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Written Question
Migrant Workers: Domestic Service
Wednesday 27th March 2024

Asked by: Stephen Kinnock (Labour - Aberavon)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when his Department last reviewed the potential risk of abuse and exploitation of migrant workers under the overseas domestic worker visa rules.

Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)

The Home Office keeps immigration route policy under review, including that for the Overseas Domestic Worker route. We have introduced a number of reforms to the route for overseas domestic workers since 2015; designed to build on existing safeguards and in line with the broader immigration system. Employers of overseas domestic workers must act in accordance with UK employment law, and workers who find themselves a victim of modern slavery are protected by the National Referral Mechanism and may be eligible to apply for permission to stay as a domestic worker who is a victim of modern slavery.


Written Question
Migrant Workers: Domestic Service
Wednesday 27th March 2024

Asked by: Stephen Kinnock (Labour - Aberavon)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the conclusions of the Independent Review of the Overseas Domestic Workers Visa by James Ewins, published on 16 December 2015, relating to protection of employment rights of migrant workers in private households, if he will (a) review and (b) reverse changes to the rules for that visa.

Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)

The Home Office keeps immigration route policy under review, including that for the Overseas Domestic Worker route. We have introduced a number of reforms to the route for overseas domestic workers since 2015; designed to build on existing safeguards and in line with the broader immigration system. Employers of overseas domestic workers must act in accordance with UK employment law, and workers who find themselves a victim of modern slavery are protected by the National Referral Mechanism and may be eligible to apply for permission to stay as a domestic worker who is a victim of modern slavery.


Written Question
Artificial Intelligence: Migrant Workers
Monday 25th March 2024

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).


Written Question
Care Workers: Visas
Monday 25th March 2024

Asked by: Andrew Gwynne (Labour - Denton and Reddish)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment she has made of the potential impact of the removal of (a) overseas and (b) senior care workers’ rights to bring dependants on main applicant flows for the health and social care visa.

Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

We expect social care visa volumes will remain resilient to removing the eligibility for new care and senior care workers to bring dependants. This is in the context of a strong global labour supply, possible changes in migrant behaviour in response, and that a proportion of recruits are estimated to already come without dependants. The Home Office has published estimates of the impact these changes might have on the number of people applying to work in the sector from outside the United Kingdom, which are available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/legal-migration-statement-estimated-immigration-impacts


Written Question
Migrant Workers: NHS
Monday 26th February 2024

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.gov.uk/government/publications/immigration-health-surcharge-ihs-equality-impact-assessment-2023/immigration-health-surcharge-equality-impact-assessment-2023-accessible

https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2024/55/impacts.


Written Question
Horticulture: Seasonal Workers
Tuesday 13th February 2024

Asked by: Stephen Kinnock (Labour - Aberavon)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether workers in the UK on the horticultural seasonal worker visa have access to employment law remedies; what information his Department provides to workers in the UK on the horticultural seasonal worker visa on their rights in the workplace; and how many workers who were issued a horticultural seasonal worker visa for the UK received redress following a complaint about violations of their rights in the workplace in the latest period for which data is available.

Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)

Migrant workers are entitled to the same rights and protection under employment legislation as resident seasonal workers.

As part of their duties as Seasonal Worker operators, sponsors provide seasonal workers with information about their rights and how to raise concerns. The Home Office monitors this by interviewing workers and engaging with sponsors to check what information is provided and in what format.

The majority of workers also undertake pre-departure orientation courses, developed by the International Organisation for Migration.

The Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority (GLAA) also produce and distribute similar material at source of recruitment.

The overwhelming majority of migrant complaints are minor and are swiftly addressed by a worker’s scheme operator. Any significant breach of employment rights would be a matter of UK employment law. The Home Office does not have any published data on this particular matter.

The Home Office does not publish data on the length of employment of seasonal workers.


Written Question
Horticulture: Seasonal Workers
Tuesday 13th February 2024

Asked by: Stephen Kinnock (Labour - Aberavon)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many workers who entered the UK on the horticultural Seasonal Worker visa worked for fewer than 20 weeks, in the most latest period for which data is available.

Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)

Migrant workers are entitled to the same rights and protection under employment legislation as resident seasonal workers.

As part of their duties as Seasonal Worker operators, sponsors provide seasonal workers with information about their rights and how to raise concerns. The Home Office monitors this by interviewing workers and engaging with sponsors to check what information is provided and in what format.

The majority of workers also undertake pre-departure orientation courses, developed by the International Organisation for Migration.

The Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority (GLAA) also produce and distribute similar material at source of recruitment.

The overwhelming majority of migrant complaints are minor and are swiftly addressed by a worker’s scheme operator. Any significant breach of employment rights would be a matter of UK employment law. The Home Office does not have any published data on this particular matter.

The Home Office does not publish data on the length of employment of seasonal workers.


Written Question
Migrant Workers: Seasonal Workers
Tuesday 30th January 2024

Asked by: Dan Carden (Labour - Liverpool, Walton)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 22 January 2024 to Question 9608, what steps he is taking to improve conditions for migrant workers on the Seasonal Worker Scheme since May 2022.

Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)

The Home Office keeps all aspects of the Seasonal Worker route under ongoing review and works closely with DEFRA to monitor the scheme to ensure operators adhere to the stringent requirements set for ensuring the safety and wellbeing of the seasonal workers. This includes changes made on 12th April 2023, introducing rules ensuring seasonal workers are guaranteed a minimum number of 32 hours’ paid work each week. We have also increased UKVI compliance capacity to monitor welfare.

The operators of the scheme are, and must remain, licensed by the Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority (GLAA).


Written Question
Agriculture: Seasonal Workers
Monday 22nd January 2024

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 Question
Fisheries: Migrant Workers
Monday 20th November 2023

Asked by: Kenny MacAskill (Alba Party - East Lothian)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what data his Department holds on the number of migrant workers within the domestic fishing sector.

Answered by Robert Jenrick

The Home Office does publish data on sponsored work visas by occupation and industry in the ‘Immigration Statistics Quarterly Release’.

Data on the grants of sponsored work visas are published in table ‘Occ_D02’ of the sponsored work visas by occupation and industry dataset.

Selecting ‘9119 - Fishing and other elementary agriculture occupations n.e.c’ from the occupation filter will output data on visas granted to professionals coming to work in the domestic fishing sector. Time frames can be filtered.

It is important to note that these figures may include non-fishing occupations and are for people operating within UK territorial waters under a skilled worker visa.

People operating outside UK territorial waters require only a transit visa and these figures are a subset of the data on transit visas found in ‘Vis_D02’ of the detailed entry clearance visas dataset.