North West Conference: Regional Economy and Jobs Market

Immigration - the Rational Debate

North West Conference: Regional Economy and Jobs Market

Friday 18^th January 2013

As you'll know, Migrant Workers North West has been in existence for the past six years - initially funded by the NWDA - to... signpost migrant workers and their employers to the various support services available to them across the North West (and other parts of the UK); to provide training to Public, Private and Third-Sector employers about their legal responsibilities and "best practice" on migration-related issues; and to try and help shape the discussion on migrant workers in general.

Meanwhile, there has been a fair amount of coverage about Shadow Immigration Minister, Chris Bryant's, call for a "coalition of the rational" to debate immigration issues properly over the next couple of years.

As part of that debate, MWNW - in conjunction with the Migrant Rights Network nationally - will be hosting a series of Focus Group debates during 2013 on each of the following topics...

Regional Economy and the Jobs Market

Education

Health and Social Care

Housing and Social Cohesion

Law and Order

The subsequent reports will be produced on a co-ordinated basis so that, say, the Regional Economy reports from each region of the UK should appear at roughly the same time - and then submitted to the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Immigration, etc.

Our first Regional Focus Group discussion will take place in January entitled...

Immigration - the Rational Debate

North West Regional Economy and Jobs Market

There will be three key elements to the discussion...

a. An analysis of the 2011 Census Figures and what they tell us about actual migration, population issues and the jobs market in each of our sub-regions.

b. An examination of the actual immigration experience across key sectors and sub-regions of our NW economy - and provisionally these will be Hospitality, Manufacturing, Health, Food/Logistics and Higher Education. We particularly want to examine the position of international students, the economic benefits and impacts of having a set of world-class educational institutions in our region, etc.

c. The collation of views from the employers, trade unions and migrants themselves within these sectors on how government policy should develop around job market issues.

The event will take place on...

Friday 18^th January 2013

at Arena Point, Manchester

commencing at 10.30am

If you would like to attend please email Dave McCall - davemccall@talktalk.net as soon as possible and a place can be reserved for you (or another representative). Place are limited so please book promptly.

Dave McCall, MWNW Chairperson