GIVE MPs YOUR VIEWS ON COMMUNITY COHESION AND MIGRATION

[ENGLISH UNIONIST]

The House of Commons’ Communities and Local Government Select Committee has recently announced its decision to hold an inquiry on Community Cohesion and Migration.

The starting point is community cohesion and the Commission on Integration and Cohesion’s report "Our Shared Future".

It is intended that this inquiry should complement other work in this area being undertaken by other bodies, including the House of Commons Treasury Committee’s inquiry Counting the population; the House of Lords Economic Affairs Committee inquiry into The Economic Impact of Immigration; and the Equality and Human Rights Commission’s recently proposed study into the fairness of access to housing.

The Community and Local Government Committee’s inquiry terms of reference are to examine:

• the effect of recent inward migration on community cohesion, and public concerns about this effect;
• the role, responsibilities and actions of different bodies on community cohesion and migration, including those of local and central government and of employers;
• the effectiveness of local and central government action and expenditure in promoting community cohesion and responding to inward migration flows, with particular regard to the following:
-areas that have experienced rapid increases in new inward migration,
-areas that have a lack of experience of diversity,
-areas where new migrant communities mix with existing settled migrant communities;
• the role of the English language as a tool in promoting the integration of migrants;
• the impact of recent migration on local communities, including the impact on housing, education, health care, and other public services; and
• actions to take forward the Commission on Integration and Cohesion’s recommendations relating to migration.

The Committee invites individuals and organisations to submit written evidence addressing the inquiry’s terms of reference by Friday 18 January 2008. Written evidence should, if possible, be submitted electronically, by email to clgcom@parliament.uk. The email must include a contact name, telephone number and postal address. If sent by post is should be submitted to Sara Turnbull, Committee Specialist, CLG Committee, 7 Millbank, House of Commons, London, SW1P 3JA. Submissions should be as brief as possible. It is helpful to include a summary with longer submissions. Submissions should be original work, not previously published or circulated elsewhere. Once submitted no public use should be made of it. Detailed guidance on the submission of written evidence can be found at UK Parliament - CLGWrittenEvidence.

Further information on this inquiry can be found at: UK Parliament - Communities and Local Government Committee.

The Committee comprises of the following Members:- Dr Phyllis Starkey MP (Chair, Lab), Sir Paul Beresford MP (Con), Mr Clive Betts MP (Lab), John Cummings MP (Lab), Jim Dobbin MP (Lab/Co-op), Andrew George MP (Lib Dem), Mr Greg Hands MP (Con), Anne Main MP (Con), Mr Bill Olner MP (Lab), Dr John Pugh MP (Lib Dem), Emily Thornberry MP (Lab).