Aims

The mapping exercise was carried out as part of LORECA's initial remit to identify a baseline of refugee needs and services around employment, training, and enterprise [ETE] in London. It collates research about London's refugee population from 1996 - 2006 and includes summaries and recommendations on the key themes. The findings will be of interest to the refugee sector, local authorities and policy makers.

Methodology

A questionnaire designed to capture data on refugees was circulated to all London local authorities as well as key organisations working with refugees. The response rate from local authorities was poor, so this was supplemented with desk research. Due to limited resources, emphasis was placed on contacting boroughs in which there was a paucity of data. For some boroughs, it proved impossible to identify an appropriate contact.

Key findings

The first half of the report provides profiles of London's 33 boroughs, including summaries of each sub-region, using the Learning and Skills Council's [LSC] system. The report finds that overall, knowledge of London's refugee and asylum seeker populations remains poor, although there are some promising developments. Islington has carried out a specific mapping exercise on its refugee population and some other boroughs have developed estimates of their populations using a variety of data sources. Relatively speaking, the greatest amount of data are on Central and West London boroughs. There is slightly less information on North and East London and little information on South London.

The second half of the report identifies key ETE needs of London's refugees and asylum seekers, dividing them into four categories: firstly personal, social, and economic issues; secondly knowledge, information, and advice; thirdly qualifications and credentials; and fourthly structural issues. The report finds that there is an uneven understanding of ETE needs with some areas being well researched compared to others. Two areas which could benefit from further research are gendered analyses [including the needs of men] and the needs of older refugees.

The report is supplemented with a ‘list of resources' containing documents from 1996 - 2006. Emphasis is placed on London focused research, but documents are also classified according to national and local strategies addressing refugee employability, UK regional sources, UK national sources, European sources, and migration sources.

Recommendations

There are a number of recommendations aimed at regional and sub-regional government bodies, with a focus on local authorities. Some recommendations are also aimed at other providers of services to refugees. Key recommendations include: further mapping exercises by local authorities to identify their refugee and asylum seeker communities, targeted needs analyses to determine the ETE needs of refugees, and the development of strategies addressing ETE needs of refugees and asylum seekers. Additional recommendations include enhanced cross-sector working, sub-regional working, training for service providers, information for employers, enhanced co-operation amongst service providers, enhanced support in community languages, more efficient networking, enhanced gender sensitivity, spreading of good practice around professionals and sharing of information across local authorities.

Summary Author

Stephanie Schreiber