National migrant workers conference comes to the East
Released 07 May 2008 | Released by Nicholas Benham
A conference to set the national agenda for bringing migrant workers into the workforce mainstream will be hosted at Newmarket Racecourse on Wednesday 25 June.
Migrant Gateway ®, a leading guidance network on migration funded by the East of England Development Agency (EEDA), will voice the UK's need to compete with other European states to attract skilled workers from abroad at 'Migrants into the Mainstream'.
The conference will be chaired by EEDA board member Sheila Childerhouse (pictured), who also chairs the Migrant Worker Steering Group for the Eastern Region - a region where growth in the employment of migrant workers has been among the greatest. Sheila believes that the conference is vital in the context of today's current climate:
"We are at a point where migration could go either way. We could risk mobile workers remaining in a sub-section of inequality, or we could embark on a programme that brings them into the workforce mainstream, valuing their existing skills and indeed up-skilling them further. You can be certain that other European states will upskill; we must steal a lead and compete effectively."
Keynote speakers from the UK's mission to develop world-class skills will set the context. Employers and migrant workers will then discuss issues they have encountered; and public sector practitioners working with migrants will examine how their strategic thinking can be adapted to encompass appropriate training for demand-led skills.
Delegates will also hear from high-profile speakers including Ghazal Asif - a competitor on BBC1's The Apprentice. Ghazal will tell her inspiring story of how she found business success in the UK as the second generation of a migrant family.
To register as a delegate, please visit www.migrantgateway.eu.
