Supplementary memorandum by the Home Office
Before your Committee on 15 January, we undertook
to provide additional information on three areas:
1. Key Points that have come out of the Migration
Impacts Forum about the impact of immigration on the costs of
providing public services.
2. Numbers of migrants entering the UK as
investors.
3. The immigration rules and recent years'
statistics for migrants coming to the UK as family joiners.
In addition, supplementary information has been
requested in three further areas:
4. An explanation of the Home Office/ DWP
calculation of the impact of immigration on GDP per capita.
5. The evidence on which policy decisions
on A8 and A2 nationals were based.
6. The impacts of migration on the demand
for key public services.
The information for points 1-5 is set out below
and in the annexes:
Annex A Report to the second meeting of the
MIF on the impacts of migration (not printed).
Annex B Summary of Government action in areas
suggested by Rodney Green MIF lead on Cohesion (not printed).
Annex C Explanation of the Home Office/ DWP
calculation of the impact of immigration on GDP per capita.
Annex D Social Impacts Literature (not printed).
Annex E Memorandum on evidence on which A2 and
A8 decisions were based (not printed).
1. Key Points that have come out of the Migration
Impacts Forum about the impact of immigration on the costs of
providing public services
The context to this is that migration has a
positive impact on the public finances. In 2003-04 migrants contributed
10% of taxes received by the Government—more than their
share of the population (9.6%). By contrast, they used up 9.1%
of Government spending—less than their share of the population.
This was borne out in a 2005 report by the Institute
of Public Policy Research, which found that migration had a positive
influence on the public finances, and indeed that the impact was
growing.
We do not under-estimate the impact on some
authorities. MIF is beginning to build up an evidence base on
the impacts. I attach a report we gave to the second meeting of
MIF on the impacts of A8 migration (Annex A). I also attach a
report setting out the action Government is taking across a number
of issues raised by Rodney Green and fellow MIF members during
the discussion on the impacts of migration on community cohesion
which took place at the October meeting (Annex B).
The committee asked what the Government is doing
to ensure that local councils have adequate funds to provide public
services in these areas which are most impacted.
The Government has introduced the first ever
three year settlement for local government in England—something
that local government supported and wanted. We have also increased
flexibility to respond to local priorities by:
— bringing into formula grant or Area
Based Grant £5.6 billion of grants over the Comprehensive
Spending Review period;
— removed ring fencing and other controls;
and
— delivering a single set of 198 performance
indicators as promised in the Local Government White Paper.
The floor guarantee means that all authorities
see increases in formula grant every year.
We are providing £50 million over the next
three years for community cohesion projects, a massive increase
over the £2 million provided previously.
ONS are working with central and local government
to improve the population and migration statistics. We are engaging
with local government through work with the Local Government Association
to enable local authorities to make full use of migration-related
data at a local level. We will collaborate on further work to
understand the local impacts of migration and the pressures that
local authorities face.
2. Number of Migrants in the Investors Category
|
| Year | Number of Investor Approvals
at entry and leave to remain
|
|
| 2005 | 165
|
| 2006 | 175
|
| 2007 | 160
|
|
The above data are based on Management Information, are provisional
and may be subject to change. The data are not National Statistics.
3. Immigration rules and recent years' statistics for family
members
The Immigration Rules provide for the following family members
of British citizens or settled persons to enter or remain in the
UK: fiancés, proposed civil partners, spouses, civil partners,
unmarried partners, same sex partners, children, parents, grandparents
and other dependent relatives. To qualify for leave as a family
member, an individual would need to demonstrate that they meet
the requirements of the Immigration Rules (see below).
Provisions for fiancés and proposed civil partners
To qualify for leave to enter as a fiancé or proposed
civil partner (of a British citizen or settled person), the following
requirements must be met:
— the parties to the marriage/civil partnership
must have met;
— both parties must intend to live permanently with
the other as his or her spouse or civil partner after the marriage/civil
partnership;
— the parties must be able to maintain and accommodate
themselves without recourse to public funds.
If the requirements of the rules are met, leave to enter
will be granted for six months.
Provisions for spouses, civil partners, unmarried partners and
same sex partners
To qualify for leave to enter as a spouse or civil partner
(of a British citizen or settled person), the following requirements
must be met:
— the parties to the marriage/civil partnership
must have met;
— both parties must intend to live permanently with
the other as his or her spouse or civil partner;
— the marriage/civil partnership must be subsisting;
— the parties must be able to maintain and accommodate
themselves without recourse to public funds.
In addition, to qualify for leave to remain as a spouse or
civil partner, a person must have been granted a period of leave
of more than six months (unless they entered with a fiancé
or proposed civil partner visa). This prevents applicants who
have arrived as visitors or short term students from "switching"
into the marriage category.
To qualify for leave to enter as an unmarried or same sex
partner (of a British citizen or settled person), the following
requirements must be met:
— the parties must have been living together in
a relationship akin to marriage or civil partnership which has
subsisted for two years or more;
— the parties must intend to live together permanently;
— the parties must be able to maintain and accommodate
themselves without recourse to public funds.
If the above requirements are met, a person will be granted
a period of two years leave to enter or remain ("the probationary
period"). This period allows us to test the genuineness and
permanence of the relationship.
To qualify for indefinite leave to remain (ILR)If the marriage/civil
partnership/relationship is still subsisting at the end of this
period and the partner is, a person will be granted indefinite
leave to remain (ILR).
Provisions for children
The Immigration rules provide for leave to enter or remain
to be granted to a child of a parent, parents or a relative present
and settled or being admitted for settlement in the UK. The main
points are that the child must be:
— not leading an independent life, is unmarried
and has not formed an independent family unit,
— maintained and accommodated without recourse to
public funds.
The rules also provide for indefinite leave to enter to be
granted to an adopted child of a parent or parents settled and
settled or being admitted for settlement in the UK.
Provisions for parents, grandparents and other dependent relatives
To qualify for indefinite leave to enter or remain as a parent,
grandparent or other dependent relative (of a British citizen
or settled person), the following requirements must be met:
— a parent or grandparent aged 65 or over (or if
under 65 living alone in the most exceptional compassionate circumstances)
or
— the son, daughter, sister, brother, uncle or aunt
over the age of 18 if living alone outside the UK in the most
exceptional compassionate circumstances;
— is financially wholly or mainly dependent on the
relative present and settled in the UK;
— has no other close relatives in his own country
to whom he/she could turn to for financial support;
— will be maintained and accommodated without recourse
to public funds.
Statistics
These statistics are taken from Control of Immigration
Statistics 2006.
GRANTS OF
LEAVE TO
ENTER FOR
TWO YEAR
PROBATIONARY PERIOD
|
| 2003
| 2004 | 2005
| 2006 |
|
| Spouses, fiancés, civil partners, proposed civil partners, unmarried partners and same sex partners
| 31,400 | 35,300
| 41,600 | 47,100
|
|
GRANTS OF
SETTLEMENT BY
CATEGORY
|
| 2003
| 2004 | 2005
| 2006 |
|
| Spouses, civil partners, unmarried partners and same sex partners
| 48,160 | 21,105
| 24,295 | 42,725
|
| Children | 8,950
| 5,850 | 6,715
| 9,290 |
| Parents and grandparents | 3,090
| 1,985 | 1,450
| 1,470 |
| Other | 5,000
| 4,300 | 4,880
| 6,325 |
|
THE IMPACT
OF IMMIGRATION
ON GDP PER
CAPITA
The Home Office/DWP calculation
In his oral evidence to the House of Lords Economic Affairs
Committee, the Immigration Minister referred to an estimate that
migration contributed 0.15% per annum to the GDP per capita of
the native population. This figure was calculated as follows:
— In a study for the Low Pay Commission[74],
Dustmann et al. found that an increase in the migrant population
of 1% of the native population would increase native wages by
between 0.3 and 0.4%.
— In paragraph 4.1.2 of our written submission to
the Committee we noted that the proportion of the working age
population that was foreign-born increased by about five percentage
points in the 10 years to the end of 2006.
— Multiplying the Dustmann et al. estimates by the
increase in the foreign-born share of the working age population
gives a range of 1.5-2.0% over 10 years.
— Assuming that the impact of immigration on GDP
per capita is the same as its impact on wages, we can estimate
that immigration has led to a 1.5-2.0% increase in GDP per capita
over 10 years.
— Alternatively expressed, this assumption requires
that the impact on returns to capital will be similar to the impact
on returns to labour. To the extent that migration does not also
raise returns to capital, the overall impact on GDP per capita
will be lower. In the absence of firm evidence on returns to capital,
we therefore take the lower bound of the estimated impact, ie
1.5% over 10 years or 0.15% year.
— Given GDP per capita of £21,500 in 2006,
the 1.5% suggests that GDP per capita would have been approximately
£300 higher by the tenth year.
74
Dustmann, C, Frattini, T and Preston, I (2007) A study of migrant
workers and the national minimum wage and enforcement issues that
arise, report commissioned by the Low Pay Commission, available
at http://www.econ.ucl.ac.uk/cream/pages/LPC.pdf Back
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