CSMP Background

COSLA Strategic Migration Partnership (CSMP) was established in 2004 to facilitate the delivery of accommodation and support services to asylum seekers, refugees and more recently migrant workers in Scotland. CSMP works with a range of key partners to ensure that asylum seekers, refugees and migrants who are in Scotland lawfully successfully integrate into host communities. This involves working in partnership with UK Border Agency, the Scottish Government, Scottish Local Authorities and a host of other stakeholders from the voluntary and private sector. More specifically, the Partnership has five main roles:

To play an ‘enabling’ role in assisting Scottish stakeholders to develop accessible services for dispersed asylum seekers and refugees;
To support the integration of refugees and migrant workers into the community;
To facilitate and promote effective contact, co-ordination and partnership working across localities and service providers;
To facilitate strategic planning for asylum seeker, refugee and migrant worker issues;
To provide the necessary links, in conjunction with the Scottish Government, between Scotland and the Home Office and other regional Partnerships.
To support local government in Scotland to develop strategic responses to migration.

At the end of 2008 the Partnership and its project team agreed to develop its policy focus to one which is increasingly more strategic and political. This is reflective of a changing legislative and social environment and takes account of:

The regionalisation of the UKBA in Scotland has been very effective. In order for CSMP to further enhance this closer working we needed to devote more time and energy cementing stronger strategic partnerships across all immigration issues at a Scottish level.
A large number of foreign nationals have come to work in Scotland from the Eastern European EU accession states. This raises challenging issues in relation to Local Authority service provision and there are significant issues about rights and responsibilities.
The Scottish Government has a distinct immigration policy agenda to tackle Scotland’s ageing and diminishing population and this is broadly welcomed by local government in Scotland.
In order for migration to be approached in a more strategic mannner within local government in Scotland and play an increasing role in some local authority Single Outcome Agreements (SOA’s), CSMP Team require to take a lead in demonstrating the added value this will bring to partners, notably UKBA.
Links to and from the NASF, NMG and MIF require to play a more central role in the work of our Partnership Board.

History

Since 2001, the Home Office has provided funding to support regional strategic co-ordination in relation to asylum and refugee issues. An ‘enabling grant’ has been paid to various regional consortia in order to:

“Provide a regional (or in Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland – a national) advisory, development and consultation function for member organisations from the statutory, voluntary, community and private sectors – for the co-ordination and provision of advice, support and services for asylum support, unsuccessful asylum seekers, and new refugees.” (Home Office Enabling Grant Agreement 2006/07).

According to the Home Office, this enabling function is necessary because there is no one agency or organisation equipped to deliver the full range of services needed for asylum support, the integration of new refugees and their families and help assist migrants, who come here lawfully, successfully integrate into host communities, and there is a need to provide additional consultation mechanisms, co-ordination and inter-agency contact.

The creation of these co-ordinating structures has been critical to the effective regional management of the national asylum, refugee and migrant agenda. The structures currently in place have developed organically over time in response to key operational, policy and political challenges in a national, regional and local context.

Within a Scottish context, the strategic co-ordination role was initially undertaken by the Scottish Refugee and Asylum Seekers Consortium. This partnership was hosted by Glasgow City Council until 2004, after which the Partnership was re-established as the COSLA Strategic Migration Partnership (CSMP). The general remit of the Partnership at that time was to facilitate the delivery of accommodation and support services to asylum seekers and refugees in Scotland and has since added a strategic focus on migration more generally. It obtains strategic direction and political force by linking in with the political structures of COSLA (Convention of Scottish Local Authorities) and through its executive group, Cosla Strategic Migration Partnership Board.

During the period since inception, CSMP has facilitated and promoted effective contact, co-operation and partnership working between key regional stakeholders. This has allowed for the development of a co-ordinated national overview around asylum, refugee and migrant worker issues.

In addition, CSMP has, in partnership with other regional partnerships, been instrumental in assisting the UKBA in developing key strategies and policy objectives. As the relationship with UKBA has continued to develop, so too has CSMP’s stakeholder partnerships. Indeed, there is now strong recognition that these partnerships have assisted with the positive management of the asylum, refugee and migration agenda within Scotland.

UKBA remain committed to funding the Partnership and a funding agreement has been secured for a further two years until at least 2012. We have also secured two years funding from Scottish Government until 2012. This additional funding will strengthen the capacity of the team, which will ensure that we can carry out crucial work on how migration can be used as a means of tackling the demographic challenges faced by Scotland.