Remaining in Middlesbrough

A number of towns and cities in Britain which are experiencing population decline at present, have recognised the importance of encouraging asylum seekers and refugees to remain in order to work and make a valuable contribution to economic, social and cultural life.

Recent policy statements from Liverpool City Council, for example, suggest a number of initiatives which may assist asylum seekers, once they gain leave to remain, to stay in the city. The rationale for this policy is as follows:

The City Council is keen to retain as many asylum seekers given leave to remain and refugees in the city as possible. The main reasons for this are:

firstly, to bring new employment skills into the city; and secondly, to address one of the city's primary regeneration objectives of tackling population decline. The provision of appropriate housing and support services, along with other services such as health, and skills and language training, should be seen as high priorities for the City's Supported Housing Strategy (Fletcher et al. 2002).

An important aim of this research project was to assess the extent to which asylum seekers and refugees had settled in Middlesbrough and intended to remain in the town if they gained leave to remain in this country. We have reported that 75 per cent of the sample stated a preference to remain in Middlesbrough; 23 per cent wished to leave, and one respondent was uncertain about where they would like to settle.

The research suggests that the asylum seekers and refugees population of Middlesbrough is generally quite positive about their experiences in the town. We measured their attitudes be combining 14 different variables which concerned themselves with the help they received from key agencies, their perceived attitudes of local people, and also the extent to which they could gain access to services in the town. Of the 74 respondents who want to remain in Middlesbrough, five had a very positive attitude about the town, 51 were generally positive attitude about living in the town, only one respondent had a very negative attitude about living in Middlesbrough. Of those who wished to stay in Middlesbrough and had a generally positive attitude about the town, 25 were of African origin, 11 were of South Asian origin, five were of European origin, and 12 were of Middle Eastern origin.

About a quarter of the sample expressed a preference to leave the town in the future. Of the 23 asylum seekers and refugees who did not wish to remain in Middlesbrough, ten stated a preference for living in London, and five in Manchester. Five other cities were also named as preferred locations by individual asylum seekers and refugees. The reasons why asylum seekers and refugees expressed a preference for living elsewhere were varied: 57 per cent stated that they had family or friends in this other place, while 13 per cent wanted to move to improve their chances of gaining employment. A further 13 per cent chose to move to gain a stronger sense of personal security. A recent study of in Scotland broadly reflects our findings, suggesting that once asylum seekers and refugees become familiar with their new locality, they gain a strong impetus to settle – even if they do experience some difficulties (Charlaff, 2004).

Finally, we have reported that most important aspiration for asylum seekers and refugees in our sample was to gain work and to settle down into a more normal and stable family life in Middlesbrough. In total, 73 per cent of respondents stated that finding work was their

principal aspiration after gaining leave to remain in Britain. When participants were asked if they thought that they could achieve their aspirations in Middlesbrough, 76 per cent said that they thought they could; 12 per cent doubted this, and 12 per cent remained uncertain if they could or not.

We have been careful in this report not to make too many claims about the evidence relating to asylum seekers and refugees attitudes about living in Middlesbrough. Our caution derives from a recognition that we have no directly comparable data from other towns. It is clearly very difficult to gauge the extent to which the perceptions of the town amongst our respondents are directly related to their status as asylum seekers and refugees, or are connected more directly to specific features of social, cultural and economic life in Middlesbrough itself.

That said, the generally positive attitude towards the town, in spite of many of the difficulties asylum seekers and refugees experience, suggests that continued investment in this constituency of the town's population could pay dividends in future as members of this group make transitions into employment.

5.4 Recommendations

We feel that a number of recommendations can be made to involve asylum seekers and refugees in leisure, faith and community activity and to ease their transition into voluntary and paid work over time.

Monitoring the Skills and Knowledge Portfolio of Asylum Seekers To collect more detailed and standardised information on asylum seekers skills, education and knowledge, and work experience when they arrive in Middlesbrough. The approach to collecting this

information may usefully be developed from the research instrument adopted in this survey. This will allow Middlesbrough Council Asylum Seekers Team to monitor changes in the skills portfolio of asylum seekers and refugees over time and communicate these data to agencies and employers offering voluntary work or paid employment opportunities.

Access to Services and Participation in the Community

To explore new ways of collecting and communicating information to employers on asylum seekers and refugees previous work experience, their educational qualifications and vocational qualifications. Garnering evidence on such activity is complicated as ties with former employers and educational establishments may have been severed. There may, however, be some scope to explore the possibility of conversion courses or top-up programmes to validate and update vocational training and educational achievements.

Increasing Participation in Voluntary Work

Consideration should be given to developing mechanisms to improve the take up of voluntary work by asylum seekers and refugees. This

may involve some further exploration of actual or perceived barriers to volunteering, and to examine patterns of cultural resistance to

particular types of voluntary work. A key to success in this area is to explore the best ways of communicating opportunities for voluntary work to asylum seekers and refugees. It would be an advantage if the outcomes of voluntary work experience (in terms of making transitions to paid work) could be monitored over time to help assess the benefits of particular opportunities for individuals.

Information and Advice: Embedding Good Practice

Providing asylum seekers and refugees with information on services and opportunities is an essential part of the process of developing community involvement. It is therefore important to explore ways of further embedding good practice across the Council and between health, police, faith, community and voluntary organisations to ensure that asylum seekers and refugees know about (and are encouraged to gain the maximum benefit from) available services and opportunities.

Strengthening linkages with current Community Cohesion interventions may be a valuable starting point for such development.

6 REFERENCES

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APPENDIX