Migrant Worker Research and Statistics

The Council's Research Team are facilitating a network of local organisations in an effort to pull together information on the seasonal and migrant worker populations. The following links and documents may prove useful to people with an interest in statistics and data on migrant workers:

• In August 2008, the Research Team updated their original 2006 review of available data on seasonal and migrant workers, which aims pull various sources of information together to estimate the numbers of international migrants in the county. The document is available in the box to the right.
• In August 2008, the Herefordshire Partnership published an analysis of information obtained from farmers in Herefordshire about the expected employment of seasonal workers from overseas during the course of 2008. The document can be found in the box to the right.
• The West Midlands Strategic Migration Partnership have carried out a Scoping Exercise to identify what they as an organisation can add to local or regional initiatives for migrant workers. The summary (published January 2008) can be found in the box on the right.
• Advantage West Midlands and the LSC commissioned "The Economic Impact of Migrant Workers in the West Midlands" which has now been published (November 2007) on the website of the West Midlands Regional Observatory. Herefordshire Equality Partnership was one of the funding partners in this project.
• The Research Team has also carried out analysis on data collected from farmers on the numbers of seasonal migrant workers expected in 2007. The report can be found in the box on the right of this page. Data for 2008 is currently being analysed.
• In October 2007 a report was produced for the House of Lords Select Committee on the Economic and Fiscal Impact of Immigration (see resources box opposite).
• In June 2007, the Migration Impacts Forum was launched by its co-chairs, Liam Byrne, Minister for Immigration at the Home Office, and Phil Woolas, former Minister for Communities at Communities and Local Government. The Forum is a new Government initiative aiming to help build the evidence base for the effects which migration is having on communities and public services throughout the United Kingdom and on how these challenges can best be met. Their website is at
  http://www.communities.gov.uk/communities/racecohesionfaith/asylumandimmigration/migration-forum/.
• In May 2007, the Communities & Local Government website published some national facts to combat misinformation about migrants and minority ethnic groups. The pages cover areas such as housing, employment and immigration.
• The Diocese of Hereford has published a research document (April 2007) on supporting the integration of migrant and seasonal workers (see resources box opposite).
• The Border & Immigration Agency publish regular Accession Monitoring Reports which include information on numbers of people registering with the Workers Registration Scheme and associated data.
• The Commission for Rural Communities published a report in January 2007 called " A8 migrant workers in rural areas" with information and statistics relevant to Herefordshire.
• The Audit Commission published a report in January 2007 called " Crossing Borders". This report is intended to help local authorities and their partners manage changes brought about by migrant workers moving to an area, by understanding better what is going on locally and developing appropriate strategies and services.
• Two reports commissioned by the LSC have focused upon migrant workers. The first, Employer Perceptions of Migrant Workers (December 2006), examines gaps in migrant employment and training, and presents the attitudes and experiences of a sample of employers. In Migrant Workers and the Labour Market (January 2007), four different LSC reports on issues surrounding migrant workers and the labour market are reviewed alongside references to work from other organisations.
• In October 2006, NIACE produced a report called "More Than a Language". This provided an overview of the major challenges affecting the provision of English language teaching for speakers of other languages (ESOL). It was the first comprehensive overview of policy on ESOL since the Department for Education and Skills (DfES) committee which produced Breaking the Language Barriers in 2000. The Executive Summary can be found in the box to the right.
• A "Review of Available Data" was produced by the Research Team in August 2006, and can be found in the box on the right of this page. This will be updated in 2008.
• Organisations such as the West Mercia Police and Chamber of Commerce (Herefordshire & Worcestershire) have already done discrete pieces of research (the Chamber's research into the migrant labour force in the two counties can be found in the box to the right).

For more information contact the Research Team on 01432 260442, or e-mail researchteam@herefordshire.gov.uk.

Last Updated: 17 September 08,
Review Date: 20 September 2005