Asked by: Justin Madders (Labour - Ellesmere Port and Bromborough)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many families of (a) NHS workers and (b) independent health and social care workers who have died after contracting covid-19 have (i) applied for and (ii) been granted indefinite leave to remain in the UK since 29 April 2020.
Answered by Kevin Foster
The Home Office is granting immediate indefinite leave to remain (ILR), free of any charges, to family members of NHS, health and care workers who unfortunately lose their lives as a result of contracting COVID-19.
The Home Office has received 49 applications for ILR for those held in this route, with 10 granted to date.
Asked by: Justin Madders (Labour - Ellesmere Port and Bromborough)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many extensions UKVI has processed via the covid-19 auto-extension visa scheme for eligible health professionals (a) working in the NHS, (b) working in independent health and social care and (c) in total since March 2020.
Answered by Kevin Foster
The information requested is not held in a published format and to gather it would attract a disproportionate cost.
The most recent published migration statistics can be viewed:
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/migration-statistics
The available published data shows the numbers of visas granted in each work route but does not provide any data on the specific numbers that have been granted on this scheme nor the number of Biometric Residence Permits received by UKVI.
Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Hinckley and Bosworth)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to promote the Settled Status scheme to EU workers in the social care sector.
Answered by Kevin Foster
As of 11 February 2021, over five million applications had been received to the EU Settlement Scheme (EUSS), and 4.5 million grants of status have been made, delivering on the government’s promise to secure the rights of millions of Europeans in UK law for years to come
A comprehensive range of communications activity has been delivered to date to increase awareness of the EUSS across sectors and audience demographics including EEA and Swiss national key workers including those working in the social care sector.
Communications activity includes extensive engagement with a wide range of stakeholders, a refresh of EUSS promotional materials, and an extensive new wave of targeted UK advertising on social media, website banners, catch up TV and radio, launched earlier this month, to ensure EEA and Swiss citizens are aware of the scheme and supported to apply.
The Home Office has also provided up to £17million in grant funding to a current network of 72 organisations that provide bespoke support to vulnerable and hard to reach EU citizens and their family members eligible to apply to EUSS. The Home Office recently announced a further £4.5 million of funding to the 72 organisations to continue these support services well beyond the 30 June 2021 deadline.
Communications to reach eligible workers via their employer have been ongoing since the scheme’s launch with hundreds of engagement events delivered alongside the provision of an employer toolkit, equipping organisations with the information required to support their staff.
This has included a bespoke event for NHS employers, and with several regional strategic migration and enterprise partnerships. NHS employers, Scottish Social services and Wales Social care also sit on EUSS advisory groups.
Workers in the social care sector were given early access under the pilot phases of the scheme and we have provided extensive outreach and support to the sector. We continue to work closely with the Department for Health and Social Care, and Local Authorities to provide support and materials to eligible individuals in the sector.
Asked by: James Wild (Conservative - North West Norfolk)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions he has had with the Home Secretary on the effect of the delay in accepting the Migration Advisory Council recommendation to include senior care workers in the Shortage Occupancy List.
Answered by Helen Whately - Shadow Secretary of State for Transport
My Rt. Hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care has regular discussions with the Secretary of State for the Home Department on a range of matters, including immigration. The Government continues to consider the Migration Advisory Committee’s recommendations on the Shortage Occupations List carefully in light of recent changes to the immigration system and the economic impact of COVID-19.
It should be noted that senior care workers do not need to be on the Shortage Occupations List to qualify for the Health and Care Visa or Skilled Worker Route, so long as sponsors are offering a salary of at least £25,600, or £20,480 if they qualify as a new entrant.
Asked by: Drew Hendry (Scottish National Party - Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment her Department has made of the potential merits of supporting pandemic health and social care workers with future immigration costs after the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Kevin Foster
The UK Government recognises the vital contribution which overseas NHS, health and social care workers have made and continue to make in fighting the pandemic across our United Kingdom.
To provide support to them in terms of future immigration costs, last year the UK Government introduced the Health and Care visa. Thanks to this new visa they, and their dependants, pay significantly reduced visa fees and are exempt from having to pay the Immigration Health Surcharge. Those who are eligible also benefit from fast-tracked processing and can expect a decision within three weeks of enrolling their biometrics.
On 29 January 2021, we expanded the list of occupations which are eligible for the Health and Care Visa, meaning more skilled workers will be able to benefit from this offer. The new visa will be a key part of our immigration system going forward.
Those who are not eligible for the Health and Care Visa, and are working in eligible roles due to having rights to work in the UK which are not tied to a health and care role, may still benefit from the Department for Health and Social Care’s (DHSC) surcharge reimbursement scheme which was launched on 1 October 2020.
Asked by: Drew Hendry (Scottish National Party - Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment her Department has made of the potential merits of extending visas for health and social care workers for the duration of the covid-19 pandemic.
Answered by Kevin Foster
The UK Government recognises the vital contribution overseas NHS, health and social care workers have and continue to make in fighting the COVID-19 pandemic.
Earlier in the year we offered free visa extensions for key, frontline health professionals whose visas were due to expire between 31 March 2020 and 1 October 2020.
On 20 November, we announced we will renew this offer for those eligible health professionals and their family dependants whose visas expire between 1 October 2020 until 31 March 2021.
More details of this announcement can be found at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/thousands-more-health-workers-to-benefit-from-visa-extensions
We will keep the free extension offer under review to ensure we continue supporting the health and care sector in tackling this pandemic.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to ensure that overseas applications for jobs in social care are processed without delay.
Answered by Helen Whately - Shadow Secretary of State for Transport
The Government introduced the Health and Care Visa on 4 August 2020, giving eligible overseas recruits quicker and cheaper access to a visa. Applicants for this visa are exempt from paying the Immigration Health Surcharge, pay 50% of visa fees and are guaranteed a decision within three weeks of biometric enrolment.
Asked by: Andrew Gwynne (Labour (Co-op) - Gorton and Denton)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the financial implications for local authorities of excluding social care workers from the fast track visa programme; and whether the Government plans to provide additional funding to local authorities in relation to that matter.
Answered by Steve Barclay - Shadow Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
The Government completed an Impact Assessment for the Immigration and Nationality (Fees) Regulations 2020: Introduction of the Health and Care Visa, IA number HO0369.
The Chancellor has written to Secretaries of State to launch the Comprehensive Spending Review. This is a multi-year Spending Review, setting resource budgets for three years (21-22 to 23-24) and capital budgets for four years (21-22 to 24-25) to set direction and firm budgets for the duration of the parliament. Any local government funding decisions, including decisions about social care workforce funding, will be taken as part of this Spending Review.
Asked by: Lord Roberts of Llandudno (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have, if any, to lower the income requirement for those from outside the UK seeking employment in the care sector.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Shadow Chief Whip (Lords)
We very much value the role many who have come to this country play in our health and care sector, but we will not be introducing a general route for employers to seek cheaper labour from abroad. This follows advice from the Migration Advisory Committee (MAC).
The MAC is clear a solution to recruitment issues in social care cannot just be solved via the UK’s immigration system. Employers need to invest in technology, innovation and their existing workforce, focusing on making jobs more attractive for UK workers, not just looking to the migration system instead.
The Government is supporting the sector in many ways, including through additional funding and launching a national recruitment campaign.
Asked by: Lord Alton of Liverpool (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how they intend to respond to the concerns raised by the Cavendish Coalition, on behalf of UK health and social care groups, that their current immigration proposals would not allow enough overseas workers to be recruited for the care sector; and how they intend to address any shortfall of such workers in the Immigration and Social Security Co-ordination (EU Withdrawal) Bill.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Shadow Chief Whip (Lords)
The Government recognises the fantastic contribution made by those working in the social care sector and the need for roles in it to offer rewarding career opportunities. The independent Migration Advisory Committee has been very clear immigration is not the answer to the challenges faced in this sector, a view the Government shares.
The Minister for Future Borders and Immigration has met with the Cavendish Coalition to hear their thoughts about future immigration policy. In response he confirmed the Government would not be creating a migration route to allow some employers in the sector to permanently recruit at the legal minimum wage as an alternative to paying more competitive\rewarding salaries to their staff who undertake such valuable work supporting the most vulnerable.
He also outlined how the groups represented by the Cavendish Coalition should in the first instance seek to engage with the Department for Work & Pensions about how they can work together to encourage more UK based jobseekers into rewarding careers in the Social Care Sector, rather than view immigration as the preferred option for addressing any shortfall in recruitment and as a way to ensure continued recruitment at the legal minimum wage. This is especially relevant when many UK based workers with the ability to make excellent social carer workers are looking for new employment due to the economic impact of Covid-19.
As we implement the new immigration system, we want employers to focus on investing in our domestic work force and offering rewarding packages to Social Care Workers, rather than view immigration as an alternative to doing this. In relation to roles within the sector where specific training is required the new skilled worker route will provide for a broader range of roles, including senior care workers to come to the UK.
The EU Settlement Scheme means all EU and EAA citizens, and their family members, currently working in social care can stay in the UK and we are encouraging them to do so.
The Government is supporting the Social Care sector in several ways, including through launching a national recruitment campaign and providing councils with access to an additional £1.5 billion for adults and children’s social care in 2020-21.