Cynulliad Cenedlaethol Cymru

Equality of Opportunity Committee

EOC(3)-03-08: Thursday 28 February 2008

Note of meeting at the Migrant Worker Advocacy and Information Centre, Caia Park Partnership, Wrexham

Assembly Members in Attendance

Ann Jones (Chair), Vale of Clwyd
Eleanor Burnham, North Wales
Christine Chapman, Cynon Valley
Lesley Griffiths, Wrexham
Mark Isherwood, North Wales
Bethan Jenkins, South Wales West

Committee Service

Tom Jackson, Clerk
Claire Griffiths, Deputy Clerk
Linda Heard, Committee Support

Caia Park Partnership

Barbie Bartlett - Training Coordinator
Alison Hill - Chief Officer
Nigel Davies - Deputy Chief Officer
Tracey Prandle - Migrant Workers Project

Monika Thomas- Interpreter
Angela Wadeson - Volunteers Department
Bethan Thomas - Tenancy Support Team
Lorraine Daly - Community Enterprises:
Helen Downward - Tenancy Support
Agnieszka Tenteroba -Migrant Workers Project

Committee Members had asked to visit the Caia Park Partnership due to the high proportion of migrant workers who live on the estate and in the surrounding areas. Members heard about the history of the Partnership and the work undertaken with plans for the future. ESOL courses have had to be reduced due to a cut in funding. Funding needs to be looked at to enable the Partnership to supply the courses.

Wrexham historically has a high Polish population but 2.5 years ago, the Partnership’s Lifelong Learning Centre was receiving a high volume of inquires for spoken English courses from the increasing population of migrant workers. The Centre also noted that once people were enrolled on courses, they asked a lot of questions on various issues (healthcare, housing, schools). To deal with the inquires, contact was made with the local Polish community and a translator who worked with the local police and who lived on the estate was asked to help out. As a result, Monika volunteered her services for 2 hrs/week and due to the vast volume of people wishing to access the service, funding was obtained for 1 day/week which has been subsequently increased to 3 days/week. An additional Polish lady, Agneiszka, works for 1 day/week on development work, and had established a Polish Women’s Group.  Wrexham is also getting increasing numbers of migrant workers from Portugal and the Philippines.

In response to questions from Members, the following answers were given:

  • Tutors teach in the Community
  • Try to link into all services - "signpost” in the community
  • Assist migrant workers to make appointments - healthcare, housing, benefits etc. Do not normally accompany on appointments but can write letters/ring beforehand to set out the background.
  • Help migrant workers settle into the community and take them out of isolation.
  • Most migrant workers are highly skilled people who just have a linguistic need in the training area. Majority undertake factory/production work, and courses have to be flexible to fit in around shift patterns.
  • Many migrant workers are bringing their families with them with a view to settling here rather than working for a short time to gather money to send back to support their families in their country of origin.
  • Advocacy service at Centre serves all Wrexham - not just limited to residents of Caia Park. Has dealt with inquiries from Manchester, Preston and Bristol (by e-mail).
  • When migrant workers first started to come over, housing tenacies were more often than not linked to employment. That has vastly improved but aware of people being exploited in the past.
  • Welsh Assembly Government/UK Government need to sort out qualification accreditations within EU. Quick conversion courses need to be set up for when people arrive.
  • Some migrant workers have successfully opened small businesses but need to be resident here for 12 months before being able to apply for grants etc.
  • If people are not married, gave examples of female partners being unable to claim benefits should they separate.
  • Would help to have transitional courses set up in country of origin before they come over to UK.
  • Migrant workers tend to look for private rather than social housing.
  • Housing causes huge issues - obtaining acceptable standard; overcrowding, HMO’s; myths of being given preferential treatment over indigenous population.
  • Trade Unions have given good support - holiday entitlement, ageism, minimum wage.
  • Partnership established good links with other agencies - discuss issues and help each other.
  • However, there are sometimes still issues around groups not being able to access other agencies’ services, because of language barriers- for example being unable to understand security questions.
  • The partnership is seeking to exchange good practice with other support projects, but it is difficult to find out information on what else is out there.
  • Police and Partnership regularly work in co-ordinated fashion to firefight rumours
  • Wrexham CBC produced toolkit to assist voluntary groups.
  • Successes with migrant workers and indigenous population mixing within community. Myth buster leaflets, migrant families active and volunteer within Partnership - helps to make Agencies aware of any potential issues and able to diffuse situations.
  • Partnership works with the local media to sell success.

Committee Service

March 2008