Forum Bulletin - Winter 2022
Here you can find the previous edition of our Regional Refugee Integration Forum Bulletin, as well as links to previous videos from our 'Meet the Forum' series.
Meet the Forum
Each quarter we will introduce you to some of our Forum members. Click on the links below to watch a 2-minute video on Vimeo to 'meet the Forum':
Refugee integration news
Each quarter we’ll round up some key news stories and reports related to refugee integration. If you’d like more regular updates on refugee integration and other areas of migration, check out our weekly policy bulletin.
- The Office for National Statistics (ONS) released Census 2021 data for ethnicity, nationality, language and religion and have also produced an interactive map to explore data at different geographic levels. (Source: ONS)
- A YouGov poll has found that while most people think there is too much immigration many acknowledge a need to bring in workers from abroad, leading to a call for British politicians to catch up with British public on the benefits of immigration. (Source: The Times; Guardian)
- A report from the Refugee Studies Centre in Oxford calls for a new national refugee policy for Britain, advising that the UK needs a whole-of-government approach to deliver effective refugee integration, and should allow the right to work for asylum seekers after six months from arrival. (Source: Refugee Studies Centre)
- The Commission on the Integration of Refugees published its first report ‘A Broken System? Asylum Reform Initiatives, 1997-2022’ examining how far integration has been a priority in asylum legislation and analyses successes and failures in previous efforts to reform the asylum system. (Source: Commission on the Integration of Refugees)
- An increasingly militarised approach to immigration and ‘border spectacularisation’ over the past 12 years is analysed in this article. The author argues harsh policies need public consensus, so by drawing attention to immigration in this way, the public is encouraged to associate ‘migration’ with ‘illegal’. (Source: The Conversation)
- The death of a two-year child from a Sudanese refugee family in Rochdale due to poor housing highlights cultural assumptions being made by housing professionals and the persistent inadequacies of the social housing system. (Source: The Guardian)
- The Mayor of London has lifted the eligibility restrictions for courses funded through the Adult Education Budget, enabling all migrant groups to access English learning from the first day of their residence in London. (Source: Twitter)
- Luca Silvestrini, director of dance theatre company ‘Protein’, reflects on his experiences as a migrant to the UK and how he uses theatre and dance to provide refugees and asylum seekers a voice. (Source: Metro)
- This student from Bradford shares about his family’s journey of overcoming challenges many migrants face to study law at Oxford. The family who are from Zambia gained refugee status when he was a child. (Sources: Telegraph and Argus)
- Bradford College has become the first college in West Yorkshire to receive the FE College of Sanctuary award. (Source: News Anyway)