To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many people her Department’s Migration Directorate employs; what work it undertakes; and when it plans to publish the cross-Government action plan to ensure a co-ordinated approach to migration policy referred to in the Government’s response to the Commission on Integration and Cohesion. (190120)

The migration directorate in Communities and Local Government currently employs 10 members of staff and receives support from many other parts of the Department dealing with housing, cohesion and local government finance policy. It also works closely with CLG’s analytical and economic advisers.

The directorate’s role is to co-ordinate the Department’s work on migration issues and to draw together the work being undertaken across Whitehall on supporting communities in managing the local impacts of migration. The directorate will be developing an evidence base on the local impacts of migration, working closely with local government and other stakeholders, to increase our understanding of how migration affects different localities. CLG will be co-ordinating a cross-government action plan setting out practical steps central government can take to support local areas in managing the impacts of migration. Migration Directorate is working closely with the National Statistician, who is leading a cross-government programme to improve population projections. The directorate also provides the secretariat, jointly with the Home Office, for the Migration Impacts Forum.

Communities and Local Government plans to publish the cross-government action plan on the local impacts of migration in the spring.