Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when the Government plans to make changes to the Tier 2 visa system; and what assessment he has made of the potential merits of introducing specific visa system for the NHS.

On Friday 15 June, the Government announced changes to the allocation of places within the Tier 2 (General) cap of 20,700. The change – which will be implemented through amended Immigration Rules coming into effect on 6 July – will ensure that all doctors and all nurses needed in the UK will be able to be recruited to work here without being counted against the cap. This is intended to be a temporary change which recognises the importance of alleviating pressure on the NHS and which creates extra space within the cap for other sectors of the economy.

As part of this announcement, we will be asking the independent Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) to review the full composition of the Shortage Occupation List.