Asked by: Lord Weir of Ballyholme (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many asylum applicants have been returned to the UK from the EU in the last 12 months.
Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Shadow Minister (Business and Trade)
There have been no returns from the EU to the UK.
Asked by: Lord Weir of Ballyholme (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they have received any formal request or demand from the government of Ireland to send any asylum applicants back to the UK from the Republic of Ireland.
Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Shadow Minister (Business and Trade)
The Home Office has a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Irish Department of Justice for information sharing to preserve and enhance the operation of the Common Travel Area. This enables data sharing about asylum seekers.
In addition to this, in 2020 we agreed operational arrangements which allow for the return and readmission of asylum seekers where this is agreed by both participants. This is not a legally binding agreement and Ireland has not returned anyone to the UK under these arrangements.
Asked by: Lord Weir of Ballyholme (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what occupations are covered by the new Immigration Salary List.
Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Shadow Minister (Business and Trade)
The Immigration Salary list can be found on page 230 to 232 of the statement of changes laid in Parliament on 14 March. https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/65f18e57ff11701fff6159bb/E03091226_-_HC_590_-_Immigration_Rules_Changes__Web_Accessible_.pdf.
The Government consult regularly with a broad range of stakeholders, including those in social care, on a regular basis.
Asked by: Lord Weir of Ballyholme (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what discussions they have had with the health and social care sectors regarding the implications for those sectors of the proposed new net migration measures, since the announcement of those measures on 4 December 2023.
Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Shadow Minister (Business and Trade)
The Immigration Salary list can be found on page 230 to 232 of the statement of changes laid in Parliament on 14 March. https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/65f18e57ff11701fff6159bb/E03091226_-_HC_590_-_Immigration_Rules_Changes__Web_Accessible_.pdf.
The Government consult regularly with a broad range of stakeholders, including those in social care, on a regular basis.
Asked by: Lord Weir of Ballyholme (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what consultations they had with devolved administrations before they proposed new immigration rules preventing carers and senior carers from bringing their dependents to the UK.
Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Shadow Minister (Business and Trade)
As the Home Secretary outlined on 4 December 2023, a care worker or senior care worker issued with a visa prior to the net migration measures coming into force on 11 March would not be restricted from bringing dependents to the UK.
Details of the net migration measures announced in December, are available here: https://homeofficemedia.blog.gov.uk/2024/02/01/reducing-net-migration-factsheet-december-2023/. As outlined by the Home Secretary on 4th December, visas issued prior to the changes are not impacted.
Immigration is a reserved matter. In general, the Government engages regularly with the devolved administrations through advisory groups when developing all its policies.
Asked by: Lord Weir of Ballyholme (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many people currently working in healthcare provision who fall under Standard Occupational Code (SOC) 6145, or senior carers who fall under SOC 6146, are migrant workers who would fall under the ambit of new restrictions preventing their dependents moving to the UK.
Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Shadow Minister (Business and Trade)
As the Home Secretary outlined on 4 December 2023, a care worker or senior care worker issued with a visa prior to the net migration measures coming into force on 11 March would not be restricted from bringing dependents to the UK.
Details of the net migration measures announced in December, are available here: https://homeofficemedia.blog.gov.uk/2024/02/01/reducing-net-migration-factsheet-december-2023/. As outlined by the Home Secretary on 4th December, visas issued prior to the changes are not impacted.
Immigration is a reserved matter. In general, the Government engages regularly with the devolved administrations through advisory groups when developing all its policies.
Asked by: Lord Weir of Ballyholme (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government how they intend to fill the gap in the jobs market created by the anticipated reduction in legal working migrants as a result of the Government's proposed change to the income requirement thresholds for legal migration, and how much such actions or training schemes are expected to cost.
Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Shadow Minister (Business and Trade)
As the Prime Minister has made clear, current levels of migration to the UK are far too high. The long-term plan the Home Secretary has announced would mean around 300,000 of the people who came to the UK last year would not have been able to come.
Raising the salary criteria is designed to ensure that resident workers’ wages cannot be undercut and ensures that the skilled worker route is not used as a source of low-cost labour. This will encourage employers to invest in the resident population and move away from the reliance on migrant labour.
This is alongside our extensive efforts to get more British people working. The Government believes immigration must be considered alongside investment in, and development of, the UK’s domestic labour force, rather than as an alternative to it. Enquiries on how best to address recruitment issues and/or take of advantage of the skills system to grow the workforce should in the first instance be directed to the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) and the Department for Education, as the departments dealing with employment and skills respectively.
DWP has a broad offer to support people back into and progress in work. Our £2.5bn Back to Work plan – announced as part of the Autumn Statement - will go further by helping thousands of people with disabilities, long-term health conditions and the long-term unemployed, to move into jobs.
Asked by: Lord Weir of Ballyholme (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what is their assessment of the amount by which migration will be reduced as a result of their decision to increase the income threshold for legal migrants to the UK.
Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Shadow Minister (Business and Trade)
Analytical work has been undertaken across Government to support decision making in this process, and an Impact Assessment will be developed in due course.
Asked by: Lord Weir of Ballyholme (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what discussions they had with (1) devolved administrations, and (2) business sectors and organisations, before announcing the proposed rise in earnings income threshold for legal migration to the UK.
Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Shadow Minister (Business and Trade)
Immigration is a reserved matter. In general, the Government engages regularly with the Devolved Administrations and business sectors through a number of advisory groups when developing its policies. The Government will be engaging with the Devolved Administrations and business on aspects of the package in due course.
Asked by: Lord Weir of Ballyholme (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what level of physical checks are currently placed on goods travelling directly from Great Britain to (1) the Republic of Ireland, and (2) other parts of the EU.
Answered by Lord Murray of Blidworth
Border Force make use of a wide range of methods and tools to effectively target national security and fiscal risks.
Border Force does not publish information relating to the number of physical checks carried out as doing so would publicise operational practices which could be used to assist in the evasion of customs controls and compromise Border security.