Integrated Communities Strategy Green Paper
Sanctuary groups are encouraged to submit a response to the Government’s consultation on its ‘Integrated Communities Green Paper.’ Find out how to put in a submission with the help of a template.
Background to the consultation:
The Integrated Communities Green Paper sets out the government’s vision for building strong and integrated communities, and proposes a number of actions to deliver this at a local and national level. The Government is now consulting on the content of the paper and inviting individuals, communities and organisations to share their thoughts on the most effective ways to address integration challenges.
This consultation offers an opportunity for local actors to ensure that local experiences of bringing together refugees and people seeking asylum with resident communities are reflected in the final strategy. Indeed, the Government has committed to “work with civil society and others to increase integration support available to those recognised as refugees after arrival in the UK.”
It has also set out a new localised approach which prioritizes local integration strategies featuring tailored actions to address challenges specific to the local area. These strategies will need to be built on existing good practice at a local level, as well as local knowledge and expertise.
Your input is crucial:
As voluntary organisations working on the front-lines of local communities to support refugees and people seeking asylum, it is particularly important for Government to hear from you. This can include information on the barriers to integration for the people you support and the programmes or initiatives you’ve witnessed or been part of that have successfully overcome these barriers. We also believe it is an opportunity to acknowledge the social and economic value of refugee integration and to make the case for a comprehensive refugee integration package.
To support you in pulling together a response, Asylum Matters has drafted some key messages and suggested which types of case studies or examples might be useful to include in response to the questions in the consultation. It is important to note that we have focused on the particular circumstances of refugees and people seeking asylum, but of course the scope of the consultation is much broader, and you are welcome to write about various groups in your community.
How to respond to the consultation:
You can find details on how to respond to the questions here – which involves either responding via an online form or completing a response form and emailing it to the address provided. Our template will help you to do this though you don’t need to include all suggested messages and should consider the top 1 – 2 messages or recommendations you’d like to get across and ensure they feature prominently in your submission. There is no need to answer all questions in the consultation (if pressed for time, consider answering only questions 1 – 5).
The deadline for responses is 23:45 on Tuesday 5th June 2018. If you have any questions please feel free to get in touch with Andrea at Asylum Matters: [email protected]. If you do put in a submission with the help of this template, we would be grateful if you could let us know.
Not able to put in a submission?
If you’re not able to put in a submission but have thoughts you’d like to contribute or examples of best practice in your local community, do share them and we can ensure they go into the Asylum Matters submission.