(13 years, 9 months ago)
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The Earl of Clancarty
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the points-based visa system introduced in November 2008 as it affects non-European Union artists, performers, academics and others intending to work in the United Kingdom.
The Earl of Clancarty
My Lords, I am very glad that we have the opportunity today to debate the points-based visa system and the effect that it has had since its introduction in November 2008. I thank the Library for providing a briefing pack. I also thank the Visual Arts and Galleries Association, the National Campaign for the Arts, English PEN, and the campaigning group the Manifesto Club, whose painstaking documentation of the numerous, often humiliating, experiences of non-EU artists, academics and students over the past two years provides an important ongoing contribution. I also thank the Greater London Authority, which last month commissioned a survey on this issue and has made available to me its conclusions, which I have the privilege of sharing with this House and making public for the first time.
I look forward to hearing the speeches of noble Lords, some of whom are experts in this field and have been pressing this issue for longer than I have. In addressing the points-based system directly, I argue that we go to the heart of the problem. I find it extraordinary that such a major change to our immigration practice, with such strong cultural implications, should have occurred only through altering existing Immigration Rules without any necessity for debate in Parliament.
As an artist myself, my particular concerns are with tier 5: that is, temporary visits that are far and away, at least officially, the main route by which non-EU artists and academics enter this country. These could include artists present for the opening of an exhibition, poets attending festivals or musicians playing concerts, with visits ranging from a few days to a few weeks. The GLA survey discovered that a quarter of artists and academics were from outside the EU and, of those, 98 per cent were applicants under tier 5.
The irony of the new system is that while it appears simpler, the process of making it tighter and stricter has led to an often overwhelming bureaucracy not only for those applying to come to the UK but for their hosts. The new criteria include proving that one has the equivalent of £800 in a bank account for a minimum period of three months, applying in person, supplying biometric details, paying an individual fee and having a sponsor who also has to pay at least £400. The application process is therefore lengthy and tortuous and is often not completed in time. Many applicants can be refused for no obvious reason.
Let me start with this example from Sarah Perks, programme director at the Cornerhouse, Manchester. She says:
“In April 2010 we presented an ... exhibition called ‘Contemporary Art Iraq’, the product of several years’ research and planning including my visit to Iraq and a collaboration with a small organisation Artrole ... who foster relationships between UK, America and Iraq. We invited three of the artists and two academics to the opening of the exhibition and to take part in our ... symposium. We would have liked to invite more but the process ... necessitated sending the group to Beirut for three weeks to get their visas. The group were a mixture of backgrounds, gender and ages. Everything was done in time and with the assistance of ... solicitors. All the visas were declined on the basis of insufficient financial information as most had letters from their employers but not bank account statements (as is fairly standard in Iraq at present). We had already booked their ... accommodation and would provide them with enough money for their visit. So ... despite the hope of cultural exchange, we ended up with no artists in attendance who are currently working in Iraq, and significantly out of pocket because the procedure meant ... booking all their travel to the UK before applying for a visa”.
I would like to say that this is an isolated case, but it certainly is not. Artists denied entry to Britain include Russian pianist Grigory Sokolov, the Chinese artist Huang Xu and the great Cannes prize-winning film director Abbas Kiorastami, despite his being invited in 2009 to Britain to direct “Cosi fan Tutte” at the English National Opera. After twice being fingerprinted, he gave up in disgust, vowing never to visit the UK again, yet saying how much of a real and indeed deserved welcome he receives in other European countries. In November, the cellist Kristin Ostling from the Chicago-based string quartet Carpe Diem, which was invited to play at a music conference in Leeds, was detained at customs before—in the words of the conference organiser, Derek Scott—being,
“bullied and rudely questioned for eight hours”,
and then sent back to America. The reason given was that she was taking work from British musicians, even though her attendance, which would have included three recitals, was unpaid. Her ability as part of this quartet is unique—something that is indeed true of all artists. Perhaps the Minister will note that this single incident has had significant reverberations in America in both the musical and academic spheres.
While these cases are relatively high profile, those most affected by the system remain the poorest and often most geographically distant artists. The NCA has drawn attention to,
“Malian musicians who have had to travel thousands of miles to their nearest visa application centre in Dakar, Senegal, and then had a ... wait of up to 10 days while their applications were sent for processing in Banjul, The Gambia”.
Perhaps the Minister can throw some light on whether such Kafkaesque situations have now improved. Also, we will never hear about those artists who, either because of the sheer difficulties of the procedures, the lack of money or our growing reputation for unfriendliness, understandably fail to apply.
Let me turn to the arts organisations that are expected to act as sponsors. Here, the conclusions of the GLA survey are pertinent. They are, in order of significance, legal hurdles, increased administration tasks, and last-minute changes or cancellation of events, and they are all significant. One small theatre states:
“The worry of not knowing whether we will have to cancel a sold out event two days before, because the artist has been refused entry on some paperwork technicality, hugely discourages us from booking overseas artists due to the financial risks involved. This is highly detrimental to the quality and diversity of the UK cultural sector”.
Forty-two per cent of arts organisations in the survey feel that they will work with fewer non-EU artists and academics as a result of the changes to the system; 64 per cent say that the PBS has increased stress associated with event planning.
One of the things that the sponsorship rule is doing is to sow seeds of mistrust where none previously existed. As with universities, sponsors are now in effect expected to snoop on the artists in their charge. The Place theatre in London, which puts on up to 90 contemporary dance productions a year, tells me that it has, embarrassingly, to check the paperwork of every dancer for each production, irrespective of how established the company is or how well known to it the dancers are. The management tells me how much this “jars”—its word—with the culture of trust in contemporary dance.
English PEN says that organisations,
“do not wish to take on a role of surveillance or monitoring for their artists, which could seriously damage their working relationship”.
There are indeed a significant number of organisations both large and small that are technically breaking the law by telling visiting artists to make their own arrangements. I do not blame them for doing this. This says that the system does not work; and it does not work because it is wrong.
The current system fundamentally misunderstands the way in which the arts operate. Whether they come in on a visa or via another route, the artist never stops working. For Customs officials to try to prevent a photographer such as Alec Soth from using his camera in the country, or even, as has been the case, to try to prevent artists using paints and sketchpads while they are here, is a joke—and a surreal one at that. Nor does the system take into account the rapidity and spontaneity with which arts events are often organised.
In the GLA survey, 70 per cent of arts organisations stated that the points-based system was not the right way to limit non-EU workers. English PEN, while asking the UKBA to develop the entertainer and festival visa routes, also stated:
“A points-based system is inappropriate for temporary visits by artists”—
a view that is supported by many, including VAGA and the Contemporary Art Society.
The late Lord Strabolgi, who is greatly missed, not least in arts debates, told me last year of the singular, and at the time unusual, case of a relatively unknown Cypriot artist who, during the troubles in Cyprus, was not allowed into the UK. Lord Strabolgi fought the Government of the day and won. It seems that we have gone overnight from being a relatively welcoming country to one that is quite the opposite. Jude Kelly, artistic director of the Southbank Centre, stated in the Evening Standard of November 23 last year:
“Today we're in danger of losing our reputation as a world city if we're incapable of welcoming the world”.
A year ago, the Manifesto Club submitted a 10,000-strong petition to the previous Government that highlighted discrimination against artists from developing countries and those with a low income. The petition was signed by many in the arts world, including Antony Gormley, Rachel Whiteread, Sandy Nairne and Nicholas Hytner, as well as by Members of this House. Will the Government respond to the Manifesto Club petition, and will the Minister ponder the strength of feeling and deep concerns about these issues within the arts in Britain?
There might be a solution to some of these problems. The entertainer's visa may be expanded. Perhaps it could be called the artist’s visa, and payments of fees to artists be allowed. I understand that there is to be a review of tier 5. I hope very much that we will not see the introduction of more bureaucracy that will only discriminate further, and instead see a move towards a more flexible and progressive system.
Baroness Hooper
My Lords, I decided to speak briefly today, in part to follow up on the short debate that I introduced on 11 January, which related more to the new regionalised system of so-called spokes and wheels that is being operated by the UK Border Agency and that is causing such anguish to many of our visitors from Latin America—as I know—and also to those from other parts of the world outside the European Union. In that debate, I asked whether a review of the border agency's work could be instituted in order to see if it was working as was originally intended, rather than simply treating everybody who wishes to visit the United Kingdom and requires a visa as a potential terrorist. The then Minister, my noble friend Lady Neville-Jones, said that a review was under way of the border agency system centred in New York, which was the particular subject of my interest since that is where everybody from all over the Americas now has to apply to obtain a visa. Therefore, I will take this opportunity to ask the Minister whether there is any news of that review and when its mission might be accomplished.
I congratulate the noble Earl, Lord Clancarty, on securing this debate. It is very important to keep up the pressure. I find it extraordinary that the quota-based system appears to have been introduced without consultation or any widespread dissemination of information. I find it very hard to understand why distinguished performing artists should be subjected to such an unnecessarily unfriendly and unwelcoming system.
It would be very interesting to have a review of how the system is working on a case-by-case basis to show us what security it has preserved for us. When I hear about some of the cases, including those enumerated by the noble Earl, I wonder how the British Council would feel if performers going from the United Kingdom to other parts of the world were subjected to the same treatment. I agree that it is hugely detrimental to the United Kingdom’s image as a cultural and artistic centre of world status.
My own experience lies more in the world of classical ballet—in particular, in relation to the Royal Academy of Dance, of which I am a governor. It is the institution which teaches the teachers of dance, and it has also introduced the first ever degree in classical ballet in collaboration with the University of Sussex. Again, many of the students who come over to follow that course are subjected to this new quota-based system, and the future of the royal academy now depends on the number of overseas students that we have. Therefore, it is vital that we improve the system and get over the difficulties that have certainly been experienced in recent years.
It always seems a nonsense that people from our prestigious academic institutions spend a lot of time going around the world looking for potential students, and indeed in some cases for teachers at their institutions, and they are then faced with the hurdle of overcoming the visa application system. Therefore, I warmly support the noble Earl in his efforts to have the system reviewed and I look forward to hearing the comments of other speakers.
Lord Parekh
My Lords, I congratulate the noble Earl, Lord Clancarty, on introducing this debate and showing how our immigration system is largely seen as unwelcoming to outsiders. He concentrated on how this points-based system is likely to affect artists, musicians and others, and how right he was to do so. However, I want to concentrate on an area that requires even more attention—namely, the way that tier 1 and tier 2 affect academics and researchers. As I understand it, the Government want to restrict tier 1 immigration of non-EU staff to 1,000 and tier 2 to 20,700—a reduction of nearly 20 per cent. I am convinced that that will greatly damage our universities and research centres, and I want to spend the next few minutes showing why.
Our universities currently have a non-EU staff of 19,000. Last year, it was 18,400 and the year before it was 15,650. In other words, it has been going up every year, for obvious reasons—there is a demand for it. Universities increasingly recognise that they need to compete with other universities across the world and that they are going to require highly talented people from outside. If the total cap is set at 21,700, universities, which already employ 19,000-plus people, will have to bear more than their fair share of the burden.
Tier 1 is the key route to academic appointments, and it is absolutely vital for professorial appointments. The non-EU academic staff are concentrated in certain areas: clinical medicine, social studies, business and management studies, various types of engineering and computer science. Many of these areas are expanding and will continue to do so, and they will need world-class staff. New and unexpected areas continue to spring up, as we saw in the case of nanotechnology. I can point to instances in social sciences and the humanities, where totally unexpected areas of research spring up. If universities are to compete, they will recruit people, and as these are new and unexpected areas, the talented people needed to do the teaching can come only from outside this country.
The numbers of people needed in unexpected areas cannot be predicted, let alone arbitrarily capped. The non-EU staff have contributed greatly in a number of areas. A quarter of our Nobel prize winners come from non-EU academic staff and they make Britain proud. They train the next generation of scholars and keep up the lead that this country has globally. They also attract foreign students and, no less important, they help to shape the academic and moral culture of our society. Talented scientists and others should not be seen merely in terms of the courses that they offer or the discoveries that they make, but also in terms of the contribution they make to the moral and social life of this country.
In my view, the restrictions that the Government propose are extremely severe and more severe than those of the United States or even Australia, whose points-based system we claim to have borrowed, although we have dropped some of the good points that the system has and added a few others that we should not have. The talented staff from abroad will not come if we put too many restrictions on their dependants and the ability of those dependants to work here, which is what we are doing. We cannot have a points system on the basis of UK experience, which many of these people do not have; nor on the basis of previous earnings because that depends on a number of factors; nor on the basis of established reputation because that takes no account of the potential of a scholar. Reputation is established over a period of time and, as Oxford and Cambridge universities and my own institution, the LSE, will tell you, you very often pick people on the basis of their promise and their potential, and you nurture them rather than go for fully trained and fully established people of academic reputation.
Therefore, I strongly urge that we should trust universities and research institutions. So far, they have shown a great deal of responsibility, they are closer to the ground and they are fully aware of the new trends in sciences compared with the Government. A bureaucratic muddle could easily arise if the Government start to set targets. Even as far as tier 2 is concerned, they cannot say that skilled people can come in only if there are gaps or there are no British equivalents. The concept of a gap or a shortage is extremely ambiguous and very puzzling. Gaps cannot be identified in advance. Even when they are identified, it requires years to train home-grown people. Sticking to a British-only policy, or looking elsewhere if no British applicants are available, will not work. If there is a gap and no locals are available, let us bring in outsiders.
Let us consider the concept of shortage. Shortage implies that there is a demand but no supply. That presupposes that demand is static and does not take account of the fact that demands are created. A creative mind, a creative scientist, can come along, open up new areas of inquiry and suddenly there is a global demand for a particular course or research and many people from all over the world begin to enrol for that or take interest in that research, and the country which started that research first has a global advantage. That is what entrepreneurs do in business. They do not try to cater to existing demands but they anticipate what people might like to have and create a demand. Indian restaurants did not open because there was a demand, but they created the demand. In exactly the same way, in academia and in research centres, talented minds come along, open up new areas of research, new interdisciplinary ways of looking at things, and lo and behold, a demand is created. Suddenly there is a gap where there was none before because something new has come into being.
The Immigration Minister, Mr Damian Green, says that we should attract the brightest and the best to fill job gaps. I say: attract the brightest and the best, then leave them alone and you will be surprised by what new gaps they can create. The points-based system is heavily biased in favour of high salaried jobs—above £40,000. That can happen in engineering or some areas of science, business studies and management. It works against social sciences. I do not need to point out to this House how many of those of us in social sciences, philosophy or international relations do not earn the £40,000 that is demanded for tier 2.
I end by making two simple points. Of course we have a right to control immigration; of course we must do everything to stop bogus students or those who do not want to do high level courses coming in. We must test their language competence and inspect institutions which recruit them so freely, but we need to remember that we need their money, partly for our economy and partly for our universities. To reduce the number of 300,000 students coming in by 120,000 is a large reduction which I think neither the economy nor the universities can bear without taking the risk of what happened to the LSE recently. So my first point is about students.
Secondly, as for academics and researchers in tier 1 and tier 2, leave it to the good sense of the university. Of course the Government, who are in charge of this country's immigration policy, must keep an eye on it, but it would be totally wrong to be too prescriptive. That would stifle the potential of our universities.
Lord Clement-Jones
First, I commend the patience and determination of the noble Earl, Lord Clancarty, on securing this debate on a subject about which I know he feels extremely strongly. I also congratulate him on his opening speech, which set out so clearly the case on the tier 5 visas.
The points-based visa system was introduced in November 2008 by the previous Government to ensure that we were bringing in the right skills from abroad to meet the needs of UK business in the permanent workforce. I have no quarrel with that aspiration, but in a number of areas, the system has proved over-bureaucratic, self-defeating and damaging to Britain's reputation. Nowhere has that proved more the case than with the provisions relating to non-EU artists who wish to perform or exhibit in the UK.
After the introduction of the PBS in November 2008, it became immediately apparent that tier 5, for visiting performers and artists, was having an adverse effect on cultural exchange—in particular, international artists and academics who visit the UK for a variety of cultural and academic activities. Rather than being welcomed, visiting artists are being treated with suspicion.
The noble Earl, Lord Clancarty, set out the current basis of the system, with requirements for savings, sponsors and so on. I first became aware of the issue when the Manifesto group, in 2009, published Cancelled by Order of the Home Office, which set out an appalling catalogue of the damage done to Britain's reputation as a centre for international arts as a result of the new system. Other organisations, such as English PEN and the National Campaign for the Arts, which the noble Earl referred to, also are heavily engaged in trying to improve the system.
The new system affects international artists and academics who visit the UK for a variety of cultural and academic activities. The regulations have led to a stream of cancelled talks and art events by artists and academics from anywhere outside Europe, as the noble Earl described. He mentioned the petition presented last year to No. 10. Subsequently those petitioners, in a letter to the Times, said of the points-based system:
“It is ruining Britain's reputation as a cultural hub and also turning cultural institutions and universities, against their will, into surveillance arms of a UK Border Agency, itself largely unaccountable … The vibrancy of British cultural life rests on the openness and independence of its institutions, and on maintaining rich and extensive collaboration with thinkers, artists, and the students who will make the future”.
I totally agree with that sentiment.
As a result of the new visa arrangements, more than 20 major events have been cancelled or badly affected. In December 2009, I raised the matter in this House and received the reply that I was not giving the then Government credit for what they were doing to mitigate the situation.
To his credit, Boris Johnson, the Mayor of London, in his cultural strategy document entitled Cultural Metropolis, launched in November 2010, also called for an overhaul, believing that the new system is onerous and costly and damaging London’s reputation as a world centre for culture. The noble Earl, Lord Clancarty, has given us some of the early results from the survey carried out by the Mayor of London into the problems caused by the tier 5 visa system—results which are pretty damning in themselves. Despite the campaign, and even under this Government, the catalogue of problems for visiting artists and academics has continued to grow, and the regulations have continued to lead to a stream of cancelled talks and art events by artists and academics from anywhere outside Europe.
The noble Earl, Lord Clancarty, mentioned the case of Kristin Ostling, the cellist with the US Carpe Diem String Quartet who at the end of last year was held for eight hours at Heathrow. What he did not say was that she was caught by UKBA because she had a cello. The members of the quartet seem to have been allowed into the conference because their violins were more discreet. A Brazilian theatre company, Teatro da Curva, which was intending to perform at the Camden Fringe, was deported. Last October, five writers heading for the Southbank Centre’s Poetry International Festival were refused entry to the UK. One of them apparently did not have enough money in her bank account. I could mention a similar catalogue of woes in respect of visiting academics. I was extremely interested to hear what the noble Lord, Lord Parekh, had to say on that subject. The Manifesto Club set these out in Fortress Academy, which it published last year.
In the face of these real instances of bureaucratic ill treatment and ignorance I have been pressing, with others, for a review of the PBS as it applies to the arts and academia. I was extremely interested in the noble Lord’s optimism in that respect. However, on 22 July, in response to a Question in this House, I was assured by the relevant Minister, my noble friend Lord De Mauley, that although there were no plans for a full review, a broader survey across all categories of tier 5 had been undertaken and will be published shortly. He asserted that the arts and entertainment task force was closely involved to ensure that the detail of the system reflects the creative sector’s needs while being robust and fair. Where are the results of the survey? How many times has the task force met to discuss the visa issue? What are its conclusions?
There has been some progress. Of course I welcome the inclusion of certain categories of artist in the UK shortage occupation list. There are also ways of mitigating problems associated with the current system which could be, and I hope will be, adopted. There could be better training for immigration officers so that, for instance, they understand what is meant by the expiry dates on certificates of sponsorship and correctly stamp artists’ passports with the correct permit to work. We could introduce minimum service standards, with a maximum of three months for renewing certificates of sponsorship. We could improve the levels of understanding of the officers who conduct the compliance visits. There could be better information and forms for applicants, and simplification of the certificate of sponsorship scheme. There should be an exemption from the immigration cap limit for artists who use the shortage occupation route under tier 2. There also needs to be improved biometric facilities so that applicants do not have to travel to third countries to get a visa.
There are further fundamental issues to be addressed. We need a comprehensive review. It is completely inappropriate that visiting artists and academics are dealt with in the same way as long-term migrants. These people have no impact at all on net migration into the UK. The exchange of artists is the lifeblood of the creative arts and industries, and of the education sector. We should do everything we can to facilitate that. This means that visa routes outside the points-based system must be developed. The entertainer route should be expanded; it is currently too narrow. There are some high-profile festivals, such as Edinburgh, Glastonbury and WOMAD, which have been marked out for special treatment. The approved list should be expanded to cover more and smaller festivals. I welcome the current proposal to create a tier 1 exceptional talent route for the arts, sciences and the humanities to cover people at the top of their profession, but will that be capped? Perhaps the Minister will clarify what this will mean.
Schengen visas for performers and artists are much more readily obtainable. So what should happen? Will all future gigs be held in Paris or Berlin while all our interchange is over Skype? Believe me, I am not joking. I hope that the coalition Government will recognise that this is a major issue and agree to undertake a full review so that we can ensure that the points-based system no longer damages UK arts and cultural exchange.
In the final minute, I want to deal very briefly with the specific issue of postgraduate work visas for overseas students under tier 1. The noble Earl, Lord Attlee, in the course of answering questions for the Government on student visas recently, gave an assurance that the Government are determined to protect our overseas students. But speeches by the Minister of State run somewhat contrary to that. The almost universal response to the proposal from businesses, universities, research charities and student bodies to eliminate post-study work visas has been negative, and for good reason. Recent experience in Australia has shown that changes in the student visa rules have led to drastic declines in student applications to Australian universities. There could be a sensible compromise so that these visas are obtainable by those with a higher degree in the form of a master’s. I hope very much that the Government will consider that.
Viscount Bridgeman
My Lords, like other speakers, I am most grateful to the noble Earl, Lord Clancarty, for initiating this timely debate and for his masterly overview of the subject. I wish briefly to speak about the problems faced by nurses, particularly from Australia, New Zealand and Canada when applying to work in the United Kingdom. I would mention that the disparity in requirements between healthcare professionals applying from outside the European Economic Area and from within it is, in my view, little short of scandalous. However, I have tabled a Question for Short Debate on this subject which is due in the next few weeks; and in any case it is a problem for another department. I therefore propose today to concentrate on the group which is from outside the EEA.
This country has a long tradition of welcoming nurses from what might loosely be called the old Commonwealth. They, by and large, have received their training on the old British pattern, with great emphasis placed on hands-on nursing and the ward hierarchy. In many hospitals they form a vital element in the nursing staff. They are characterised by excellent nursing, hard work and fitting in easily. There has also been a tradition, through their networking back home, of finding replacements. In other words, they are a hospital employer’s ideal source of staffing.
Let us be realistic. The immigration issue is a huge problem, and I very much welcome the Government’s efforts to tackle it. In the recent past, however, the overseas nurses problem, particularly with regard to the countries that I mentioned, has been in danger not so much of being overlooked as of government failure to appreciate just what they have to offer. Save for one or two very specialised exceptions, nurses have been removed from tier 2 and the shortage occupation list. Incidentally, I would be grateful for the Minister’s clarification on whether the position has been changed as a result of the Migration Advisory Committee’s announcement of 3 March. Assuming that the position is in fact unchanged, the UKBA obviously has no difficulty in enforcing the test that no home-reared candidates are available to fill vacancies before a visa for a non-EEA nurse is granted. On a totally different subject, the noble Lord, Lord Parekh, made a very interesting comment on the British-only policy. However, all this is to ignore the very high quality of skills brought by the nurses to whom I have referred.
There is also the expense element. Registration with the Nursing and Midwifery Council, admittedly common to all nurses, is required. There is also the Overseas Nurses Programme, lasting 20 intensive days. However, there is a shortage of capacity for the course both in the United Kingdom and in countries of origin that has led to cases of exploitation about which the Nursing and Midwifery Council is rightly concerned. Then there is the English language proficiency test under the IELTS. In short, an applicant is unlikely to be out of pocket for anything less than around £2,000, and in some cases considerably more. I would mention in passing that the expenses for a nurse seeking to practise in the UK from within the EEA are confined to the NMC registration fee of £76. An additional hurdle to be overcome by any non-EEA applicant is a very rigid policy applied by the border agency to applications by hospitals for work visas for sponsored nurses. It is hardly surprising that many qualified nurses from those countries cannot face the immigration procedural minefield and end up working in bars in this country.
Without minimising the problems faced by other non-EEA applicants, I suggest that there is a case to be made that hospital professionals and nurses in particular fulfil a clear community requirement. It is surely the ideal of any community that its sick and dying should have the very best nursing care. Here we have a resource that has been well made use of in past years. However, the current figures speak for themselves. In 2003-04, the number of these nurses registered with the NMC was 1,674; in 2006-07, it was 373; and in 2009-10, it was 208.
The current recruiting position for nurses from the EEA, including the United Kingdom, is reasonably satisfactory, though the quality is in many cases questionable. The number of the nurses that I have discussed is not large. Nevertheless, here is a resource which many hospitals have found in the past to be of great value—I declare an interest as a former chairman of an independent hospital which has made considerable use of it. In short, the resource is currently underutilised.
If I may tread dangerously with my metaphors, we have been in danger of throwing out the baby with the vast and turgid bathwater of the immigration problem. I respectfully suggest to the Minister that this issue is in need of revisiting.
Baroness Kennedy of The Shaws
My Lords, I thank the noble Earl, Lord Clancarty, for giving us the opportunity to debate the points-based visa system, which was introduced in November 2008 by the previous Government. I was unhappy about it then and I remain unhappy about it. Like everyone else who has spoken, I believe that it operates to the detriment of the arts world, our international relations, our relations with business and the strengthening of our economy. It does not make sense as currently designed.
As many know, I have spent time as the chair of the British Council. I have also chaired other arts organisations, such as the London International Festival of Theatre. I have seen at close quarters the great enrichment of our society, our creative people and our academics that comes from having the opportunity to meet and mix with artists from abroad and the great cross-fertilisation that comes about through those connections. Such contact strengthens our relations around the world and greatly enhances our creative environment here.
I shall speak first about the education world, because I am the president of the School of Oriental and African Studies, and the detriment that we experience as a result of the system. I shall speak also about the business of the visa system as a whole.
We are about to launch yet another assault on our engagement with the world by reducing substantially the proportion of international students coming to Britain. In doing so, we forget the huge and long-term benefits that come from our relationships with them. Approximately 79 per cent of students who come to this country return within five years. If we add another year to that statistic, we see that the proportion rises to 85 per cent. The vast majority go home and those who remain do so by and large as professionals who set up their own businesses and add to the enrichment of our society. Those students also bring in £5.3 billion-worth of revenue. At a time when our universities are being hit, that is very important.
The enrichment that I wish to talk about has been referred to by my noble friend Lord Parekh. It concerns the ways in which international academics come to us. Because of the skills and new knowledge that they bring with them, our own academics working with them are able to provide a plethora of courses. That would not be possible without those international academics spending time here. However, increasingly they are being put off by the way in which they are treated by bureaucracy and the difficulties involved in bringing with them their families, their partners, their spouses and their children. The complex nature of our immigration system is discouraging that important element of what is on offer in our universities.
On the problems that have been raised within SOAS, we run important pre-degree programmes for students who come from education systems around the world that are different from ours. It is therefore difficult for some of them to be assessed or to take on a particular university degree, not because of their lack of ability but simply because their own education systems are so different. We provide pre-university preparation for international students, who then go on to become students in universities in the UK. Those in-house foundation courses are provided for undergraduates and postgraduates to enable them to take on deeper educational opportunities. The programmes attract large numbers of bright students, but the system for visas is now acting as a serious detriment to their coming to Britain.
On the English language test—again, this was mentioned by my noble friend Lord Parekh—most students coming to Britain acquire the English language very quickly. To make the demand that we make for other economic immigrants—that they are able to speak English before they come—often works as a disadvantage for those coming to pre-courses or as students. These people are incredibly intelligent and acquire the English language very quickly, but our system of immigration does not recognise that. There has to be a criticism of the culture within the Home Office around this because the system does not recognise that there is a difference between students and economic migrants. Limiting the entitlement of students to work makes the UK a less attractive place in which to study.
There is a madness in all this and the system needs to be looked at holistically. We are in a very competitive situation in the offers that we make to students around the world and we are now tightening the entry requirements in such a way that many students will not choose Britain as their preferred place to come. I would like the whole system as it is currently operating to be looked at again. We are sending out messages to potential students that they are not welcome here.
There has been an inheritance of the system that was in existence, but the efforts now will deepen a system that is not working. I say to noble Lords on the government Benches that the system is ripe for reappraisal and that we should look at the workings of the points-based system to see whether it can be improved.
On a point raised by the noble Earl, Lord Clancarty, Goldsmith’s, one of the really fine art schools in our country, has written to organisations complaining that it needs international artists to come and be part of the programmes that it makes and offers for its art students and that increasingly it is becoming impossible to do that. That experience is shared by other schools around the country. The example given was that of Abbas Kiarostami, a film director renowned and admired throughout the world, who gives us links with a country with which we have troubled relations. He was coming to direct an opera at English National Opera. He found it impossible to get over the hurdles and felt it insulting to be expected to go through the processes that were described by the noble Earl.
I think that revisiting this system is timely. I thank the noble Earl, Lord Clancarty, for introducing this debate and other noble Lords who have spoken. It is truly a source of scandal that we cannot invite people into our country who are enhancing everything that we are seeking to do in the arts, education, business and the economy. Last night, I met a senior executive of Google. One of the things that he immediately raised with me was the problem that it is having in getting skilled people into this country to work. If we are upsetting a company such as Google, we are really in trouble.
Baroness Brinton
My Lords, I declare an interest as executive director of the Association of Universities in the East of England and, through that role, as an employee of the University of East Anglia. This country has a proud history of over 800 years of intellectual rigour and academic excellence in its higher education institutions. Even in medieval times, there was a free flow between universities across Europe, with the best academics moving around to teach, research and learn from others elsewhere. The horizons of our universities today are truly international and the breadth of knowledge being shared is quite extraordinary. Many noble Lords in this House have contributed to this global exchange.
This is not just about Cambridge, Oxford and Imperial, proud as we are of their international rankings. Every university I have worked with has groundbreaking research or teaching projects in which they are collaborating with universities overseas or are hosting exceptional researchers to strengthen the UK’s knowledge base and, really importantly, given the Government’s focus on innovation and growth, to provide the innovation that our economy needs to make it grow over the next few years. Our universities are genuinely global businesses, generating about £8 billion of foreign exchange earnings for the UK every year. They have globalised workforces. This country needs the brightest and the best, not least because within the UK we undersupply in several critical areas, for example in mathematics and engineering.
There are structural difficulties with the new points-based system that may prove to be catastrophic to our universities. The closure of tier 1 general means that universities will now have to use tier 2 general to try to recruit academics and researchers from overseas, which will place additional pressure on this category. As an aside, the planned closure of tier 1 post-study work, which is currently under consideration as part of the consultation on the student immigration system, has implications for the recruitment of international graduates of UK universities into research and academic posts on completion of their studies in the UK. This route has been widely used for the recruitment of postdoctoral staff and others into universities. The closure of this route will further restrict the progression and recruitment of highly skilled academics into our universities.
I echo the points made by the noble Lord, Lord Parekh. Further problems relate to the 21,700 annual limit—1,000 for tier 1 exceptional talent visas and 20,700 for tier 2 visas—as it applies only to 2011-12. Draconian as this 20 per cent reduction is, I understand that the limit is likely to be reduced further for 2012-13 to facilitate reductions in net migration, so the future availability of visas will definitely be an ongoing issue. I believe that the creation of the tier 1 exceptional talent route for people in the sciences, academia and arts is a welcome recognition of the arguments put forward by Universities UK and other organisations about the importance of international mobility to higher education and research. However, the arbitrary cap of 1,000 visas a year for this route is very peculiar as talent is rather difficult to quantify and discriminate between on a numerical basis. It is also unclear exactly how exceptional talent will be judged and what steps will be taken to ensure that emerging as well as established talent is recognised. Who will judge? I hope it is not UK Border Agency staff. Their record on understanding even the basics of our higher education system has, as we have heard today, caused real problems in recent years.
There are also practical problems with the UK Border Agency’s belief that visa demands nationally remain relatively steady month by month and that high demands in certain sectors at given times will be balanced out by lower demand in others. This is absolutely not true of the higher education sector, which is inevitably highly cyclical, with the vast majority of posts starting at the beginning of the academic year in the autumn. I cannot see this being balanced out elsewhere.
In addition, the quota now given to universities and research institutes under the points-based system is damagingly tight. For example, under the new quota system the University of Bedfordshire, which has over 1,000 staff, makes a contribution to its local economy of £270 million a year, and is perhaps not the top of most people’s thoughts about an intensive research university, was allocated a quota of two. This was used up in employing two outstanding professors in the first month of the year.
My own employer, the University of East Anglia, and across the Norwich Research Park, is experiencing the negative impact that this is having on key appointments whereby first-rate brains from outside the EU are discouraged from applying or have to be passed over. Appointment strategies have to be reshaped in a manner dictated not by research priorities but by this narrowing of the range and quality available in the UK. The negative effect on scientific progress and academic collaboration is compounded by the squeeze on short-term academic visits. Posts and academic fields affected range across the disciplines, from English literature and Japanese culture at one end of the spectrum to critical scientific areas at the other, including plant science, on which the Norwich Research Park has been the academic place of choice for the world’s foremost specialists.
As a result of this ill thought through visa system, the best academics are likely to have job offers and opportunities available to them in other parts of the world. Will they go elsewhere due to delays in obtaining a visa to come to the UK to take up a post? We rightly worry about the brain drain from the UK, but these proposals will discourage the best academics from coming here and might turn our higher education sector into a backwater instead of being globally competitive.
The proposed structure of the new system might mean that employers suffer delays and uncertainties in the issuing of certificates of sponsorship for visas. I end by quoting from correspondence that I have had with Dr Oren Scherman, the Harrison-Meldola Prize winner for 2009 and an inorganic chemist working in supramolecular polymers, a highly specialised area of research excellence. He highlights how the nuts and bolts of the visa system seem to be designed to fail applicants at every turn, even when their finance is provided by EU funding specifically because they are exceptional overseas researchers. He says:
“The first application for a Certificate of Sponsorship by the University to the UK Border Agency at the Home Office appeared to take longer than usual and then the visa application by the post-doc was denied because apparently the wording on the letter confirming maintenance from the university was incorrect at that time although it had been acceptable for another candidate a few months earlier. We were told that the rules for visas had changed between the University application to the Home Office and the completion of the post-doc’s visa application in India. We then had to go through the process of rewriting the support letter and applying to the Home Office and the candidate applying for his visa, a second time. This points-based system seems very complex and the delays we incurred caused the Post-Doc to wait in India, unpaid, for at least four months, during which time he almost took up the offer of another position in India. I had to persuade him then that we were really keen on employing him in Cambridge although the delays must have suggested otherwise”.
I thank the noble Earl, Lord Clancarty, for instigating this debate. I hope that the Government can review the whole system as a matter of urgency, because it is clearly ludicrous, and for it to be easier to recruit professional footballers from overseas than the professors and researchers that our country so badly needs makes this country a laughing stock.
Baroness Bakewell
I offer my congratulations to the noble Earl, Lord Clancarty, for instigating this pressing debate. I rise to join my voice to those of others in expressing my most extreme concern as to how the points-based system of issuing visas to visiting artists is affecting the arts in this country in their capacity to sustain their worldwide reputation for excellence. It is jeopardised daily by the arbitrary, overbureaucratic and inconsistent application of an already complicated system.
I speak with the experience of the National Campaign for the Arts behind me. I was its chair when this problem first loomed on the horizon, and when I ceased to be chair last year the problem was still with us, and getting worse. From the very first moment when the points-based system was mooted, the NCA brought to the attention of the immigration authorities what it would mean for the arts. They were genuinely surprised, as it simply had not occurred to them the scale of ongoing problems that the PBS would cause.
International performers and artists are a vital part of our internationally renowned UK arts scene. In a recent survey of the NCA's 550 members, including everyone from the Royal Shakespeare Company, the leading orchestras, the Sage, the Tate, the Lowry, and so on, 76 per cent had hosted artists from outside the EEA in the past two years, and 55 per cent considered it essential to their business. No other activity is so instantly global in its reach: music, painting, dance, sculpture, mime and even circus all transcend language, and performances and performers are interchangeable across sovereign frontiers. Indeed, it is one of the glories of the arts that they transcend frontiers and reach immediately into the hearts of all people.
These visa problems are not occasional, but the daily nightmares of concert planners and managers across the country. It does not have to be so but, in fact, it is threatening to get worse. More and more UK consular posts overseas are withdrawing their visa services. Los Angeles is closing its visa section and all applications now have to be processed via New York. The length of time it takes, when time is of the essence, is getting longer. Dusseldorf closed its office on 1 March, and now all applicants in Germany have their passports and support documents shipped to the UK and back for visa processing. Some artists enter the UK to take up the offer of long-term employment. The listing of ballet, contemporary dancers and orchestral musicians on the shortage occupation lists has been very encouraging. However, the recent imposition of an immigration cap with those now seeking to enter under tier 2 needing to demonstrate degree-level qualifications is quite inappropriate. The arts are not like that: they do not operate on conventional and business models. Innate ability and naturally blossoming talent is often the most precious thing an artist can have, which others wish to enjoy; academic qualifications do not necessarily come into it at all. Records of sustained employment do not fit either. Even the most outstanding performers rarely have careers of non-stop working; artists are freelances. Their earning patterns may be wayward and erratic and are certainly no guide to their talent. So the new criteria are squeezing artists doubly hard.
The world of art is international: its practitioners speak to each other, exchange gossip and advice, career hints and touring tips. The reputation of Britain is high in their estimation for our venues, our audiences and our enthusiasm. It is damaged around the world by the way in which the points-based system is operating; it is doing this country a disservice. A full review of this system is pressing.
Lord Rosser
My Lords, I add my congratulations to those already expressed to the noble Earl, Lord Clancarty, on securing this debate on an issue which has provoked and continues to provoke much interest and concern, as all the contributions to this debate have highlighted.
The Motion we are considering asks the Government what assessment they have made of the points-based visa system introduced in November 2008 as it affects non-EU artists, performers, academics and others intending to work in the UK. I am sure we all wait to see whether the Minister has anything new to say on that score on behalf of the Government. There have already been assessments made, one of which, by Alasdair Murray, a senior adviser at Quiller Consultants, was helpfully provided in the briefing pack made available prior to this debate, as the noble Earl, Lord Clancarty, said. I mention that since some of my comments reflect that assessment which, I hasten to add, was not exactly uncritical of the previous Government and the 2008 points-based system.
Three years ago, the previous Government created a new points-based migration system for selecting non-EU economic migrants, under which potential immigrants can gain a work or student visa only if they meet a points test which considers a number of laid-down factors such as income, education level and language skills. The intended purpose of the points-based system was to provide an objective and transparent measure of a migrant's potential contribution to meeting the needs of this country’s economy. A points-based system was not an untried approach since Australia, New Zealand, the Czech Republic, Singapore, Hong Kong, Denmark and now the United Kingdom have all introduced one in the past 20 or so years.
The assessment by Mr Murray was that the new system had been, in some ways, a success with non-EU economic migrants having high labour market participation rates and making a net positive contribution to public spending. However, he also said that the new tier system was superficially simple, with both the previous and the present Government being,
“unable to resist continually tinkering with the system”.
In the case of the present Government, the tinkering he refers to is the commitment to a cap on non-EU economic migrants—an example of top-down state intervention in the economy and society, which the Government have claimed to be against.
A points-based system has to have rules. That, in the eyes of some, leads to inflexibility not least in respect of non-standard qualifications or expertise in the academic field and the world of the arts—areas specifically referred to in the Motion we are discussing. The present Government’s interim cap and intended permanent cap will certainly reduce the flexibility of the system since, subject to what the Minister may say, the cap is a fixed figure rather than, for example, a target range with a minimum and a maximum. Businesses and universities, as my noble friend Lord Parekh explained, are concerned that this approach to non-EU economic migration, which is an important source of expertise and highly talented staff, is giving an adverse impression of the openness of this country’s economy, as my noble friend Lady Kennedy of The Shaws mentioned. They are concerned that companies will decide not to invest in projects in the UK because of concerns over the availability of specially skilled staff.
With their cap on non-EU economic migrants and their objective of reducing overall migration levels to “tens of thousands”, the Government clearly want to be seen as actively discouraging migration and reducing the overall number of migrants. On the other hand, they want to maintain high-skilled migration as part of the open British economy. There appears at present to be a conflict between the two objectives, with even Ministers on record as expressing concern about the economic dangers of an inflexible cap.
Reducing overall migration levels to tens of thousands means halving net migration from its 2009 level. The Government will be dependent on a cut in non-EU economic migration to achieve this goal, even though non-EU economic migration represents just a third of all migration to the UK. Achieving the Government’s objective of reducing overall migration levels to tens of thousands is going to be dependent not on the cap on non-EU migration but on the net emigration of British citizens, which has fallen in the past few years, and the movement in and out of EU citizens, as well as the impact of the Government’s exemption from the cap of intra-company transfers, which could lead to a rise in numbers that would affect the Government’s objective of reducing overall migration levels.
The main issue with the Government’s cap is that it appears arbitrary rather than based on hard evidence that it is the figure that is in the best interests of the country economically and socially. Perhaps the Minister will tell us what the evidence is that led the Government to believe that the cap they are implementing is the right figure. Will he also say what will happen if the cap is reached before the month or year concerned has ended? If it means that people who would have qualified for entry will not do so as a result, does that not create potential uncertainty and problems for employers wanting to take on non-EU staff?
The curb on tier 1 has led to complaints from science and research-based firms and institutions that Britain’s international pre-eminence in many fields and long-term competitiveness will be damaged. Do the Government share that view? If not, what is it that they consider such firms and institutions have misunderstood? An investigation by the Migration Advisory Committee showed that 90 per cent of entrants via the tier 1 general route were in employment, and 90 per cent of these were in highly skilled work.
The Government have indicated that they want to tighten the rules for the student visa system, though it appears from press reports that the Minister responsible is still “fuzzy” about how to do it. It is questionable that even a drastic cut in student numbers would lead to anything other than a short-term decline in net migration figures, since evidence suggests that the vast majority leave the country at the end of their courses; thus, over a period of five years, those leaving will closely match those coming in. However, a reduction in student numbers coming in under the student visa system is likely to reduce the student fee income at a time when higher education establishments are already facing the effects of cuts in public spending. What are the Government's intentions in this area? Do they agree with the concerns that have been expressed by higher education establishments on this score?
Concern has also been expressed by writers and other artists—as has been said, a petition was presented to the previous Government shortly before the election—about the operation of the points-based system. Discussions have continued to take place with UK Border Agency officials under the new Administration. Writers and other artists enter the United Kingdom under tier 4 for students or tier 5 for temporary workers. The argument being made by non-EU writers and other artists is that they are normally only visiting the UK for a few days or weeks, have no right to government benefits during their visit and have no impact on net migration into the UK. Yet the time taken to process an application discourages such cultural visitors from coming to this country, and examples have been quoted today of internationally acclaimed artists being denied a visa under the points-based system or simply failing to receive one in time. The UKBA has a certificate of sponsorship scheme but it is apparently regarded as bureaucratic and expensive particularly for smaller organisations.
No doubt the Minister will be commenting on that issue, and on any government plans for addressing the concerns of writers and other artists, when he responds. Perhaps he could tell the House what the figures are on the numbers of writers and other artists entering the UK before and after the introduction of the points-based system. This situation, if the Government accept that what we are told is happening is not an inaccurate picture, will do nothing to enhance the cultural life of this country, nor will it do anything for our international reputation in the creative and cultural industries that form an important sector for us, both in terms of jobs and financially. However, the fixed cap that the Government have introduced on non-EU migrants will only exacerbate the position for non-EU writers and other artists. Perhaps the Minister could comment on that aspect too.
I assume that the Government will be reflecting on the concerns expressed in this debate. They are clearly wedded to reducing net migration to “tens of thousands”. Their efforts to achieve that goal, however, with the introduction of this rigid, inflexible and damaging cap for which there is no hard evidence to justify the figure chosen, risk causing considerable harm to the British economy, not least in the areas that have been highlighted today.
Earl Attlee
My Lords, I am grateful to the noble Earl, Lord Clancarty, for asking his QSD. However, I would have found a three-hour debate much better for me, as it would have given me longer to answer your Lordships’ questions.
Let me begin by making it clear that this Government recognise and value highly the contribution made to our society, culture and economy by non-EU artists, performers and academics. I will set my response in the context of the Government’s overarching approach, which, quite simply, is that we will restore public confidence in the immigration system. We have said that we will reduce the number of non-EU migrants to ensure that net migration drops from the unsustainably high levels consistently seen in the past 10 years. Britain will benefit from migration, provided that it is controlled and in the country’s best interests. We are not seeking zero or negative net migration. The aim is to reduce net migration to the levels of the 1990s—the tens of thousands each year mentioned by the noble Lord, Lord Rosser, not hundreds of thousands. So we are taking action to tighten all entry routes—work, students and family—and break the link between temporary routes and permanent settlement.
This debate focuses on the points-based system under which foreign nationals come here to work, study or train. There are distinct tiers to the PBS, designed for different skill levels and entry purposes. Tier 1 is for exceptionally talented individuals. Tier 2 is for skilled workers with a job offer, usually longer term. Artists, performers and academics would be able to qualify under both tiers, provided that the requirements and criteria are met.
We have started reforming these tiers. We are creating an exceptional talent route in tier 1. This will allow competent bodies to nominate the most exceptionally talented migrants and allow promising young talent to come to the UK for at least three years without the need of a job offer, although many will have one. This will be limited to 1,000 places, with half for the scientific community, led by the Royal Society. The main route for academic and research staff will be under tier 2, subject to the limit that we announced last November. If this is oversubscribed, applications will be ranked, with applications weighted for those coming to fill PhD-level research jobs. In addition, we are raising the minimum skills level, which will reduce numbers at the lower end, creating more room for the most economically valuable. Through these changes we shall attract the brightest and best, as mentioned by my noble friend Lady Brinton. It is not about closing our doors; it is about a more selective approach in the interests of Britain.
Then there is tier 5, which provides for temporary workers. This tier has a category specifically for artists and performers coming here for shorter periods of up to a year: the creative and sporting category. Most foreign creative artists and performers are likely to be entering through tier 5 if their purpose here is short-term, paid work. For academic activities, the tier 5 government-authorised exchange category provides for a rich variety of schemes involving academic exchange. These include the Chevening programme for scholars and researchers; the Commonwealth exchange programme for teachers; the International Association for the Exchange of Students for Technical Experience scheme, enabling foreign science, engineering and applied arts graduates to gain experience through work placements; and the UK-India education and research initiative. There are several other such schemes that support and nourish academic endeavour.
Some believe that the PBS prevents the entry of legitimate overseas artists or academics. We do not accept that view, nor are we aware of evidence to suggest that it is well founded. The creative and academic sectors have been closely engaged through system development and now via the arts and entertainment task force and the joint education task force. Significant changes have been made to the advantage of these sectors. Moreover, the entry possibilities are not limited to the points-based system. The entertainer visitor route mentioned by my noble friend Lord Clement-Jones allows entertainers to come—
Lord Clement-Jones
My Lords, I am grateful to the Minister for giving way. We are somewhat flabbergasted by his statement that there is no evidence, as he has heard evidence from all round the Chamber today. Has the task force’s report been published?
Earl Attlee
I should rephrase that and say that I am advised that that is the case. The noble Lord may find the remarks that I shall make later more to his liking.
I was talking about the entertainer visitor route, which allows entertainers to come here for up to six months without doing so under the PBS. This route is principally used to facilitate those performing at cultural festivals. An academic visitor route enables foreign academics to conduct personal research or participate in formal academic exchange. Exceptionally, in comparison to all other visitor routes, such academics may come for 12 months.
An important indicator that the system does not obstruct is the simple fact that significant numbers of visas are applied for and issued every month to those coming here under these routes. For example, in 2009 an average of around 500 visas a month were issued to creative and sporting applicants and in 2010 that increased by 30 per cent to an average of 650 a month.
The noble Earl, Lord Clancarty, and other noble Lords referred to several individual cases, on which I am not in a position to comment. Noble Lords should write to me to enable the cases to be reviewed by Ministers as part of the machinery of government, which I am sure all noble Lords understand. However, I do not object to noble Lords quoting cases to illustrate the problem as they perceive it.
The noble Lord, Lord Rosser, in his good Front-Bench contribution, asked what would happen if the cap were breached after nine months. It will not be, as our limit will be split on a monthly basis and we will have about 1,500 places per month. It will not run out early. Many noble Lords said that the cap was arbitrary. However, we were advised by the independent Migration Advisory Committee, which is the right body to advise on this. The MAC is an independent committee comprising some of the UK’s top labour market economists. It advises the Government on economic migration matters, including the level of the Government’s limit on tiers 1 and 2, shortage occupations—jobs for which there is an endemic national shortage—and other matters put forward by my right honourable friend the Home Secretary.
The noble Earl, Lord Clancarty, suggested that sponsors are unhappy with reporting on their migrants and having a surveillance role, as I think he put it. The points-based system is based on the principle that those who benefit from migration to the UK should take some responsibility for ensuring that the system works properly and is not abused. We do not believe that this is unreasonable. We do not think that it is unreasonable for highly trusted sponsors and universities to have to report that a foreign student has failed to enrol, has dropped out or is otherwise on an unauthorised absence. After all, we know that the student route has been severely abused. The noble Earl also suggested that the UKBA should develop an entertainer and festival route.
Lord Clement-Jones
My Lords, I am sorry to interrupt the Minister again, but is he aware that the level of abuse in the university sector is 2 per cent?
Earl Attlee
Absolutely, that is why we have the highly trusted sponsor system, which most universities will be signed up to. The real abuse occurs in the fake language schools and accountancy schools.
I was talking about the festival visa routes. Specific proposals can always be considered, but the present visa is intentionally narrow and is not intended to provide an alternative route for entertainers who are coming here to do paid work. The noble Earl asked about modifying the certificate of sponsorship scheme to help smaller organisations to invite artists to the UK. It is not accepted that the system of PBS sponsorship represents a bureaucracy that is particularly acute for small organisations. The online process for a sponsor licence should take approximately 30 minutes to complete.
The noble Baroness, Lady Brinton, said that there ought to be an urgent review of the system. I suggest that she considers the praise that the Home Office received when our tier 2 policy was announced. The CBI and British Chambers of Commerce praised the Government for listening. The Campaign for Science and Engineering, a good adviser to the Home Office, expressed its delight.
The noble Lord, Lord Parekh, suggested that many in the social sciences, philosophy and so on do not earn £40,000. I fear that there might be a misunderstanding. The £40,000 requirement will apply to intracompany transfers for periods of more than 12 months. A scientist or philosopher will enter generally through tier 2. Here they must be paid at least £20,000 per annum, and if they are not earning £20,000 per annum it is not clear to me how they will support themselves.
I am running out of time. The noble Lord, Lord Clement-Jones, described how some customers must travel long distances to submit their visa applications. The UKBA keeps this matter under constant review and is looking at ways to provide a facility to make it easier in some areas for customers to provide their biometric details.
The noble Lord asked about a survey of PBS applicants. The results of the survey he mentioned were published and I will write to him with the details. In brief, the majority of applicants found the applications easy to complete and that the decisions were received in a timely manner.
The noble Lord suggested that the points-based system is designed to manage long-term migration and that applying the same system to short-term cultural visits was inappropriate. The assertion that the points-based system is designed to manage only long-term migration is not correct. While economic migration was the focus, the clear intention when the system was introduced was that it should cover all routes by which foreign nationals enter the UK to work, train or study.
The noble Baroness, Lady Brinton, suggested that additional pressure was put on tier 2 when we closed tier 1 general. I disagree. Tier 2 will become a graduate occupation route from 6 April. Tightening the route in this way will release pressure.
My noble friend Lord Bridgeman asked whether the position of nurses had changed as a result of the Migration Advisory Committee's announcement of 3 March. There is no change. The Government have neither accepted nor rejected the MAC’s shortage occupation list. He mentioned the cost of registration with the NMC, of the ONP course and of the international English language test, and suggested that the overall cost would be about £2,000. The UK Border Agency has no control over the cost of registering with the NMC, or over the ONP cost. My noble friend spoke about the cost of the English language test in relation to Australia, New Zealand and Canada. This is not an issue because these countries are English-speaking and we do not expect English nationals to pass this exam.
The noble Baroness, Lady Kennedy of The Shaws, made a very strong contribution on the university sector. In particular, she suggested that our system of immigration is making it less attractive to study here. The Government have been clear that high-quality students will continue to be welcome in the UK. I recognise the particular issues around foundation courses. These were considered in detail when we consulted on student policy, and we will announce that policy in due course.
I have completely run out of time. I have left many points unanswered. I will of course write to all noble Lords who have taken part. I will also draw to the attention of my right honourable friend the Secretary of State the strength of feeling in your Lordships' House. However, the Government will regain control of our immigration system.