Feedback on past consultations

Beyond 2011 - public consultation

The Office for National Statistics [ONS] conducted a consultation to help develop alternatives for producing population data instead of a census in future. There were 3 key questions in this consultation:

• What are users’ current requirements for data, and how are these requirements likely to change?
• What other data sources might be able to provide the required information about population characteristics?
• How should we balance the potentially conflicting priorities of frequency, accuracy and geography?

Migration is one of 7 key themes ONS focussed upon within each of these questions.

Response:
This ONS consultation is part of an ongoing programme of work - called the Beyond 2011 Programme - to support the UK Statistics Authority when it makes recommendations to Parliament in 2014. There will be further opportunities to feed into the ONS programme over the next 2 years [including a second public consultation in 2013 on the leading options and their relative benefits].

Migration Yorkshire submitted a response to ONS, highlighting the migration data that we want to continue being collected, and suggesting other migration data that would be extremely helpful for planning services. You can download this using the link below. For more information about Migration Yorkshire's work on migration data, go to: www.migrationyorkshire.org.uk/statistics

Family migration

This UK Border Agency [UKBA] consultation set out the government's proposals to reform the family route. For more information about this from UKBA, see www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/sitecontent/documents/policyandlaw/consultations/family-migration/

Migration Yorkshire produced a briefing paper on this consultation, which you can download from our policy briefings section.

Response:
Migration Yorkshire has sent a consultation response to UKBA, which you can download using the link below. This response has been shaped by discussions with the Yorkshire and Humber Local Authority Commission on Asylum and Migration, our Strategic Migration Group and other migration services.

Employment related settlement, Tier 5 and overseas domestic workers

In 2011 the UK Border Agency [UKBA] carried out a consultation on settlement of skilled workers and entry of temporary workers to the UK. For more information about this from UKBA, see www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/sitecontent/documents/policyandlaw/consultations/employment-related-settlement/.

Migration Yorkshire produced a briefing paper on this consultation, which you can download from our policy briefings section.

Response:
Migration Yorkshire has sent a consultation response to UKBA, which you can download using the link below. This response has been shaped by discussions with the Yorkshire and Humber Local Authority Commission on Asylum and Migration, and our Strategic Migration Group.

The student immigration system

More information about this consultation, including the initial consultation document, is available on the UK Border Agency website at:
www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/sitecontent/documents/policyandlaw/consultations/students/

Response:
Migration Yorkshire [under its former name, the Yorkshire and Humber Regional Migration Partnership] sent a response to UKBA, which you can download using the link below. This response has been shaped by discussions with our Strategic Migration Group [SMG]. The SMG includes representation from Yorkshire Universities – the umbrella group for higher education in the region.  For more information about this response, please contact Pip Tyler, Research and Policy Manager by email pip.tyler@migrationyorkshire.org.uk or by phone: 0113 395 2438.

Limits on non-EU economic migration

On 28 June 2010, the UK Border Agency [UKBA] launched a consultation on how the limits on economic migration by nationals of countries outside the European Union, through Tiers 1 and 2 of the points-based system, should be implemented. For full details about this UKBA consultation, go to: 
www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/sitecontent/documents/policyandlaw/consultations/limits-on-non-eu-migration/  

Response:
Migration Yorkshire [under its former name, the Yorkshire and Humber Regional Migration Partnership] has sent a response to UKBA, which you can download using the link below. This response was shaped by discussions that took place at our Yorkshire and Humber consultation event in August 2010 at which a Migration Advisory Committee [MAC] representative presented the main proposals.The event was attended by 37 representatives of over 23 organisations from a range of sectors and client groups across Yorkshire and Humber.

We submitted the same response for this consultation as we did for the MAC consultation on the level of the first annual limit on economic migration to the UK by nationals of countries outside the European Union. As a partnership organisation, we're best able to contribute to these discussions in terms of the social and public service impacts that migration has upon communities in Yorkshire and Humber - so our response is structured around the questions posed by the MAC, rather than the UKBA questions regarding processes of how to implement reductions in admissions.

The level of an annual limit on economic migration

The Migration Advisory Committee [MAC], which advises the government on migration issues, ran a consultation on the level of the first annual limit on economic migration to the UK by nationals of countries outside the European Union. This consultation looked at the levels at which the limits should be set for the first full year of their operation. The MAC consulted on, and is considering, the economic, social and public service impacts of migration in developing its advice. For full details about the MAC consultation, go to:
www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/sitecontent/documents/aboutus/workingwithus/mac/mac-consultation-annual-limit/

Response:
Migration Yorkshire [under its former name, the Yorkshire and Humber Regional Migration Partnership] has sent a response to the MAC, which you can download using the link below. This response has been shaped by discussions at a Migration Yorkshire consultation event held in August 2010 at which a MAC representative presented the main proposals. The event was attended by 37 representatives of over 23 organisations from a range of sectors and client groups across Yorkshire and Humber. We've also consulted with our Strategic Migration Group, as well as drawing on internal expertise within Migration Yorkshire.

Review into ending the detention of children for immigration purposes

A ministerial review began on 1 June 2010 with the aim ‘to consider how the detention of children for immigration purposes will be ended’. The review is now closed, and the UK Border Agency [UKBA] review team has gathered views from over 100 partner organisations and the public. More information, including a document outlining the government's conclusions from the review, is available on the UKBA website at:
www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/sitecontent/documents/policyandlaw/consultations/26-end-child-detention/

Migration Yorkshire [under its former name, the Yorkshire and Humber Regional Migration Partnership] sent a response to the review, which can be downloaded using the link below. For more information about this response, please contact Pip Tyler, Research and Policy Manager by email pip.tyler@migrationyorkshire.org.uk or by phone: 0113 395 2438

Health consultations

The UK Border Agency [UKBA] and the Department of Health [England] have been conducting public consultations to explore the recommendations of a joint review into migrants' access to the NHS:

Refusing entry or stay to NHS debtors - UKBA consultation on a proposal to change the immigration rules so that permission to enter or stay in the UK can be refused if a migrant is subject to immigration control and is in debt to the NHS above a prescribed amount. The consultation set out how UKBA would work in partnership with the NHS to administer these new arrangements.
See www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/sitecontent/documents/policyandlaw/consultations/nhs-debtors/ for the UKBA consultation document and consultation results report.

Review of access to the NHS by foreign nationals - Department of Health consultation on proposed changes to the regulations on charging overseas visitors for hospital treatment, and a proposed requirement for overseas visitors to hold health insurance. See http://www.dh.gov.uk/en/Consultations/Responsestoconsultations/DH_125271 for the original consultation document and the Government’s response to the consultation.

Response:
Migration Yorkshire [under its former name, the Yorkshire and Humber Regional Migration Partnership] wrote a consultation response to the Review of access to the NHS by foreign nationals. You can download it here: YHRMP health consultation response June 2010  [84KB - pdf format]. This response was shaped by consultation with health professionals within Yorkshire and the Humber who form a Migrant Health subgroup within our regional Strategic Migration Group.

Yorkshire and Humber consultation on asylum support

Migration Yorkshire [under its former name, the Yorkshire and Humber Regional Migration Partnership] has written a regional response to the current UK Border Agency [UKBA] consultation about reforming asylum support. While we encouraged all those working in the field of asylum to respond directly to UKBA's consultation, we also wanted to submit a response based on the views of those in the Yorkshire and Humber region: this allowed us to give a wider view of the possible effects of the consultation proposals upon asylum seekers and supporting organisations in our area. We invited people to send in views and comments to us, and we held a regional consultation event [jointly organised with UKBA] on 18 January 2010.

Earning the right to stay: a new points test for citizenship

The Borders, Citizenship and Immigration Act 2009 created an ‘earned citizenship’ process. This created a new ‘probationary citizenship’ stage which must be passed before applying for full citizenship [instead of an automatic right to apply for citizenship based on length of residence in the UK].

To develop the ‘earned citizenship’ process, the UK Border Agency [UKBA] launched a consultation paper on 3 August 2009, ‘Earning the Right to Stay: A new points test for citizenship’. This consultation sought views on:

• introducing a new points test for earned citizenship, to better manage the numbers allowed to settle permanently in the United Kingdom
• delivering the earned citizenship system in partnership with local authorities
• supporting those who are on the path to citizenship to integrate into their new communities
• managing the impacts of migration on the developing world

Background information
Migration Yorkshire [under its former name, the Yorkshire and Humber Regional Migration Partnership] produced a briefing document Earned Citizenship: YHRMP briefing February 2010 [Word document, 90 KB].

See also: Government announcement on settlement reforms - latest news and updates 5 November 2010  [link to UKBA website].

Finding Sanctuary, Enriching Yorkshire and Humber: Draft Integration Strategy for Refugees and Asylum Seekers in Yorkshire and Humber [2009 – 2011]

The draft strategy was produced as part of the work of the Refugee Integration Programme [this programme has now come to the end of its funding period]. The draft strategy covered six subject areas :

1. Housing
2. Health
3. Employment and skills
4. Safety
5. Community and society
6. Children and young people

Result / response documents:

A summary of the refugee and asylum seeker consultation for the strategy can be downloaded from the Refugee Integration Programme archive page.

The final strategy was published in June 2009, and can be downloaded from the refugee integration strategy page.