Welcome to Leicestershire

Welcome to Leicestershire

The Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) Citizens' Jury, organised by Leicestershire Together in 2005, identified issues of concern to ethnic minority communities in both the County of Leicestershire and the City of Leicester. Prominent amongst these were issues around information and communication. Clearly, there are still significant obstacles to people in need of services who struggle to identify who to talk to and who does what! Nowhere is this more crucial than for people new to the area. Nationally, local authorities and other organisations have produced guides and information booklets to their respective areas, principally with economic migrant workers in mind. One of the best and most informative of these has been produced by the Cornwall Strategic Partnership. We were given permission to use a lot of their information in this document and we are tremendously grateful to them for their support and assistance.

Another important source of guidance and information has been the guide for local authorities entitled ‘Integrating New Migrants: Communicating Important Information'. This was produced by I&DeA (the Improvement and Development Agency for Local Government) and includes a generic information resource intended to help anyone wishing to put together their own document. Though we had already produced our initial drafts by the time this generic work was circulated, we have, nevertheless, checked the document and included bits in it that were not originally included in our own.

We have tried to produce a document that is relevant to people living in Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland, with sources of local help and information hopefully as useful as more national orientated detail. We have tried to ensure that the information is correct and up-to-date, but things can change quite rapidly. Please point out our mistakes so that they can be rectified. Please also let us know if you would like to see other subjects included in future editions.

The document is in different sections. Part A covers general information about Leicestershire, including the strucure of local government, Laws, Money, Customs and Traditions and Belief and Religion.

Parts B to K cover key information that you will need to know including What to do in an Emergency, Work, Benefits and Benefits Advice, Housing, Health, Children and Education, Older People, Travel and Leisure. It also includes a section aimed at Asylum Seekers.

You will see that within each chapter there is a list of organisations and information with relevant contact details. Most of these include phone numbers, website and email addresses. We would be grateful, again if you could let us know of any sources of help and information that you have found useful that aren't listed so that we can add them to future editions.

The terms used in the document may also be peculiarly English in many ways, such is the difficulties in trying to explain things that are often simply taken for granted by people who were born and raised in this country. A good example may be use of the terms ‘Great Britain' and the ‘United Kingdom' (UK). Not everyone appreciates that there is a difference. Great Britain refers to England, Scotland and Wales and a number of small adjacent islands. The United Kingdom on the other hand also includes Northern Ireland. Neither includes the Channel Islands or the Isle of Man, though both are dependencies of the British crown! Confused? Hopefully, this document will help you to understand more about this country - its systems, procedures, organisations, laws, services, culture and mannerisms.

In doing this, we hope that you will become familiar with your new surroundings very quickly, feel at home and comfortable and contribute to making both your own lives and those of your neighbours and local communities more enriching and fulfilling.

If we can help in any way, please don't hesitate to get in touch.