- Media & Campaigns
- Press releases
- 2008
- February 2008
- Councils support "localising potential" of new welfare plan
- Taxpayers' Alliance to condemn council staff to a meagre retirement
- Average council tax set to be real terms freeze in 2008
- Drug strategy must not create two tier treatment system
- ‘Casino mirage’ has cost councils dear
- Seaside resorts may have to cut services to pay for free bus travel
- Standard school year cuts cost and confusion
- Response to housing strategy
- Councils key to unlocking creative economy - LGA
- Power to reward families who recycle should be introduced
- Response to Home Office Green Paper on citizenship
- More supermarket competition not necessarily good for local people
- New figures show households correctly recycling vast majority of items
- New LGA website shows how much cash is locally raised and spent
- Councils weigh in over innaccurate hospital scales
- 'Manilow method' could be a substitute for Mosquito to deter gangs
- This time it's personal - LGA launches fair care campaign
- Independent results show most councils performing better than ever
- Police chiefs should be accountable to local people through their council
- Getting council tenants back into work is 'a debate that needs to be had'
- Civil partnerships fall by 55%
- Throw-away society blamed for sharp rise in stray dogs
- Councils geared up for snow
Response to Home Office Green Paper on citizenship
LGA press release 20 February 2008
Responding to the Green Paper announcement later today by Jacqui Smith, which is expected to examine the need for immigrants to be forced to pay higher visa charges to help fund public services, the Local Government Association, a cross party organisation which represents councils in England, has outlined three key ways in Ministers could help alleviate the pressure on local services.
The LGA is calling for:
- A special migration ’contingency fund’ to allow local authorities experiencing high rates of migration to apply for extra money. The LGA has proposed that this could be set at £250m a year. It is believed that the new proposals from Ministers will raise just £15million.
- The improvement and use of alternative measures of migration, such as GP registrations, National Insurance numbers and schools census data to gain a much more accurate picture of where migrants are.
- A commitment from ministers to implement and speed up existing proposals to tighten up official population statistics.
Sir Simon Milton, Chairman of the LGA said:
“Migration is benefiting the country, generating in total over £40bn every year. The evidence shows that industries such as fruit picking and residential care would risk collapse without migrant labour.
“The problem is that the money that is being generated isn’t necessarily finding its way back down to the local level. Official statistics on how many migrants are coming and where they are going are inadequate. No-one has a real grasp of where or for how long migrants are settling so much needed funding for local services isn’t getting to the right places.
“The speed and scale of migration combined with the shortcomings of official population figures is placing pressure on funding for services like children’s services and housing. This can even lead to unnecessary tension and conflict.
“Improving alternative sources of information such as GP registrations and National Insurance numbers as part of a new package of measurements would allow the government to gain a much clearer picture of migrant movements. This would allow the right amount of money to get to the right places, ensuring decent public services for all.
“A proportion of the additional revenue that the Exchequer gains from migrants could be put towards a contingency fund for councils that are coming under particular pressure. This would ease pressures, not just in urban areas that have long been ethnically diverse, but also in parts of the country that have never experienced this kind of a population change before. Allowing councils to raise more money and a more accurate way of counting local populations would also help to ensure the right money gets to the right places.”
Author: LGA press office
Contact: Richard Stokoe, 020 7664 3225