Brent receives share of migration funding

Unedited press release from Brent Council

Brent has been awarded over £440,000 of funding over three years from a £19 million government pot to help support emerging communities in Brent.


Aiming to ease pressure on local services from recent migration, the fund will help Brent Council provide services to meet the growth in new communities and put support structures in place for new residents which promote independence and help them to adapt to life in the UK.


This includes a new community outreach team as well as drop-in sessions, Eastern European and Latin American fairs and recognised courses in English Language (ESOL), which will cover CV-building, employability and citizenship skills, designed to equip residents with the tools they need to participate in daily life.


Also on offer will be conversational English workshops and cross-cultural activities to celebrate and share community culture.


Cllr Margaret McLennan, Deputy Leader of Brent Council said:

Brent is one of the most diverse boroughs in London and we want to make sure that new residents feel supported and equipped to take part in everyday life. We work hard to make Brent a great place to live and work. At a time of stretched resources for councils across the country, this funding will help meet the challenges of a growing population as we take a joined up approach to easing pressure on local services.


This funding gives us the opportunity to provide a wealth of resources for new residents which they can rely on, reducing the risk of exploitation by rogue landlords or employers who pay below the legal minimum wage.

The funding will be delivered by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government to support projects until 2020.

UPDATE: Green MEPs criticise 'inexcusable' response to 'chaotic situation' in Calais

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Refugees in Calais and Northern France must be treated with dignity and in accordance with international law, and the British and French governments must urgently find long-term humane solutions to their plight, Green MEPs have urged today.

The call comes as the Calais ‘Jungle’ camp is again making headlines on both sides of the Channel: Protests against the camp by local residents have taken place this week; the French Government has announced plans to completely close the camp; there has been fresh disruption to cross-Channel traffic, and now there are Donald Trump-esque plans to build a monstrous wall.

Jean Lambert, MEP for London and Green Party migration spokesperson, said:

“The decision to build a wall in Calais is the latest wrong move in what is the ongoing scandal of the handling of the plight of refugees in northern France. Successive French and British governments have utterly failed to fulfil their responsibilities towards the vulnerable people who find themselves in the camps, especially unaccompanied children. A wall will do nothing to improve the security of vulnerable refugees and asylum seekers or local residents, lorry drivers and cross-channel travellers.

“Adding to the already chaotic situation will only cause more children to go missing and give more control to criminal gangs. The authorities need to gain the trust of people in the camps, provide them with the information they are entitled to, give them a sense of security, and handle their asylum claims properly.

“The UK government must get its act together. Many of the people in Calais have a legal right to be reunited with family in the UK. The slow speed at which governments are dealing with asylum claims is inexcusable. People who find themselves in these camps do not want to enter the UK illegally but they need support to access the asylum system and no matter what they need to be treated with dignity.”

Keith Taylor, MEP for the South East of England, said:

“The situation in Calais is a symptom of a problem; dismantling the camps and removing the last scraps of dignity and security from their residents will not solve the problem. Building a wall is certainly not the answer either. Only through cross-border political cooperation can we hope to alleviate what is a global crisis.

“I empathise with the frustrations of local residents, hauliers, and travellers on both sides of the channel, but we cannot allow this Humanitarian crisis to be exploited by resurgent French or British far right groups. The dehumanising campaigns against camp residents cannot become justification for abandoning our legal and moral duties to approach this crisis with humanity.

“History will not judge our nations kindly if French and British governments refuse to work together constructively on this issue. Attacking the symptoms will never solve the problem.”

Molly Scott Cato MEP, who visited the ‘jungle’ camp in Calais earlier this year and is Green Party spokesperson on EU relations, said:

“The new wall will turn out to be another hugely expensive sticking plaster that will simply result in people going further to get round it and will push up tariffs for people smugglers. Instead, the British Government should be registering applications for asylum in the camps in France to quickly identify those people with a right to enter Britain. Perhaps a wall fits better with the fortress Britain mentality which seems to be at the heart of those pushing for a hard Brexit.”

Green MEPs call for compassion in Strasbourg migration debate today

MEPs will give their views on the European Agenda on Migration presented by the Commission in a debate with Vice-President Frans Timmermans, Migration Commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos and the Council Presidency this morning in Strasbourg.

Ahead of the debate Jean Lambert, Molly Scott Cato and Keith Taylor, Green MEPs for London, the South West and the South East of England united in saying:

The European Commission seems, at least, to have understood that EU Member States must together face up to their collective responsibility for refugees.

More opportunities for legal access to the territory of the EU and greater commitment on combating the underlying reasons why refugees flee their country of origin are needed. Along with this, a humane and compassionate response should frame the debate, not a competition to see who can talk toughest.

Seizing and sinking smugglers' boats may have a short term effect, but it also risks more injuries and deaths. Rather than grab headlines, what is needed is a well-resourced, internationally co-ordinated effort to improve the quality of life in departure countries and put people smugglers out of business.

Home Office prevaricates on Kensal Green UKBA FoI request

It appears that the Home Office is issuing a standard response to FoI requests on the UKBA raids on various stations:

This request was made by Paul Anders:

Dear Home Office,

As a resident of the London Borough of Brent, I request information about the activity by UK Border Agency staff at Kensal Green station in Brent on 30th July 2013. Specifically:

1. All correspondence in any form concerning this action between UKBA, the Home Office, other central government departments oragencies on the one hand and the London Borough of Brent and specifically Cllr Muhammed Butt on the other.

2. All minutes of meetings in which the decision to target Kensal Green station was discussed, including participants, their roles and details of which individual authorised this action.

3. The cost (including financial opportunity cost where officers would otherwise have been deployed elsewhere or else not on shift) of the exercise at Kensal Green on 30th July 2013.

4. The number and ethnicity of people (i) approached and (ii) questioned at Kensal Green on 30th July 2013 by police IC code.

5. The percentage of each IC code stopped who were found to be potentially in breach of immigration requirements.

6. Details of all previous exercises of this type carried out in 2013, including time, date, location, the number of people approached and questioned, and the number of people found to be of unclear immigration status as a consequence.

7. With regard to 6, the outcomes and / or progress made with their cases.

8. Any equality impact assessments relating to this activity in general, or the specific UKBA activity at Kensal Green station on 30th July 2013.

This request will be copied to Sarah Teather MP and Councillor Muhammed Butt.

For cost purposes, you may regard the above as separate requests.

Yours faithfully,

Paul Anders

With the statutory 20 days expiring the following response from Asia Choudhary of the 'Immigration Enforcement Team' at the Home Office has been posted:

We are considering your request. Although the Act carries a presumption in favour of disclosure, it provides exemptions which may be used to withhold information in specified circumstances. Some of these exemptions, referred to as ‘qualified exemptions’, are subject to a public interest test. This test is used to balance the public interest in disclosure against the public interest in favour of withholding the information. The Act allows us to exceed the 20 working day response target where we need to consider the public interest test fully.

The information which you have requested is being considered under the exemption in section 31of the Act, which relate to Law enforcement. This is a qualified exemption and to consider the public interest test fully we need to extend the 20 working day response period. We now aim to let you have a full response by 25 September.

If you have any questions about the handling of your information request then please do not hesitate to contact me. 

An identical letter was recently received by John Cox who made an FoI request about UKBA operations at Brent and Barnet stations.

 

UK Border Agency target Brent station in check for 'illegals'

 

UK Border Agency at Kensal Green station this morning (via@mattkelcher)

Monday morning commuters at Brent's Kensal Green station were shocked this morning to find a group of black-clad heavies in the booking office stopping passengers as they tried to get to work.

It was the UK Border Agency doing checks on the immigration status of targeted individuals. I saw a similar raid at Wembley Park station in the evening rush hour about 6 weeks.

I found the sight sinister and disturbing, especially when one young woman was surround by between 6 and 8 border guards questioning her in front of passing commuters who were possible her neighbours.

A threatening and humiliating experience.

This morning's raid sent shock waves around the borough as it appeared to coincide with the controversy around the 'racist van' campaign which told 'illegal' immigrants to 'Go Home or face arrest'. Cllr Butt, leader of Brent Council and ace Tweeter PukkahPunjabi from Willesden Green have been in the forefront of resistance to what they view as a crude campaign by the Tories to win back votes from UKIP. Sarah Teather, Brent Central's Lib Dem MP condemned the racist van campaign and was followed on Sunday by Vince Cable who called it 'stupid and offensive'.

Is this the Home Office's response?

 Advice for people stopped in such raids is available HERE

Twitter's creative response to 'racist van' update

The 'racist van' has spawned some creative responses on Twitter:

Historical precedent

A round up of messages to the 'racist van'

Some of the recent messages to the 'racist van':

 

Free Harlesden family history course begins on February 6th

Plaque in Hazeldene Road - find out about YOUR family history

Harlesden Routes is a free family history programme LINK which will run between January to March 2013 to support local people in taking the first steps in learning and researching their family history. We are looking for committed individuals who live, work and/ or have strong family connections with Harlesden. Participants must be willing to develop a case study based on interviews and or research of an aspect of their family history which can be shared with others locally.

Harlesden is a culturally diverse area with many untold stories and experiences of local history and migration which makes the area a positive and inclusive place to live and work. Every Generation mission is to promote the oral and family heritage of the lives and history of local communities.

The Harlesden Routes Course will start on February 6th with all activities taking place on a Wednesday evening at the Unity Centre LINK. In addition there also be a trip to Brent Museum and Archives and the ‘Who Do You Think You Are’ family history exhibition at Olympia.

The session will cover different aspects of family history using local records and online archives, using photographs, social history, creative writing, interviewing techniques and the importance of DNA.

Harlesden Routes is a partnership which involves Every Generation, Catalyst Gateway, and Brent Museum and Archives. The projected is funded by Harlesden Community First and LIFT.

Place are limited so please email patrick@everygeneration.co.uk for an application form or further details.