immigration of 190,000 each year (compared with 145,000 per year in the previous projections).
Source: '2006-based national population projections: underlying long-term assumptions', Population Trends 129, Autumn 2007, Office for National Statistics, Palgrave Macmillan (01256 329242)
Links: Article | ONS press release | MWUK press release | Telegraph report | Guardian report | BBC report
Date: 2007-Sep
A trade union report highlighted exploitation of Polish and Lithuanian workers. More than a quarter of those surveyed had had problems with payment, including not being paid for hours worked, and unauthorized deductions.
Source: Bridget Anderson, Nick Clark, Violetta Parutis, New EU Members? Migrant Workers' Challenges and Opportunities to Trade Unions – A Polish and Lithuanian case study, Trades Union Congress (020 7467 1294)
Links: Report | TUC press release | BBC report | Personnel Today report
Date: 2007-Sep
A report said that the chance of a female asylum-seeker securing refugee status or humanitarian protection was dramatically reduced if her claim was decided while she was detained.
Source: Sarah Cutler, 'Refusal Factory': Women's experiences of the detained fast track asylum process at Yarl's Wood Immigration Removal Centre, Bail for Immigration Detainees (020 7247 3590)
Links: Report | Summary | BID press release | Community Care report
Date: 2007-Sep
A think-tank report examined the economic characteristics of immigrant communities and the contributions they made to the economy. There was considerable variation between different groups. On most criteria, most immigrant groups did better in economic terms than the United Kingdom-born population: but there were some immigrant communities who ranked consistently lower on most indicators than the UK average.
Source: Dhananjayan Sriskandarajah, Laurence Cooley and Tracy Kornblatt, Britain's Immigrants: An economic profile, Institute for Public Policy Research (020 7470 6100)
Links: Report | Summary | Telegraph report
Date: 2007-Sep
A report by a joint committee of MPs and peers said that changes made in 2006 to the Highly Skilled Migrants Programme, aimed at tackling abuse, breached human rights. Thousands of people who had been offered permanent residence in the United Kingdom faced deportation, which was contrary to fair treatment.
Source: Highly Skilled Migrants: Changes to the Immigration Rules, Twentieth Report (Session 2006-07), HC 993 and HL 173, Joint Committee on Human Rights (House of Lords and House of Commons) Select Committee, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Report | IAS press release | Ekklesia press release | BBC report | Guardian report | Personnel Today report
Date: 2007-Aug
The number of people applying for asylum in the United Kingdom fell by over 2,000 in 2006, to its lowest level since 1993.
Source: Kerry Bennett, Tina Heath and Richard Jeffries, Asylum Statistics: United Kingdom 2006, Statistical Bulletin 14/07, Home Office (020 7273 2084) | Control of Immigration: Statistics United Kingdom 2006, Cm 7197, Home Office, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Bulletin | Report | Home Office press release
Date: 2007-Aug
An article examined the general treatment of asylum-seeking families with children. The system was likely to remain based on 'ad hoc' arrangements conditioned by the scale of public protests against them.
Source: Clotilde Giner, 'The politics of childhood and asylum in the UK', Children & Society, Volume 21 Number 4
Links: Abstract
Date: 2007-Jul
A report examined policy and practice relating to the immigration detention of families. It said that there was very little requirement for accountability, and successive governments had resisted most attempts at introducing greater transparency.
Source: Emily Burnham and Sarah Cutler, Obstacles to Accountability: Challenging the immigration detention of families, Bail for Immigration Detainees (020 7247 3590)
Links: Report
Date: 2007-Jul
A report said that measures imposed to stop so-called 'health tourism' were actually preventing vulnerable people living in the United Kingdom, including pregnant women, from accessing vital treatment.
Source: Project: London Report 2006, M?decins du Monde UK (020 7515 7534)
Links: Report | MDM press release | NAT press release | Guardian report
Date: 2007-Jul
The government responded to a report by a joint committee of MPs and peers on the treatment of asylum-seekers. It said that it accepted that the development of asylum policy should proceed on the basis of evidence: but that this should take place within the context of tackling urgently any abuse of the immigration and asylum system.
Source: Government Response to the Committee's Tenth Report: The Treatment of Asylum Seekers, Seventeenth Report (Session 2006-07), HL 134 and HC 790, Joint Committee on Human Rights (House of Lords and House of Commons), TSO (0870 600 5522)
Date: 2007-Jul
The government published a strategy for increasing international co-operation in fighting illegal immigration and speeding up the return of those with no right to be in the United Kingdom. It also sought to promote the UK as a migration destination for businesses and skilled workers.
Source: Managing Global Migration: A strategy to build stronger international alliances to manage migration, Home Office (0870 000 1585)
Links: Strategy | Hansard | Home Office press release | Guardian report
Date: 2007-Jun
The government began consultation on proposals to simplify immigration and citizenship laws.
Source: Simplifying Immigration Law: An initial consultation, Border and Immigration Agency/Home Office (0870 000 1585)
Links: Consultation document | Home Office press release | Speech | Refugee Council press release | BBC report
Date: 2007-Jun
A report said that Wales needed to develop a national strategy for coping with the needs of migrant workers. Public services needed to become more flexible and able to adapt to change.
Source: Rebecca Thomas, Migrant Workers and Access to Public Services, Welsh Consumer Council (029 2025 5454)
Links: Report | WCC press release
Date: 2007-Jun
An article examined forms of migration that were non-permanent, focusing on temporary migrations where the decision to return was taken by the immigrant. A simple model was developed that rationalized the decision of a migrant to return to their home country, despite a persistently higher wage in the host country.
Source: Christian Dustmann and Yoram Weiss, 'Return migration: theory and empirical evidence from the UK', British Journal of Industrial Relations, Volume 45 Issue 2
Links: Abstract
Date: 2007-Jun
The government announced a package of measures designed to keep children in the immigration system safe from harm. They included an amendment to the UK Borders Bill placing a legal obligation on the Border and Immigration Agency to keep children safe from harm. It abandoned its threat to take into care the children of failed asylum-seekers who refused to leave the country.
Source: House of Commons Hansard, Written Ministerial Statement 25 June 2007, columns 9-10WS, TSO (0870 600 5522) | Keeping Children Safe from Harm: Committed, responsive, accountable, Border and Immigration Agency/Home Office (0870 000 1585)
Links: Hansard | Home Office press release | OCC press release | Refugee Council press release | Guardian report
Date: 2007-Jun
An article examined the means by which low-paid migrant workers in London survived on a day-to-day basis in a rapidly changing and increasingly unequal labour market.
Source: Kavita Datta et al., 'From coping strategies to tactics: London's low-pay economy and migrant labour', British Journal of Industrial Relations, Volume 45 Issue 2
Links: Abstract
Date: 2007-Jun
The Criminal Justice and Immigration Bill was published. The Bill included measures to: end automatic sentence discounts for offenders re-sentenced to an indeterminate sentence after initial sentencing decision ruled unduly lenient; stop the 'plainly guilty' having their convictions quashed because of procedural irregularities; give powers for courts to make dangerous offenders given a discretionary life sentence serve a higher proportion of their tariff before eligible for parole consideration; create a presumption that trials in magistrates' courts would proceed in the absence of the accused.
Source: Criminal Justice and Immigration Bill, Home Office, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Text of Bill | Explanatory notes | Home Office press release | Napo press release | Nacro press release | Guardian report | Community Care report
Date: 2007-Jun
A new book examined different theoretical approaches to immigration, and the links between immigration policy, welfare, and social exclusion. It documented migrants' experiences in 'negotiating' and challenging these policies.
Source: Rosemary Sales, Understanding Immigration and Refugee Policy: Contradictions and continuities, Policy Press, available from Marston Book Services (01235 465500)
Links: Summary
Date: 2007-Jun
A trade union report said that migrant workers had boosted the economy and were not having an adverse affect on jobs and wages. Migrant workers were paying more in taxes than the value of the public services they received. But the government needed to stop unscrupulous employers taking advantage of migrant workers? lack of knowledge of their rights and poor English.
Source: The Economics of Migration: Managing the impacts, Trades Union Congress (020 7467 1294)
Links: Report | TUC press release | Personnel Today report | Guardian report | BBC report
Date: 2007-Jun
A report examined the effects of migration on neighbourhood relationships in two large cities (Manchester and London). Poverty could undermine neighbourhood relationships between migrants and British people. Local tensions, sometimes racialized and often targeted at new migrants, were driven by struggles for resources and perceptions of unfairness. Age and gender also seemed to be factors in bringing about tensions in local relations. But many residents ? new and established ? aspired to a sense of community, valued diversity, and shared many of the same concerns about their areas.
Source: Maria Hudson, Joan Phillips, Kathryn Ray and Helen Barnes, Social Cohesion in Diverse Communities, York Publishing Services for Joseph Rowntree Foundation, available from York Publishing Services Ltd (01904 430033)
Links: Report | JRF Findings | JRF press release
Date: 2007-May
Two linked reports examined the experiences of East European migrants to the United Kingdom. There was a strong case for including economic migrants in social and community cohesion strategies, even when their stay was expected to be temporary. Less than half of migrants had received practical information on arrival. This left many ignorant of the conditions attached to their immigration status, how to access healthcare, and what their legal rights at work were.
Source: Sarah Spencer, Martin Ruhs, Bridget Anderson and Ben Rogaly, Migrants? Lives Beyond the Workplace: The experiences of Central and East Europeans in the UK, York Publishing Services for Joseph Rowntree Foundation, available from York Publishing Services Ltd (01904 430033) | Eugenia Markova and Richard Black, East European Immigration and Community Cohesion, York Publishing Services for Joseph Rowntree Foundation
Links: Report (1) | Report (2) | JRF Findings (1) | JRF Findings (2) | JRF press release | Compas press release | BBC report | Guardian report
Date: 2007-May
A report examined policy and practice relating to disputes as to the age of young asylum-seekers, and made recommendations for improving the age assessment process. Social workers were routinely disqualifying unaccompanied asylum-seeking children from foster care and school places by assessing them to be older than they actually were.
Source: Heaven Crawley, When is a Child not a Child? Asylum, age disputes and the process of age assessment, Immigration Law Practitioners' Association (020 7251 8383)
Links: Report | Summary | Guardian report
Date: 2007-May
The Court of Appeal ruled that the government had breached human rights laws in its attempts to prevent couples entering into arranged marriages to avoid immigration controls. Couples had the right to marry, and the right not to be discriminated against.
Source: Secretary of State for the Home Department v Baiai and others, Court of Appeal 23 May 2007
Links: Text of judgement | Guardian report | BBC report
Date: 2007-May
The number of people who applied for asylum in the first quarter of 2007 was 5,680 (0.8 per cent lower than the previous quarter, and 12 per cent lower than a year earlier).
Source: Asylum Statistics: 1st Quarter 2007 - United Kingdom, Home Office (020 7273 2084)
Links: Report | Home Office press release | Refugee Council press release
Date: 2007-May
The government began consultation on proposals to crack down on illegal immigration. Employers would be obliged to make new staff produce a passport or birth certificate before they started work; and those that hired illegal workers without making proper checks would have to pay the entire cost of deportation, up to £10,000 per person.
Source: Prevention of Illegal Working - Immigration Asylum and Nationality Act 2006: Consultation on the implementation of new powers to prevent illegal migrant working in the UK, Border and Immigration Agency/Home Office (0870 000 1585)
Links: Consultation document | Home Office press release | CBI press release | BBC report | Personnel Today report
Date: 2007-May
A report by a joint committee of MPs and peers said that the proposal (contained in the UK Borders Bill) to introduce biometric passports for foreigners before introducing them for Britons might lead to 'de-facto racial profiling': black and other ethnic minorities might 'disproportionately' be asked to prove their immigration status.
Source: Legislative Scrutiny: Sixth Progress Report, Thirteenth Report (Session 2006-07), HC 105 and HL 538, Joint Committee on Human Rights (House of Lords and House of Commons) Select Committee, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Report | BBC report | Guardian report
Date: 2007-May
A discussion paper examined the 'colonization' of asylum policy between 1994 and 2004 by the concepts of risk and risk management.
Source: Will Jennings, At No Serious Risk? Border control and asylum policy in Britain, 1994-2004, Discussion paper 39, Centre for Analysis of Risk and Regulation/London School of Economics (020 7955 6577)
Links: Paper
Date: 2007-May
The UK Borders Bill was given a third reading. The Bill was designed to provide tougher powers for immigration officers, and compulsory identity cards for non-European Union nationals. It would also make deportation of some foreign prisoners automatic once their sentence ended.
Source: UK Borders Bill, Home Office, TSO (0870 600 5522) | House of Commons Hansard, Debate 9 May 2007, columns 191-266, TSO
Links: Text of Bill | Explanatory notes | Hansard | HOC research brief
Date: 2007-May
A government minister said that new immigrants should have their rights to social housing downgraded in favour of native British families. She said: 'We should look at policies where the legitimate sense of entitlement felt by the indigenous family overrides the legitimate need demonstrated by the new migrants'.
Source: Article by Margaret Hodge MP, The Observer, 20 May 2007
Links: Observer article | Guardian report | Shelter press release | Mayor of London press release | BBC report (1) | BBC report (2) | Inside Housing report
Date: 2007-May
A report examined gaps in services for children and young people seeking asylum.
Source: Eleanor Stringer and Tris Lumley, A Long Way to Go: Young refugees and asylum seekers in the UK, New Philanthropy Capital (0207 401 8080)
Links: Report
Date: 2007-May
A new book examined the education, training, and employment of asylum-seekers and refugees. The government's 'laissez faire' approach needed to be replaced with well-targeted and resourced integration programmes.
Source: Jenny Phillimore, Lisa Goodson and Fiona Aldridge, New Migrants in the UK: Their Education, Training and Employment, Trentham Books (01782 745567)
Links: Summary
Date: 2007-May
In 2005, the estimated number of people arriving to live in the United Kingdom for at least a year was 565,000. Although slightly lower than the estimate in 2004, this continued the overall trend of high in-migration that began in the late 1990s.
Source: International Migration: Migrants entering or leaving the United Kingdom and England and Wales, 2005, Series MN 32, Office for National Statistics (0845 601 3034)
Links: Report | Guardian report | FT report
Date: 2007-Apr
A think-tank report examined the challenge of immigration and social integration in Western societies. A chapter by the United Kingdom immigration minister (Liam Byrne MP) said that foreign migration into poor areas of the country could be harmful if left unchecked, and that public services in some places had struggled to cope with the influx of migrants.
Source: Rethinking Immigration and Integration: A new centre-left agenda, Policy Network (020 7340 2200)
Links: Report | Telegraph report
Date: 2007-Apr
A think-tank report examined the reception and integration of new migrant communities, paying particular attention to the tensions arising from their arrival and settlement, key lessons from the response of public authorities, and how they used their responsibility under the race equality duty in this response.
Source: Rachel Pillai, Sarah Kyambi, Keiko Nowacka and Dhananjayan Sriskandarajah, The Reception and Integration of New Migrant Communities, Institute for Public Policy Research (020 7470 6100)
Date: 2007-Apr
A report examined refugees? and asylum-seekers? views and experiences of the impact of anti-terrorism measures on their lives. Refugees and asylum-seekers felt that the construction of a link between them and terrorism had had a negative impact on their lives.
Source: Anja Rudiger, Prisoners of Terrorism? The impact of anti-terrorism measures on refugees and asylum seekers in Britain, Refugee Council (020 7820 3042)
Links: Report
Date: 2007-Apr
A discussion paper examined the extent and determinants of British identity among immigrants living in Britain, and their views on rights and responsibilities in societies. The vast majority of those born in Britain, of whatever ethnicity or religion, thought of themselves as British, and there was evidence that third-generation immigrants were more likely to think of themselves as British than second-generation. Newly arrived immigrants almost never thought of themselves as British: but the longer they remained in the United Kingdom, the more likely it was that they did. An analysis of rights and responsibilities found much smaller differences in views between the UK-born and immigrants than within the UK-born population.
Source: Alan Manning and Sanchari Roy, Culture Clash or Culture Club? The identity and attitudes of immigrants in Britain, DP790, Centre for Economic Performance/London School of Economics (020 7955 7673)
Date: 2007-Apr
A report said that immigration to the United Kingdom had made a positive contribution to the average wage increase experienced by non-immigrant workers during the period 1997-2005, although the magnitude of the effect was modest. Immigration during these years contributed about one-twentieth of the average 3 per cent annual growth in real wages.
Source: Christian Dustmann, Tommaso Frattini and Ian Preston, A Study of Migrant Workers and the National Minimum Wage and Enforcement Issues that Arise, Centre for Research and Analysis of Migration/University College London (020 7679 5832)
Links: Report | UCL press release | FT report
Date: 2007-Apr
A think-tank report said that immigration was running at a level that was without precedent in Britain's history, threatening its cohesion as a nation.
Source: David Conway, A Nation of Immigrants? A brief demographic history of Britain, Civitas (020 7401 5470)
Links: Civitas press release | BBC report | Telegraph report
Date: 2007-Apr
An article examined the barriers to network building for refugee and asylum-seeking children and families, and the ways in which Children's Fund strategies and practices were tackling these. Such attempts to reduce social exclusion were seen to have limited effectiveness when framed by government policy favouring the development of social bridges at the expense of social links and bonds.
Source: Hanne Beirens, Nathan Hughes, Rachel Hek and Neil Spicer, 'Preventing social exclusion of refugee and asylum seeking children: building new networks', Social Policy and Society, Volume 6 Issue 2
Links: Abstract
Date: 2007-Apr
The government published an action plan designed to tackle human trafficking into the United Kingdom. It also signed the Council of Europe Convention on Action Against Human Trafficking.
Source: UK Action Plan on Tackling Human Trafficking, Home Office (0870 000 1585)
Links: Action plan | Home Office press release (1) | Home Office press release (2) | Amnesty press release | ACPO press release | Guardian report
Date: 2007-Mar
A report by a joint committee of MPs and peers said that a deliberate policy of refusing benefits to some asylum-seekers, combined with a ban on legal working, left many people in 'appalling' circumstances.
Source: The Treatment of Asylum Seekers, Tenth Report (Session 2006-07), HC 60 and HL 81, Joint Committee on Human Rights (House of Lords and House of Commons) Select Committee, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Report | Refugee Council press release | BBC report | Guardian report | Community Care report
Date: 2007-Mar
The government announced (following consultation) that it would be setting up an independent Migration Advisory Committee to advise ministers on where migration might sensibly fill gaps in the labour market.
Source: Press release 28 March 2007, Home Office (0870 000 1585)
Links: Home Office press release | Consultation responses | Consultation document | Telegraph report
Date: 2007-Mar
An article examined research documenting the deaths of over 200 asylum-seekers and undocumented migrants who had lost their lives - in work-related accidents, as a result of racial attacks, or through self-harm in detention centres.
Source: Harmit Athwal and Jenny Bourne, 'Driven to despair: asylum deaths in the UK', Race and Class, Volume 48 Number 4
Links: Abstract
Date: 2007-Mar
The government began consultation on the treatment of asylum-seeking children. Although the overall asylum intake had fallen sharply, the number of unaccompanied children claiming asylum had stayed the same - roughly 3,000 per year for the previous three years - indicating 'serious abuse' of the system. Child asylum-seekers could be forced to undergo additional checks, in order to stop adults posing as children.
Source: Planning Better Outcomes and Support for Unaccompanied Asylum Seeking Children, Home Office (0870 000 1585)
Links: Consultation document | Childrens Commissioners statement | Refugee Council press release | BBC report | Community Care report | Guardian report | Personnel Today report
Date: 2007-Mar
Researchers found that there was very little factual and robust evidence concerning trafficking of adults to the United Kingdom for the purposes of labour exploitation. Some areas of knowledge were more extensively addressed than others, but there were still significant knowledge gaps.
Source: Samantha Dowling, Karen Moreton and Leila Wright, Trafficking for the Purposes of Labour Exploitation: A literature review, Online Report 10/07, Home Office (web publication only)
Links: Report
Date: 2007-Mar
The government published a strategy for enforcing laws against illegal immigrants. It would allow the Immigration and Nationality Directorate to progressively deny work, benefits, and services to those living in the United Kingdom illegally by working in partnership with tax authorities, benefits agencies, government departments, local authorities, police, and the private sector.
Source: Enforcing the Rules: A new strategy to ensure and enforce compliance with our immigrations laws, Home Office (0870 000 1585)
Links: Strategy | Home Office press release | JCWI press release | Guardian report | BBC report
Date: 2007-Mar
A report said that there had been an overall improvement in press coverage of asylum since the Press Complaints Commission introduced new guidance for journalists in 2003. Inaccurate terminology was found in just 1 per cent of articles surveyed, and only a small number potentially breached the guidelines. However, coverage in all papers suggested journalists were preoccupied with a system in 'chaos' rather than discussing the context of asylum.
Source: Kate Smart, Roger Grimshaw, Christopher McDowell and Beth Crosland, Reporting Asylum: The UK press and the effectiveness of PCC guidelines, Information Centre about Asylum and Refugees in the UK/School of Social Sciences/City University (020 7040 4596)
Links: Report
Date: 2007-Mar
A report called on the government to do more to help an 'invisible' population of destitute asylum-seekers who could not go home or contribute to British society, many of them living in 'appalling and inhumane' conditions.
Source: Moving On: From destitution to contribution, Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust (01904 627810))
Links: Report | JRCT press release | Refugee Council press release | Ekklesia press release | Guardian report | Community Care report
Date: 2007-Mar
An article examined the various channels through which migration could affect the macroeconomy. It suggested that there was some evidence that recent migration flows might have had a larger impact on labour supply than on consumer demand, helping to depress inflationary pressures.
Source: Richard Barwell, 'The macroeconomic impact of international migration', Bank of England Quarterly Bulletin, Volume 47 Number 1
Links: Article
Date: 2007-Mar
Date: 2007-Feb
A report said that Catholic churches were struggling to cope with huge numbers of new worshippers arriving in from eastern European countries.
Source: Francis Davis, Jolanta Stankeviciute, David Ebbutt and Robert Kaggwa, The Ground of Justice: The report of a pastoral research enquiry into the needs of migrants in London's Catholic community, Centre for Faith in Society/Von H?gel Institute/St Edmund's College, Cambridge ((info@vhi.org.uk)
Links: Report | Telegraph report | FT report
Date: 2007-Feb
A report said that 'modern' slavery existed in the United Kingdom in various forms. All exhibited severe economic exploitation; the absence of a framework of human rights; and control of one person over another by the prospect or reality of violence. Trafficking into the United Kingdom for sexual or domestic labour involved hundreds or even thousands of women and children.
Source: Gary Craig, Aline Gaus, Mick Wilkinson, Klara Skrivankova and Aidan McQuade, Contemporary Slavery in the UK: Overview and key issues, York Publishing Services for Joseph Rowntree Foundation, available from York Publishing Services Ltd (01904 430033)
Links: Report | JRF Findings | JRF press release | REC press release | Guardian report
Date: 2007-Feb
The interim report of an official commission said that people who were seeking to come to the United Kingdom to work, or to join a spouse already living here, should be required to learn English. A lack of English language skills was the biggest barrier keeping immigrants from integrating with British society.
Source: Commission on Integration and Cohesion, Our Interim Statement, Department for Communities and Local Government (0870 1226 236)
Links: Report | Commission press release | Speech (Singh) | Speech (Kelly) | LGA press release | LGIU press release | UCU press release | Citizenship Foundation press release | BBC report | Guardian report | Regeneration & Renewal report
Date: 2007-Feb
An article proposed a critical framework for assessing the links between immigration, social cohesion, and social capital.
Source: Pauline Hope Cheong, Rosalind Edwards, Harry Goulbourne and John Solomos, 'Immigration, social cohesion and social capital: a critical review', Critical Social Policy, Volume 27 Issue 1
Links: Abstract
Date: 2007-Jan
An article examined the available data on the economic characteristics of immigrants, particularly those who had entered the United Kingdom in the previous two years. The data suggested that new immigrants differed in important ways from previous waves of immigrants and those born in the UK: they had relatively high levels of education, but were more likely to be working in low-skilled, low-paid jobs.
Source: Jumana Saleheen and Chris Shadforth, 'The economic characteristics of immigrants and their impact on supply', Bank of England Quarterly Bulletin, Volume 46 Number 4
Links: Bulletin
Date: 2007-Jan
A think-tank report said that the United Kingdom had given up the right to control its own borders. It had adopted a series of laws and regulations which gave others, especially the European Union, such control.
Source: David Heathcoat-Amory MP, Who Controls Britain?s Borders?, Politeia (020 7240 5070)
Links: Politeia press release
Date: 2007-Jan
The UK Borders Bill was introduced. The Bill would provide tougher powers for immigration officers, and compulsory identity cards for non-European Union nationals. It would also make deportation of some foreign prisoners automatic once their sentence ended.
Source: UK Borders Bill, Home Office, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Text of Bill | Explanatory notes | Home Office press release | IAS press release | CBI press release | BBC report | Guardian report | Personnel Today report | Times report
Date: 2007-Jan
A briefing paper examined migration of workers from the 'A8' countries (new member countries of the European Union) into rural areas of England since May 2004. It provided an evidence base on the existing numbers of such workers in rural areas, and the impact this was having on rural economies and societies.
Source: A8 Migrant Workers in Rural Areas, Commission for Rural Communities/Countryside Agency (020 7340 2900)
Links: Paper
Date: 2007-Jan
Campaigners opposed to large-scale immigration said that the contribution of immigrants to the United Kingdom economy was 'very slight indeed' - equal to just 4 pence per week for each person.
Source: The Impact of Immigration on GDP per Head, MigrationwatchUK (01869 337007)
Links: Report | MigrationwatchUK press release | BBC report | Personnel Today report
Date: 2007-Jan
Researchers examined more than 6,000 cases handled by immigration officers at Heathrow and Gatwick airports, who checked passports and questioned new arrivals before deciding whether to allow them entry to the United Kingdom. At peak times immigration officers sometimes felt under pressure to let people through unchallenged.
Source: Kandy Woodfield et al., Exploring the Decision Making of Immigration Officers: A research study examining non-EEA passenger stops and refusals at UK ports, Online Report 01/07, Home Office (web publication only)
Links: Report | Annex | BBC report | Guardian report
Date: 2007-Jan