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Visa regimes for the new accession countries will be maintained up until accession. Bulgarians and Romanians will therefore continue to need to have visas for entry to the UK up until midnight on 31 December 2006; after that, people from Romania and Bulgaria will be able to travel about the EU freely.
However, if they want to take employed work, they will need a work authorisation document. As set out above, to get such a document they will need to have passed the tests to get on to the highly skilled migrant programme, to have secured a work permit for a skilled job, proved they are a student at a reputable college, or to have got a place in the quota for agriculture or food processing.
The House will expect to know how this system will be policed. I must be clear to the House that policing the system against a background of free movement to the UK will present some challenges, but workers or employers who are tempted by this into breaking the rules should be aware that they will be robustly enforced. Subject to debate in this House, we will take powers to make it an offence for an A2 national to work without such a document. We plan to make this punishable by an on-the-spot fixed penalty. It will also be an offence for an employer to take on undocumented A2 nationals. This will be punishable by a heavy fine. Employing illegal workers undercuts legitimate business and leads to exploitation. It will not be tolerated.
Employers will rightly ask for assistance in fulfilling their responsibilities. There will be, therefore, an information campaign for employers, backed up by a toolkit and helpline, to ensure that firms are aware of the rules and their responsibilities. Employers and employees must be clear that they have a duty to play by these rules or suffer the consequences.
Through this measured response to accession, we will ensure that migration is and continues to be managed in the best interests of the country as a whole.
Sustainable Development
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Communities and Local Government (Baroness Andrews): My right honourable friend the Minister for Housing and Planning has made the following Written Ministerial Statement.
The Government are today announcing support for 29 areas across the country which have bid to become new growth points, combining increased housing with new jobs, town centre regeneration and higher design and environmental standards.
Last year the Government announced plans to increase housing supply as part of the response to Kate Barker's review. More houses are needed to help first-time buyers, to address overcrowding and keep up with rising demand. We are living longer and more people are living alone. If we continue to build at currently planned levels, the proportion of 30 year-old couples able to afford their own home will fall from over 50 per cent today to nearer 30 per cent in 20 years’ time. But it is vital that new homes are built alongside jobs growth and infrastructure investment in order to deliver sustainable communities for the future. That is why, alongside other measures on planning, affordable housing and infrastructure funding, we invited local authorities and partners to put forward proposals for new homes as part of sustainable growth.
Following a review of these new growth point proposals across Government, and in particular in consultation with Defra and DfT and their agencies, we are announcing a total of 29 areas, put forward by more than 70 local authorities, which we are supporting. We are also publishing Partnership for Growth, a summary of these proposals, copies of which will be placed in the Libraries. Subject to consultation, testing and examination through the regional and local plan-making processes, these proposals have the potential to add up to 100,000 homes by 2016, an increase of around 30 per cent on previous plans for housing supply in these areas.
These proposals involve substantial jobs growth, town centre regeneration and measures to improve the quality of life and environment. Most of the bids include major employment proposals—more than 130,000 jobs in the south-west and east of England regions alone. They include measures to improve skills, promote business start-up, create new employment sites and widen the local economic base. They also include proposals to invest in green spaces and the local environment as well as town centre regeneration.
Achieving this potential for sustainable, realistic and affordable growth will require a strong long-term commitment between Government, their agencies and local partners. The partnership that we are announcing today is based on four principles:
First, we want to work with local authorities to support the early delivery of more housing and ensure that the type of housing provided responds to local and market conditions and affordability pressures.
Secondly, we want to achieve sustainable growth, supporting schemes which set the highest standards of design and are exemplars of sustainable development, supporting the local environment and promoting ways to cut carbon emissions. These new developments will also be underpinned by the forthcoming planning policy statement on climate change and the Code for Sustainable Homes to help reduce the carbon footprint of new housing and lead the way towards our longer-term aim of zero carbon development.
Thirdly, we will work with local partners to ensure that infrastructure and services keep pace with people and homes. We have begun a cross-Government process to support the new growth points involving all the major transport and environment agencies, as well as other regional and local partners. There is potential to make better health and education an integral feature of new design.
On environmental infrastructure, the programme should enable partners to identify and plan for the additional water supply, sewerage, waste and other environmental infrastructure that their proposals require. They will then be able to show how these needs will be addressed when their specific detailed proposals come forward.
On transport, we need to achieve more sustainable travel outcomes, for example through the design and location of new development encouraging more use of buses, cycling and walking and minimising any increase in long-distance commuting. We will continue to encourage partners to exploit existing public transport networks in determining the most sustainable locations for growth but we recognise that additional infrastructure will be needed.
The Government have established the Treasury CSRO7 Review to ensure that departmental resources across Government are targeted appropriately for providing the national, regional and local infrastructure necessary to support future housing and population growth.
Fourthly, we recognise that to deliver growth successfully requires dedicated resources, specialist expertise and the ability to work closely with the private sector to optimise the potential for their investment. The funding we are announcing today will help local partners carry out critical studies on environmental and transport issues. In addition, we will be asking English Partnerships to work closely with the individual growth points to discuss what type of delivery support will be needed, how best that can be provided and to advise on the detailed programmes of development.
New growth point status means that Government and local partners agree the potential for growth and are committed to working together to ensure that growth will be sustainable, realistic and affordable. This shared assessment can inform the RSS process. It is up to the regional spatial strategies (RSS) to determine, among other things, the scale and distribution of provision for new housing. Specific site allocations must be decided through the local development framework (LDF) process.
We are also pleased to announce initial funding allocations to each of the new growth points to support the work. These initial allocations, totalling £40 million, are for both capital projects and revenue support for studies and capacity building. Allocations are subject to detailed negotiation and appraisal of projects to ensure maximum benefit can be achieved from spending in 2007-08. Allocations for future years will be subject to the outcome of the CSR, and we intend that from 2008-09 funding will be linked to local area agreements to give local partners greater flexibility on delivery. Consultation is still under way about the arrangements for LAAs, and a Statement will be made about this shortly.
Three cities, Derby, Leicester and Nottingham, and three counties: Derby City Council, Derbyshire County Council (CC), Leicester City Council, Leicestershire CC, Nottingham City Council and Nottinghamshire CC
Grantham: South Kesteven District Council (DC) and Lincolnshire CC
Lincoln: Lincolnshire CC, City of Lincoln Council, North Kesteven DC and West Lindsey DC
Newark on Trent: Newark and Sherwood DC
Haven Gateway: Babergh DC, Colchester Borough Council (BC), Essex CC, Ipswich BC, Suffolk Coastal DC, Suffolk CC, Tendring DC
Norwich: Norwich City Council, Norfolk CC, Broadland DC, South Norfolk Council, the Broads Authority
Thetford: Breckland Council, Thetford Town Council, Norfolk CC
Basingstoke: Basingstoke and Deane BC
Didcot—South Oxfordshire: South Oxfordshire DC
Partnership for Urban South Hampshire: East Hampshire DC, Eastleigh BC, Fareham BC, Gosport BC, Hampshire CC, Havant BC, New Forest DC, Portsmouth City Council, Southampton City Council, Test Valley BC, Winchester DC
Reigate and Banstead: Reigate and Banstead BC
Exeter and East Devon: Exeter City Council, East Devon DC and Devon CC
Plymouth: Plymouth City Council
Taunton: Taunton Deane BC and Somerset CC
Truro: Carrick DC and Cornwall CC
West of England: Bristol City Council, Bath and North East Somerset Council, North Somerset Council and South Gloucestershire Council
Within the Birmingham, Coventry and Black Country City Region:
Birmingham and Solihull: Birmingham City Council and Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council
Coventry: Coventry City Council
Telford: The Borough of Telford and Wrekin
East Staffordshire—Burton-upon-Trent: East Staffordshire BC
Hereford: Herefordshire Council
Shrewsbury and Atcham: Shrewsbury and Atcham BC and Shropshire CC
Worcester: Worcestershire CC, Worcester City Council, Wychavon DC and Malvern Hills DC
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