Oral Answers to Questions Debate

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Department: Home Office

Oral Answers to Questions

David Duguid Excerpts
Monday 29th October 2018

(5 years, 8 months ago)

Commons Chamber
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Caroline Nokes Portrait Caroline Nokes
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I thank my right hon. Friend for his question. It is crucial that we work across the whole of government—through our modern industrial strategy, the Department for Education, local government and the devolved Administrations—to make sure that we provide the opportunities for young people across the whole economy so that they can find work.

David Duguid Portrait David Duguid (Banff and Buchan) (Con)
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I welcome the news that free movement will be replaced with a single control system based on people’s skills, not where they come from. Can my right hon. Friend reassure me that the future system will both facilitate the supply of foreign labour where there is a domestic shortage and complement the Government-wide approach to domestic skills to tackle the shortages where they can be addressed by upskilling UK workers?

Caroline Nokes Portrait Caroline Nokes
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My hon. Friend makes an important point. Our first priority must be upskilling UK workers and making sure they can move into the vacancies that we know are there. My hon. Friend is always diligent in promoting the interests of businesses in Scotland, which might find it difficult to acquire the labour they need. I will be delighted to work with him in that respect.