http://www.yorkshiretoday.co.uk/ViewArticle2.aspx?SectionID=55&ArticleID=1937886
ONE of the gang convicted of Sharon Beshenivsky's manslaughter was employed by a company directly funded by the Home Office.
Faisal Razzaq was earning £16,000 working as a "client liaison officer" for Caradon Estates, which has received thousands of pounds from the public purse since it was awarded a nationwide contract to supply housing for failed asylum seekers in June, 2005.
Also working for the Government-funded company was illegal immigrant Francois Baron, who was carrying out refurbishment work for them on a cash-in-hand basis.
Caradon also provided a temporary base the night before the robbery for some of the gang, who partied on champagne and vodka at one of the company's hostels in Leeds as they excitedly planned their deadly raid.
It provides temporary homes for failed asylum seekers and presents each of them with a £35 Asda voucher on a weekly basis.
Immigrants living at 2, Roundhay Place, one of the homes run by the company, and which police raided in their hunt for weapons after the murder, claim Razzaq seemed to do very little for his salary.
One of them, Iranian refugee Hassan Toosi, a qualified doctor, said: "Razzaq was completely different to any of the other people who worked for Caradon. "He never did anything we asked him to. If we ever said anything to him he would just get very angry. I saw him pick fights with lots of people for no reason."
Faisal Razzaq was born in Hammersmith on September 28, 1981, and went to school in Hendon before attending Hendon College, where he befriended fellow student Muzzaker Imtiaz Shah, who has admitted murdering PC Beshenivsky.
His older brother Hassan, who was born in July 1980, has had only one job of note, working in a mobile phone shop in London. He was sentenced to 12 months in a young offender's institution in January 1999 for stealing a phone. He also has convictions for drugs and deception offences.
The two brothers were close associates of Shah and the Jama brothers.
Caradon, which has its head office in Hounslow, works alongside the National Asylum Support Service by providing what is known as 'Section Four' basic housing for those whose asylum applications have failed and are not entitled to benefits or council housing.
They provide accommodation in several cities in the UK with 22 properties in Leeds.
The firm had only taken control of 99 Harehills Lane – the house where the gang congregated – on October 12 2005, just a month before the Bradford raid. The hostel needed refurbishment work, which was carried out by Razzaq and Baron.
Last night a Home Office spokeswoman said Caradon had now lost its contract to provide Section Four housing. Its current contract, which began in June, 2005, will end in June 2007. But she insisted proper checks had been carried out.
"It is absolutely not true that providers of Section Four housing would not be subject to the same checks as the organisations which provide other types of housing," she said.
"They are subject to very, very stringent checks."
Rod Dimmock of Caradon Estates said: "This is all being handled through West Yorkshire Police. We have no comment to make."
www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/12/19/weu19.xml
More than half of Britons are opposed to EU enlargement after the latest round of expansion triggered a massive influx of migrant workers, according to a new poll.
The European Commission's Eurobarometer shows that for the first time a majority of the British people, 51 per cent, is against the EU's eastwards expansion. The number of opponents has jumped by nine points over the last six months. Only 36 per cent now support enlargement and 13 per cent are undecided.
Commission officials blame public alarm over immigration as 437,000 migrants flocked to Britain after Eastern European countries such as Poland joined the EU in May 2004. Initial British government estimates had put the total of expected migrants at 13,000.
"It is understandable that people may have anxieties related to the fact that so many citizens from new member states have arrived in the UK since 2004," said a commission spokesman. Only 36 per cent of Britons were against enlargement in autumn 2004 and the change of opinion is embarrassing for Tony Blair as he steps up support for Turkey's entry application.
The poll also showed that public opinion in Spain, Turkey's other main backer, had cooled on enlargement, although one in two Spaniards still supported the project.
In the light of its recent experience, Britain has imposed restrictions on workers from Bulgaria and Romania, when both countries join the EU on January 1 2007. EU officials are dismayed by the survey results because London's open stance to European migrants had been spun as a good news story in contrast to protectionist measures introduced by governments in Berlin or Paris.
Only four of the EU's 25 nations are now less enthusiastic than Britons about enlargement. In Germany only 30 per cent support it, in Austria 31 per cent, Luxembourg 32 per cent and France 34 per cent.
Paris, Berlin, Luxembourg and Vienna were key players behind moves to impose tougher conditions on applicant members at a summit of Europe's leaders last week.
New and old Europe are deeply divided over the benefits of enlargement. Support runs at 72 per cent in the 10 new EU countries but has dropped to an average 41 per cent in the other 15.
The enlargement issue has damaged Europe in the eyes of the British, with opposition to EU membership up three points and negative perceptions of Brussels rising seven points. The decline in British support appears linked to general public disenchantment with the EU since the failure of the constitution, which was endorsed by all 25 EU leaders, ratified by 16 countries but rejected in French and Dutch referendums last year.
Muslims must "do more to engage with wider society and take greater responsibility for integration", according to the European Union's Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uklatest/story/0,,-6277435,00.html
More than £100 million of taxpayers' money is being spent each year on translation and interpreting services for migrants who do not speak English, according to a report.
BBC2's Newsnight totted up the figure from language services provided by local councils, hospitals, police forces, courtrooms and other state institutions across the UK.
On Tuesday night the programme said the bill was rising fast, with a 300% increase in spending on translation and interpreting over the past five years in the court system alone.
The report comes just days after Prime Minister Tony Blair made a high-profile speech saying that immigrants had a "duty to integrate" - including learning the national language.
Local Government Minister Phil Woolas admitted that he did not know the actual total being spent on translation, but insisted that it was far outweighed by the £1 billion being spent on teaching 1.8 million people to speak and write English.
Newsnight heard warnings from MPs that the provision of vast amounts of literature in dozens of languages left some migrants feeling there was no need to learn English.
Peterborough' s Conservative MP, Stewart Jackson, said: "We have to ask the very basic question: is it necessary?
"And more importantly is it making people complacent and lazy that they can continue to speak in their homeland language without bothering to speak English? I think it is a very important question, particularly when taxpayers' money is going towards it."
Labour's Sadiq Khan (Tooting) told the programme: "I think it is worth us asking the question: are we now providing a level of translation that is too much and, rather than being an incentive for people to learn the English language, is a disincentive?
"Are people becoming accustomed to a dependency culture where they know everything they ever need is going to be translated into their mother tongue?"
http://www.workpermit.com/news/2006_12_11/uk/public_services_immigrants.htm
It is generally acknowledged that immigrants pay far more into social services than they get back out of it. It is, in fact, one of the driving philosophies of the "managed immigration" system: the pensioner-age population of the UK (and many other westernized economies) require the young, productive workers that immigrate to provide the cash to keep benefits paid for.
However, some politicians are voicing concerns that United Kingdom public services such as schools and housing are feeling the pressure of immigration caused by increased numbers of Eastern European immigrants, according to Immigration Minister Liam Byrne.
The issue is of concern as Romania and Bulgaria prepare to join the European Union on the first of the New Year. Tougher rules are being considered, and some have already been implemented.
Mr. Byrne refuses to estimate the amount of expected immigrants, believing it would be "very unwise to predict future flows". Past attempts to predict the amount of immigration resulted in massive underestimates.
Infamously, the UK officially estimated approximately 15,000 immigrants entering from the EU-25 accession States after May 2004. Today it is estimated that over 600,000, both legal and illegal, have actually entered. It should be noted that official numbers also show 380,000 people leaving Britain during 2005.
However, the Home Office is preparing itself to deal with attempts to abuse the rules. Home Secretary John Reid recently introduced a new set of rules to help enforce the 20,000 person cap for migrant workers from Romania and Bulgaria. It has been reported elsewhere that quotas of 20,000 and 10,000 have been set for migrants from Romania and Bulgaria, respectively.
On 24 October, Mr Reid issued a Ministerial Statement for the Home Office citing a number of statistics related to immigrants and the use of public social services.
"There have also been some transitional impacts from the last round of Accession [the 2004 EU-25 expansion]. A small number of schools have seen a significant increase in admissions. Some local authorities have reported problems of overcrowding in private housing. There have been cost pressures on English language training."
From 01 January 2007 the government will be "phasing out all low-skilled migration schemes for workers from outside the EU".
"Places on the two low-skilled migration schemes for non-EU workers (the Seasonal Agricultural Workers Scheme and the Sectors Based Scheme which between them currently have 19,750 places) will now be restricted to nationals from Romania and Bulgaria with this cap maintained at its present level".
Mr. Byrne asserts that it good not to enforce similar rules on the accession of the eight former Soviet Bloc countries in 2004 because they had assisted so much in the growth of the UK's economy.
However, Mr. Byrne acknowledges evidence of "specific and isolated pressures" which entail a more cautious approach to the accession of Romania and Bulgaria. He cites examples such as schools struggling to cope with an influx of children from new families who emigrated from the previous 8 accession states and overcrowding in public housing.
The government notes that overall pressure on social services has not been as severe as is sometimes portrayed in localised, specific cases. Steps are being taken to identify and assist localities that have been overwhelmed.
Under pressure from MPs, Mr Byrne would not provide details about the impact on housing, saying it would be something the Department for Communities and Local Government would consider "over the next few months". Tory David Heathcoat-Amory said the Government would not be able to control the amount of Romanians and Bulgarians who would come to Britain and use public services.
John Reid's Ministerial Statement points out that relative to the total immigration numbers, very few of the new immigrants have brought in dependents. Less than 1% have attempted to claim out of work benefits, while the vast majority have paid billions of pounds in taxes into the British treasury.
"You are trying to restrict immigration from Bulgaria and Romania by the sole device of trying to get the law-abiding workforce to register under your scheme," Mr Heathcoat-Amory said. "You are never going to prevent them coming over here ... and working in the informal black economy, as happens all over Europe."
Mr. Byrne tried to allay some of the concerns about impact on the UK by saying they were not trying to limit the amount of immigrants.
"It's an error to say that we are trying to manage migration in this way, because ultimately people from Bulgaria and Romania do have the right of free movement to this country," he said. "That's just a deal we signed up to when we signed the accession treaty. What we can do is exercise our derogation controlling access to the labour market. That does have knock-on implications for access to benefits."
http://www.fly-2let.co.uk/news262.htm
Around one in 10 Brits now live overseas, research from the Institute for Public Policy Research suggests.
IPPR found that more than 198,000 British nationals moved overseas last year, bringing the total number living abroad to more than 5.5m. They have been encouraged to do so by being able to cash in on a strong economy and relatively high UK property prices.
Britain already has more people living abroad than almost any other country. Even so, another 1m Brits will join their ranks over the next five years, according to the research body.
Some 75 per cent of those living abroad are in just 10 countries. Australia (1.3m) is the most popular, followed by Spain (760,000), the USA (680,000), Canada (600,000), Ireland (290,000), New Zealand (215,000), South Africa (212,000), France (200,000),
Germany (115,000), and Cyprus (59,000).
However, there are 41 countries with more than 10,000 Brits in residence, and 71 countries with more than 1,000.
The main reason given for emigrating by Brits living abroad permanently was to pursue professional or educational opportunities (33.8 per cent), to improve their lifestyle or enjoy a better climate (24.9 per cent), or for family or personal reasons (18.5 per cent). Cost of living (4.1 per cent barely featured).
However, for those considering emigrating, the main attractions were a better quality of life (37 per cent), better weather (32 per cent), and a more reasonable cost of living (24 per cent).
‘A healthy economy at home, especially when house prices are buoyant and the pound is strong, makes it easier to up sticks and move abroad’, said IPPR associate director Danny Sriskandarajah. ‘From Australia to Zambia, Brits are looking for a better job, a better quality of life or a sunny retirement. Very few leave because they think the country has “gone to the dogs”.
‘Britain does not just have the world's leading financial centre and the busiest international airport but is truly at the crossroads of the global movement of people. But our research also shows that for some emigrants, being ill prepared or not knowing the local language can cloud their experience of a place in the sun’.
Inability to speak the local language was identified as one of the biggest barriers to settling into an overseas community. Fewer than one in four retired Brits living in the Costa del Sol speak Spanish, but three in four retired Brits living in Tuscany speak Italian. Brits in countries like Spain and Saudi Arabia also tend to flock together, in contrast to countries like Australia and the USA where they tend to be more dispersed across the country.
Foreign exchange specialist HIFX said the findings echoed its own. ‘Australia, New Zealand and Canada, all of which feature in the top ten places for Brits to emigrate to, are facing a shortage of home grown skilled workers so they are marketing themselves as attractive propositions to UK workers who may be looking for a better work/life balance for their family or simply just sunnier climes’, said HIFX marketing director Mark Bodega.
With the pound so strong, people planning to move abroad, whether in the next six months, or in two years time, and who will be transferring all their UK wealth abroad should consider taking out a ‘forward contract’, the firm suggested. ‘In essence this means people can buy their currency as soon as they start the emigration process and pay for it later (once they have sold their UK house for example). By doing this consumers are completely protected from exchange rate movements as they have ‘locked in’ the exchange rate at the time of setting the contract’.
The latest HIFX Global Property Hot Spots report, just published, reported a strong resurgence of interest in France and Spain. In November France and Spain have made up just over half (55 per cent) of all HIFX’s currency transactions for buying property abroad while enquiries relating to property purchases Bulgaria, Turkey and Morocco declined. Those for Cyprus, Cape Verde and Dubai remained on an even keel.
‘ Despite a fair amount of dabbling by investors in some more exotic locations, old time favourites France and Spain are still the first choice for British buyers looking for a holiday home or retirement home’, said Bodega.
‘With the markets in both countries having slowed down over the last 12 months, we are seeing some really good bargains coming up, and it seems that many canny Brits have also spotted this and are beginning to return to these traditional overseas markets in increasing numbers’.
Office of National Statistics figures reported in November tally with the IPPR findings in that they put the number of UK citizens leaving to live abroad last year at 198,000, almost 4,000 a week. Of these, a fifth went to Australia, the most preferred destination, although Spain and France were next on the list.
The number of British citizens emigrating each year had increased by about 50,000 a year over the last 10 years, with more than 1m leaving in the last six years alone, said National Statistics.
**(Anyone want to take a hard working Brit with them?
All the technological toys on the planet, in the absence of the political will to use them to good ends, mean nothing – except for the New Labour contributors owning the companies that produce them. We had sound border controls in 1930, without any of these gadgets, so they are obviously not the key to border security.
http://www.keralanext.com/news/?id=926989
London, In a move to tighten immigration flows to the country, Britain has issued fresh norms that would compel foreign nationals in the UK to register their biometrics, which include fingerprints, iris scans and facial recognition.
Unveiling a new Strategic Action Plan for the National Identity Scheme and the Borders, Immigration and Identity Action Plan, British Home Minister Liam Byrne said, "But as patterns of migration change and passenger volumes grow, we need to transform our systems, and the way we work with international partners, to match them".
The new plan which would involve maintaining a huge database would be introduced on a rolling basis and in the first phase, the biometric ID would be required by every person from the 169 countries outside the 28 countries belonging to European Economic Area (EEA), applying for work, study or stay in the United Kingdom for more than six months.
The biometric ID will also be required for people from 108 visa nations applying to visit the UK, even for periods shorter than six months;
The new plan will be introduced for foreign nationals from 2008 and by 2009 it will be expanded to all British citizens.
Justifying the new plan, Bryne said, "Compulsory biometric identity for foreign nationals will help us secure our borders, shut down access to the illegal jobs, which we know attracts illegal immigrants, and help fight foreign criminals".
Outlining the five-point benefits from the new plan, Bryne said that apart from securing the country's border the new initiative would also "become a key defence in the fight against crime and terrorism".
The National Identity Scheme is also expected to deliver more efficient and effective public services, by ensuring a consistent means of identifying customers and would help in preventing identity fraud, which presently costs more than pound 1.7 billion a year for the UK economy.
According to the report, more than 1,500 people, who have previously claimed asylum or been fingerprinted for other immigration purposes, have been identified trying to return to the UK and have been caught out by new biometric visa processes.
The report also claimed that more than 51,000 people have already enrolled in the government's secure immigration scheme Iris, exceeding the government's 40,000 target.
Bryne also said that nearly four million facial biometric British passports have already been issued.
Terming the plan as an "ambitious" one, Bryne said that this long term programme will help in creating a comprehensive identity management infrastructure for the whole of the United Kingdom.
However, the new plan has also met reservation in certain quarters over the huge investment involved in its realisation and whether that it would be as effective as promised by the Minister.
The plan is not only stringent; it is also fraught with concerns relating to privacy of the individuals.
Trying to dispel the notions, Bryne said, "We will keep risks and costs down by using existing Government investment in IT systems and delivering incrementally based on extensive piloting and trialling".
http://www.communitycare.co.uk/Articles/2006/12/19/102597/Independent+inspectorate+for+asylum+and+immigration.html
An independent inspectorate for asylum and immigration could be set up under government proposals published yesterday.
Immigration minister Liam Byrne said the new body would assess issues including the quality of decision-making, enforcement powers, access to information and the treatment of individuals.
The proposals have been put out for consultation until February 16.
Tags: Asylum Seekers, Immigration, New Labour, EU,
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