Asked by: Peter Kyle (Labour - Hove)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, pursuant to the Answer of 11 March 2024 to Question 17194 on Artificial Intelligence: Migrant Workers, when the new dedicated visa scheme will be operational.
Answered by Andrew Griffith - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The new Future Technology Research & Innovation (Government Authorised Exchange) visa scheme is expected to go live on 4 April 2024, which the Home Office announced in their Statement of Changes to the Immigration Rules laid in Parliament on 14 March. This visa scheme will allow sponsored researchers and interns to come to the UK to work in eligible organisation in the areas of the Government’s five critical technologies (AI, engineering biology, future telecommunications, semiconductors, and quantum technologies).
Asked by: Dan Carden (Labour - Liverpool, Walton)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the report entitled UK government ‘breaching international law’ with seasonal worker scheme, says UN envoy, published on 12 January 2024, whether he has made an assessment of the implications for his policies of the comments made by the UN’s special rapporteur on modern slavery on the UK's seasonal worker scheme.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
The Government is aware of the comments attributed to the UN’s Special Rapporteur on Modern Slavery regarding the operation of the Seasonal Worker Scheme in a recent press article. We do not, however, recognise the description of the operation of the UK’s Seasonal Worker route put forward in that article, on which the UN’s Special Rapporteur appear to be based.
The Home Office keeps all aspects of the Seasonal Worker route under close and ongoing review, including the welfare of participating overseas workers.
A key objective of the route is to ensure that migrant workers are protected against modern slavery and other labour abuses. The Home Office takes any allegations of mistreatment or abuse of this route extremely seriously. We will always take decisive action where we believe abusive practices are taking place or the conditions of the route are not being met.
Written Evidence May. 23 2024
Committee: Home Affairs Committee (Department: Home Office)Found: As explained in the oral evidence session on 15th May, the Home Office Vulnerability Advisory Group
Mentions:
1: Tom Pursglove (Con - Corby) My right hon Friend the Home Secretary is today laying before the House a statement of changes in immigration - Speech Link
Mentions:
1: Kevin Hollinrake (Con - Thirsk and Malton) , who are more likely to be migrant workers and women. - Speech Link
2: Justin Madders (Lab - Ellesmere Port and Neston) job to send money back home. - Speech Link
3: Justin Madders (Lab - Ellesmere Port and Neston) Is it worth talking to the Home Office about information that goes through when visas are processed? - Speech Link
4: Kevin Hollinrake (Con - Thirsk and Malton) We work very closely with our colleagues in the Home Office. As the hon. - Speech Link
Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 30 April 2024 to Question 23314 on Migrant Workers: Hospitality Industry, if he will make it his policy to (a) collect and (b) publish data on certificates of sponsorship for the hospitality industry.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
The Home Office publishes data on Certificates of Sponsorship (CoS) used in the ‘Immigration System Statistics Quarterly Release’. Data on CoS used by industry are published in table ‘CoS_D01’ of the Work Sponsorship detailed dataset. Information on how to use the dataset can be found in the ‘Notes’ page of the workbook. The latest data relates up to the end of December 2023.
A CoS is considered used when the visa applicant has made an application which has also received an outcome.
Hospitality is not a term used by UK Visas and Immigration when classifying job roles for immigration purposes and there are no plans to use it to gather or publish data on Certificates of Sponsorship.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether this Department has made an assessment of the potential impact of proposed increases to the immigration health surcharge on the well-being of migrant workers in the NHS.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
Migrants applying to work in the NHS on the basis of the Health and Care Worker visa are exempt from paying the Immigration Health Surcharge (IHS).
Migrants applying on other immigration routes are required to pay the IHS as part of their application. Migrants employed in the NHS on visas other than the Health and Care Worker visa are able to claim reimbursement of the IHS paid for periods employed in the health and social care sectors.
The Home Office undertook an Equality Impact Assessment (EIA) and an Impact Assessment (IA) alongside the IHS increase. These have been published and can be found at the links below:
https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2024/55/impacts.
Mentions:
1: Paul Blomfield (Lab - Sheffield Central) What is left from the original announcement remains a big change so, as required, the Home Office carried - Speech Link
2: Stuart C McDonald (SNP - Cumbernauld, Kilsyth and Kirkintilloch East) As has been pointed out, the Home Office will automatically ensure that their visa is subject to a no - Speech Link
3: Tim Farron (LD - Westmorland and Lonsdale) The Home Office has said that the policy is all about ensuring that families that include a migrant are - Speech Link
4: Stephen Kinnock (Lab - Aberavon) We have set out plans to reduce our economy’s reliance on migrant workers by reforming the skills system - Speech Link
Mentions:
1: None “The security of the UK border is a top priority for me, the Home Secretary and the Home Office. - Speech Link
2: Lord Sharpe of Epsom (Con - Life peer) Office had the chance to respond. - Speech Link
3: Lord Coaker (Lab - Life peer) When will these 15 reports, being sat on by the Home Office, be published, and when will there be a new - Speech Link
4: Lord Sharpe of Epsom (Con - Life peer) migrant workers only if they are undertaking activities as regulated by the Care Quality Commission - Speech Link
Written Evidence Mar. 07 2024
Inquiry: Human Rights at WorkFound: For example, the ICIBI’s 2022 inspection report1 found that while the Home Office undertook 25 farm