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Immigration has affected modern Britain substantially, and the impacts have been felt in areas such as jobs, housing, education, language and social cohesion. As a result of this research the government now has a model for accounting for the effects of social cohesion in formulating policy. Saggar et al were tasked by the Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) to develop original research on social cohesion and integration impacts in close proximity to policy-makers. Using this research, they were asked to supply direct policy advice to the Home Office; as a result, ministerial advice changed from a claim that the measured social impacts were broadly negative to agreement that, for cost-benefit analysis purposes, these were zero.
Increasing immigration, the rise of the British National Party, and the London bombings put social cohesion firmly on the policy agenda. James Laurence and Anthony Heath's research (2008) on the predictors of social cohesion provided the key empirical foundation for policies implemented by the Department for Communities and Local Government from 2008 onwards. These policies in turn impacted the practices of local authorities in a variety of domains, including the allocation of social housing and the funding of community projects. The research was also cited by a number of organizations beyond government in their policy documents, from the Equality and Human Rights Commission to consultancies such as Ipsos MORI.
This case study is underpinned by the first qualitative research study of national significance into the views of white working class communities on community cohesion. It builds on over 10 years of research into community cohesion at Coventry University. The case study includes impacts on:
Beneficiaries include central and local government policy-makers, members of charities and funders, lobbying groups, think tanks and political parties, political commentators, housing professionals, journalists, social workers and the general public.
Research by the University of Huddersfield's School of Education and Professional Development has played a significant role in influencing changes to `Prevent', a key government educational policy aimed at preventing terrorism. The work of Professor Paul Thomas has reshaped local approaches in Kirklees and Rochdale local authorities and, following national media coverage and oral evidence to a House of Commons Inquiry, has helped influenced policy change at national level. Thomas' recommendation to focus more on cohesion was largely accepted by the Coalition government in its review of Prevent, as a result of which the Department of Communities and Local Government (DCLG) has placed renewed emphasis on the value of cross-community cohesion.
University of Salford researchers have developed a community-based research method to capture the viewpoints of, and more valid and reliable data about, migrant and nomadic groups, who experience barriers to social inclusion, demonstrating the following impact:
Research at Oxford's International Migration Institute (IMI) on the driving forces of global migration processes, conducted in conversation with international stakeholder groups, has significantly affected the ways in which migration is conceptualised and viewed by experts, international organisations and governments involved in formulating migration and development policies. The new perspective arising from IMI's research fundamentally challenges the common assumption that migration is driven by poverty and distress, and holds that migration is in fact an integral part of the process of human and economic development. This view was adopted by the United Nations in the UNDP Human Development Report 2009 and has significantly influenced the UK government's Foresight report on Migration and Global Environmental Change.
This case study focuses on the impact of ethnographic research on migration to the UK from South Asia and Eastern and Central Europe by a team of researchers in sociology at Roehampton. This research has enhanced knowledge of demographic change in British society and has had a significant impact on policy makers and providers in local, national and European policy communities. The research has contributed to changing attitudes, raising awareness, and shifts in policy and practice by local government in London with regards to migration and social inclusion to the capital. It has also contributed to capacity building activities and new policy tools to support social inclusion and labour market integration by new migrant communities in the UK and across the European Union.
Research carried out at the University of Oxford's Centre on Migration Policy and Society (COMPAS) and disseminated through an accessible multimedia website, `The Migration Observatory', has transformed public and policy debate on migration and changed the practices of government departments, media, and third-sector organizations regarding migration data. As a result of COMPAS's research on public attitudes to immigration, migrants' remittance payments, and employers' demand for migrant labour, these groups have been able to make stronger, evidence-based arguments and decisions.
The impact has occurred in two main ways: (1) direct impact on public debates; and (2) changes in the practices of those participating in, or reporting on, those debates. The direct impact has included evidence for arguments against new restrictions on student immigration, and related arguments in favour of changing the way student immigration statistics are tracked. It has also included shaping deliberations on the potential for developing new measures of remittances by the Office of National Statistics. Changes in practice have involved the dissemination of research and data through the vehicle of the Migration Observatory. The Observatory has enabled journalists, civil servants, parliamentarians, and NGOs to use a more accurate and impartial evidence base in debates on migration issues, and to inform the public about such issues.
Work undertaken at the University of Manchester (UoM) has provoked debate, and challenged established lines of thought, by `myth busting' current claims about racial diversity and segregation — such as `Britain is becoming a country of ghettos' — which have hitherto dominated public and policy debate. A sociologically-informed demographic approach, developed at UoM, has been adopted by local authorities for monitoring neighbourhood population change and ethnic diversity. Additionally, research findings have been used by non-governmental organisations (NGOs), national policy-makers and local government to promote alternative, sociologically-informed understandings of race, segregation and diversity, challenging the current policy focus. Taken together, these twin interventions have resulted in increasingly critical and robust examinations of race, segregation and diversity, both nationally and locally.
Les Back has produced a body of research that has documented and intervened in the institutional marginalisation of migrants in Europe, the de-humanising impacts of the UK immigration system and the new technologies of border regulation. This work has stimulated and shaped public understanding through journalism and direct engagements with politicians, policy makers, practitioners and third sector organisations. It has contributed to an accumulating public narrative in favour of a humane national and EU migration policy. In particular, his research of conditions at Lunar House, Croydon gathered evidence of the poor quality of facilities and de-humanising practices and led to specific recommendations for improvement. This directly resulted in a large-scale (£800,000) change to facilities for users of the immigration service at Lunar House. Drawing on this underpinning research, Back's later work exposed the damaging consequences of UKBA's use of `go home' texting. Collectively, his research has impacted and continues to shift the terms of political debate amongst a wide range of audiences including the Houses of Parliament and the European Commission, as well as less specialised audiences such as BBC Radio 1 listeners.