After a very windy and rainy party conference season, our Public Affairs & Communications Manager Carys has returned from Liberal Democrat and Labour conferences with a quick round up.
?In recent years, party conferences have been increasingly criticised by the media and the public. While the Liberal Democrats use their conference to vote on policy, questions have been raised about what the conferences are actually for. Are they a tool for politicians and their advisers to hear from their door knockers and leaflet droppers? Or have they become a networking opportunity for lobbyists and business?
While many charities have large lobbying budgets and can run a number of fringe events, stalls, receptions or dinners, many others, like Refugee Action, tend to use the conferences as a time saving device to meet with the most useful politicians to us. With a clear strategy of who you want to speak to, what you want to say and what you need to achieve, it?s possible to make the most of these quick meetings over coffee. Getting politicians to the seaside or ?up north?, often provides a more informal atmosphere , encouraging frank and friendly discussions which might not take place in the confines of the Westminster bubble.
This year, I met with members of the Home Affairs Select Committee to talk about the possibility of an inquiry into asylum. Such an inquiry was launched back in September 2011, but with policing, riots and phone hacking all taking centre stage, the Committee?s attention has been diverted elsewhere. At the Labour conference I met with the Committee?s Chair, ?Rt Hon Keith Vaz MP on Monday and caught up with Bridget Phillipson MP, a Committee member. Bridget has shown a consistent interest in asylum since her election. Last year, she visited our Fresh Start Project to meet destitute asylum seeking women.
At the meetings, I reiterated the need for the inquiry to happen and suggested the Committee look in particular at the end-to-end process, asylum support and routes of return. Refugee Action?s fairly new Policy Group really showed its worth here, as they had identified these key areas and supplied me with ample briefing on them too. This meant I could package a theme for the inquiry along the lines of initial decision making and sustainability of outcomes ? how improvements could benefit asylum seekers and refugees ? while of course mentioning the possibility of cost savings, which are key to government taking up any recommendations the Committee might make.
At the Lib Dem Conference, Julian Huppert MP (currently Chair of the All Party Parliamentary group on Refugees) assured me that he was committed to pushing for the inquiry within the Committee. With Keith Vaz also showing real interest, hopefully we can keep our fingers crossed that the inquiry announced? last September will finally come to fruition.? Once the inquiry has made recommendations, the government is obliged to consider those and respond, so it?s a great opportunity to influence policy and practice on behalf of asylum seekers and refugees.
Posted by Eleanor Dean
Source: http://blog.refugee-action.org/2012/10/party-conference-report-2012/
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