Migration concerns revealed
The accession of the A8 countries to the EU in 2004 has had a major effect on migration
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Wednesday, 17, Oct 2007 08:45
British regions have revealed their concerns about the impact of migration in a wide-ranging government survey.
The Home Office's migration impact report has revealed that many places are concerned about how the increasing numbers of new arrivals in Britain are affecting healthcare, housing capacity and crime levels.
The study focused on the migration of people from eastern Europe to the UK, a trend made more common by the accession of Poland and seven other former Iron Curtain countries to the European Union in 2004.
Ministers will present the findings of the report at a forum today, where they will tell delegates that seven out of the eight regions asked have said that so-called A8 migration has had an effect on housing.
Set up in June, the forum's aim was to advise government on "how migration affects public services and local communities" in advance of the new points-based system for migrants which is set to be introduced next year.
There are currently restrictions on workers from the latest crop of new EU countries, Romania and Bulgaria, which will be reviewed by ministers with today's findings in mind.
In today's report, all eight regions said they had experienced economic migration due to A8 migrants and "some places were not expecting them".
On housing, the East Midlands and Scotland said there was an "emerging problem" with migrant homelessness, while all regions said that A8 migrants were likely to be targeted by "unscrupulous landlords".
In relation to education, one area noted that some migrant children were not attending school, while all eight said that translation costs were an issue.
Although many regions pointed out that most migrants from the A8 countries were young and in good health, Sheffield and the East Midlands noted an increase in GPs' caseloads, while the east of England, north Lincolnshire and Southampton noted that A&E was being used instead of GPs on some occasions.
According to the government, 574,000 migrants arrived in the UK between June 2005 and June 2006, while 385,000 departed in the same period. That means Britain had a net flow of 189,000, a figure 28 per cent down on the corresponding set of statistics a year earlier.
Offering the opposition view on the current state of migration in the UK, shadow home secretary David Davis said: "Only the Conservatives would have an explicit, annual limit on economic migration from outside the EU.
"This limit would take into account the impact of immigration on the economy, public services and social cohesion and would be set each year after consultation with employers, public service providers and local authorities."