Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of retrospective settlement changes proposed in their ‘Earned Settlement’ consultation on the UK's national resilience, specifically regarding the retention of cyber security and data science personnel in critical national infrastructure sectors.

The earned settlement model, proposed in ‘A Fairer Pathway to Settlement’, is currently subject to a public consultation, running until 12 February 2026.

The consultation seeks views on whether there should be transitional arrangements for those already on a pathway to settlement, in order to ease the impact of changes for particular groups or preserve already afforded permissions by the previous system. No transitional arrangements have been decided upon yet.

Details of the earned settlement model, including any transitional arrangements for those already in the UK, will be finalised following that consultation. The final model will also be subject to economic and equality impact assessments, which we have committed to publish in due course.