Asked by: Lorraine Beavers (Labour - Blackpool North and Fleetwood)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of digitising the provision of English language tests for student and working visas on applicants.
Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The Home Office is committed to maintaining the highest standards of security and integrity in our immigration system whilst modernising services for legitimate applicants. Any changes to English language testing delivery through the upcoming Home Office English Language Testing (HOELT) procurement shall include robust safeguards including identity verification, secure test delivery, active monitoring, and fraud detection.
The fundamental service shall be the same as the current SELT provision that is being replaced – a test which is largely digital already, albeit sat in a physical test centre.
We will continue to engage with relevant stakeholders, experts, and the market to ensure proposals maintain rigorous standards, comply with regulatory requirements, and consider how language testing can be transformed to deliver the best service possible for our customers, by improving accessibility and efficiency for applicants.
Any additional impacts will be addressed through a comprehensive Equalities Impact Assessment and associated mobilisation activity upon the conclusion of procurement and before the HOELT service goes live for customers.
Asked by: Lorraine Beavers (Labour - Blackpool North and Fleetwood)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of reviewing the minimum salary threshold for the Skilled Worker visa to provide exemptions for (a) the manufacturing sector and (b) other sectors with a shortage of workers.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The salary thresholds are in place to ensure that resident workers’ wages should not be undercut and to protect overseas workers from being used as low-cost labour. The thresholds are set at the median levels according to the Office for National Statistics Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings.
The Government’s objective is to bring net migration down, linking migration with wider labour market policies, so that immigration is not used as an alternative to training or tackling workforce problems in the UK.
These objectives are also why this Government has maintained the current salary the Skilled Worker route.
As the Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) has said, salaries generally need to rise in response to shortages, which challenges the suggestion that shortages could be eased by paying lower wages. The MAC has also consistently advised against regional salary thresholds, on the basis that this could exacerbate existing regional pay differences.
Asked by: Lorraine Beavers (Labour - Blackpool North and Fleetwood)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of applying regional weighting for the minimum salary threshold for the Skilled Worker visa.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The salary thresholds are in place to ensure that resident workers’ wages should not be undercut and to protect overseas workers from being used as low-cost labour. The thresholds are set at the median levels according to the Office for National Statistics Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings.
The Government’s objective is to bring net migration down, linking migration with wider labour market policies, so that immigration is not used as an alternative to training or tackling workforce problems in the UK.
These objectives are also why this Government has maintained the current salary the Skilled Worker route.
As the Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) has said, salaries generally need to rise in response to shortages, which challenges the suggestion that shortages could be eased by paying lower wages. The MAC has also consistently advised against regional salary thresholds, on the basis that this could exacerbate existing regional pay differences.
Asked by: Lorraine Beavers (Labour - Blackpool North and Fleetwood)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she plans to take steps to improve the usability for the UK Visas and Immigration Sponsor Management System.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Home Office is currently investing in an ambitious programme of transformation to improve efficiency and effectiveness, which includes the sponsorship I.T system.