The Cabinet Member for Adults
and Health introduced this report which set out the Council’s
strategic response to migration and integration building on its
current approach.
The Cabinet Member was pleased
to present the Welcome Strategy and paid special thanks to the
community voluntary sector organisations who participated in the
process. The Council would be working with them to set up a Board
and to create an action plan that could then be monitored to
measure progress.
The Cabinet Member closed by
stating that, despite the uncertainty for migrants entering into
the borough, the Council wished to send a message that it, and the
borough, welcomed new migrants and wanted to work with them. There
already existed the Connected Community Project and the Welcome
Strategy was the next step.
The Leader invited Councillors
to ask questions on this report. Councillor Palmer placed on record
her dissatisfaction with not being able to ask questions in
relation to item 9.
In response to questions from
Councillor Palmer and das Neves, the following information was
provided:
- The Cabinet Member
confirmed that the review of the current practices in how the
Council supported migrant residents would include all the agencies
that enforced migration law within the borough.
- Regarding the
timescale of that review, the Cabinet Member informed that, given
its comprehensive coverage, it would take time to complete. For
that reason, it was considered necessary to have a Welcome Advisory
Board which the Cabinet Member envisaged would be cross party and
noted the Liberal Democrats had co-sponsored the Welcome Strategy
motion at Full Council in November 2018. The Council had already
begun to talk with community monitory organisations about
membership of the Board. The Board would be looking at: what were
the Council’s priorities; what should be worked on; and any
medium to long term goals. An overarching issue for migrants had
been the United Kingdom’s expected exit from the European
Union which had created uncertainty. The Council needed to develop
an approach that was flexible and able to react to any changes as
and when required.
- The Cabinet Member
was not able to provide the complete list of organisations that the
Council had so far worked with regarding the Welcome Strategy but
would arrange for that information to be made
available.
- The Cabinet Member
confirmed there had been a round table meeting organised through
the Selby Centre which was attended by over 50 individuals from
different organisations. There had also been separate smaller
meetings with different organisations looking at migration issues
such as cases where migrants had no recourse of public funds and
issues surrounding settled status for European migrants. Draft
versions of the strategy had been circulated to various
organisations and community groups who had in turn provided input
and subsequent revisions were made. To further embed the work of
the community into the work of the Welcome Strategy, the Welcome
Advisory Board was set up to ensure that their contributions would
continue.