Appendix 4: Settlement support services and programmes 2012/13

Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment – Migrant settlement funding

Vote Immigration – Core settlement services, $1.8 million
Immigration New Zealand uses $1.3 million of Migrant Levy funding and other revenue to purchase settlement services that are intended to help new migrants during their first two years in New Zealand. If new migrants settle quickly into workplaces and communities, they are more able to fully contribute their skills, innovation, and capital to the economy. The Settlement Unit allocates a portion of this Migrant Levy funding to preparing and co-ordinating regional settlement strategies.

Settlement Unit – Settlement Support New Zealand initiative, $2.2 million
The Settlement Unit purchases and monitors Settlement Support New Zealand using Crown funding. Settlement Support New Zealand provides a clear local point of contact for assisting new migrants around New Zealand. Eighteen local initiatives have been set up to provide local settlement information and referrals that support settlement where migrants live. In 2011, Settlement Support New Zealand began working with employers and workplaces to increase awareness of factors that increase the retention of migrants.

Settlement Unit – Migrant Settlement Programme contracts
Settlement programmes are one-year contracts funded by the Migrant Levy.

Chambers of Commerce, $0.4 million

Immigration New Zealand funds chambers of commerce (in Auckland, Wellington and Canterbury) to help employers attract, identify, and connect with prospective migrant staff, to survey employers' attitudes and how they hire migrants, and to help employers to retain migrant staff.

Citizens Advice Bureau (Language Link), $0.5 million

Language Link provides a multilingual information and advice service for new migrants to access appropriate information and advice in their language. Language Link also supports Settlement Support New Zealand co-ordinators who need help overcoming language barriers when providing their services.

Auckland Regional Migrant Services, $0.3 million

Auckland Regional Migrant Services is funded to address regional settlement information issues that it identifies through a regional newcomers' forum and in collaboration with sector stakeholders. Three of these regional co-ordination of settlement information activities are included in the Auckland Regional Settlement Action Plan.

Chinese New Settlers Services Trust, $0.06 million

The Chinese New Settlers Services Trust provides Chinese and Korean new migrants with orientation and settlement information workshops on topics relevant and specific to them in Auckland.

Vote Immigration – Migrant Research Programme, $2.5 million
Migrant Levy funding from this allocation is aimed at contributing towards research and evaluation activities that enhance knowledge of, and influence decision-making about, immigration and settlement systems. The Migration Research, Evaluation and Analysis Team in the Strategy and Governance group of MBIE is responsible for these activities.

Vote Immigration – Levy administration, $0.3 million
Levy administration is an allocation to enable MBIE to administer the Migrant Levy on behalf of the Crown. This allocation pays for services such as the collection of the levy, administering and reporting on the memorandum accounts and annual allocations, administering the allocation process, and preparing all related ministerial briefings and Cabinet papers.

Other central organisations settlement programmes – Migrant Levy funding

Vote Internal Affairs – Language Line, $0.8 million
Language Line provides a real-time telephone interpreting service to the Government and organisations providing core front-line services. Language Line helps migrants and refugees gain access to government services and information.

Vote Education – English for Speakers of Other Languages for adults, $0.4 million
This initiative is intended to help in the settlement of adult migrants through English language tuition delivered by English Language Partners New Zealand (ELPNZ) with funding allocated by the Tertiary Education Commission. ELPNZ is a national community-based provider of English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) tuition. It operates from 23 locations and a national office. The initiative is available for adult migrants with permanent residence who are trying to settle in New Zealand. However, the Tertiary Education Commission's 2011 contract with ELPNZ required that these learners were not job seekers and have not pre-purchased English-language training. The requirement that learners cannot look for jobs has been removed.

Vote Education – English for Speakers of Other Languages professional development, $0.2 million
This appropriation funds professional development programmes targeted at teachers, language assistants, bilingual tutors, and teacher aides working in schools to support ESOL programmes for migrant learning English. This initiative provides for a senior advisor to ensure that programmes and resources are appropriately targeted to meet the needs of migrant students and their teachers. This is outside the scope of our audit.

Vote Education – English for Speakers of Other Languages resources, $0.2 million
This Migrant Levy allocation is intended to contribute towards the objective

… to improve English language and literacy learning and achievement, and equip all NZ students with the necessary literacy and language knowledge and skills to be successful throughout schooling and as citizens.

The funding is specifically aimed at students from migrant and refugee backgrounds. It achieves this by contributing to the provision of materials for parents of students from migrant and refugee backgrounds and for professional support for teachers of these students. This is outside the scope of our audit.

Vote Education – English for Speakers of Other Languages in schools, $2.5 million
This programme is an ongoing contribution towards the costs of ESOL in the compulsory school sector. The programme consists of intensive support for learning English, intended to prepare and help migrant students for participation in mainstream classroom programmes. This is outside the scope of our audit.

Vote Social Development – Migrant employment assistance, $0.6 million
Migrant Employment Assistance provides funding for projects that work with recognised migrant communities to develop the skills needed to access the labour market. The main aim of the services is to help migrants and migrant communities to learn skills to find jobs. The services support learning skills to support access to the labour market where support through Work and Income services is not available.

Other related programmes

Careers New Zealand – $1.0 million
Careers New Zealand has been provided with an annual baseline transfer of $1.0 million to work with migrants and refugees by helping them with careers advice and information since 2004/05. The original purpose of this funding was to provide migrants (including refugees) with tailored career and labour market information and guidance through a combination of group events and one-on-one help. In line with changes to Careers New Zealand's strategic direction, services to migrants and refugees are now provided mainly through their website and 0800 contact centre, and through working with organisations that support migrants and refugees.

Ministry of Social Development – Settling In programme, $1.5 million
The Ministry of Social Development has a time-limited allocation of $1.5 million for the Settling In programme. As of 2013/14, funding for the Settling In programme is $500,000 a year. Settling In was set up in 2004 and is administered by Family and Community Services (a service line of the Ministry of Social Development). Settling In has a focus on social matters and services and in 2012/13 operates in 14 locations around New Zealand. It works closely with refugee and migrant communities to address social needs that the communities have identified.

Tertiary Education Commission – Pre-purchased English for Speakers of Other Languages, $0.8 million
Working age secondary skilled migrants are required to have some English-language skills or pre-purchase English-language tuition before arriving in New Zealand. The fees paid for this pre-purchased English-language tuition are administered by the TEC on behalf of Immigration New Zealand under TEC's English for Migrants programme. The programme is aimed at enabling migrants to take English language courses, helping them settle into communities and work.

Tertiary Education Commission – Adult Community Education, from a total pool of $21 million
The Tertiary Education Commission's Adult Community Education fund provides ESOL through ELPNZ, which also provides ESOL through funding from the Migrant Levy, the other relevant source of funding that the Tertiary Education Commission administers. The purpose of the Adult Community Education fund is to provide adults with community-based education, foundation skills, and pathways into other learning opportunities that meet identified community learning needs. This is the base funding that the Adult ESOL Migrant Levy funding of $400,000 builds on.