Asked by: Karl Turner (Labour - Kingston upon Hull East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent assessment she has made of the effectiveness of the Offshore wind workers Immigration Rules concession 2017 in meeting skills shortages in the offshore wind industry.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
All foreign national workers coming to work in UK territorial waters need permission to work before starting work in the UK, unless they are covered by an exemption.
The Home Office does not collect or store the data on the number of overseas nationals working under the concession in the offshore industry in the UK from 2017 to date.
We do not collect information on employers using the concession. The Government has no plans to publish information on individual companies which is consistent with the policy across the wider immigration system.
The Government regularly reviews the existence of concessions against the general principles of the immigration system to check whether they are necessary and regularly undertakes engagement with a wide range of stakeholders. This will continue to be the case in future.
Asked by: Karl Turner (Labour - Kingston upon Hull East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make an estimate of the number of foreign nationals that joined vessels in UK ports working on offshore wind farm projects in UK territorial waters in each year from 2017 to 2022.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
All foreign national workers coming to work in UK territorial waters need permission to work before starting work in the UK, unless they are covered by an exemption.
The Home Office does not collect or store the data on the number of overseas nationals working under the concession in the offshore industry in the UK from 2017 to date.
We do not collect information on employers using the concession. The Government has no plans to publish information on individual companies which is consistent with the policy across the wider immigration system.
The Government regularly reviews the existence of concessions against the general principles of the immigration system to check whether they are necessary and regularly undertakes engagement with a wide range of stakeholders. This will continue to be the case in future.
Asked by: Karl Turner (Labour - Kingston upon Hull East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 29 June 2022 to Question 24576 on Migrant Workers: Wind Power, whether non-EEA resident offshore workers will be required to obtain a Home Office sponsor licence in order to work on offshore wind projects in (a) UK territorial waters and (b) the UK Exclusive Economic Zone after 31 October 2022.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
All foreign national workers coming to work in UK territorial waters need permission to work before starting work in the UK, unless they are covered by an exemption.
The Home Office does not collect or store the data on the number of overseas nationals working under the concession in the offshore industry in the UK from 2017 to date.
We do not collect information on employers using the concession. The Government has no plans to publish information on individual companies which is consistent with the policy across the wider immigration system.
The Government regularly reviews the existence of concessions against the general principles of the immigration system to check whether they are necessary and regularly undertakes engagement with a wide range of stakeholders. This will continue to be the case in future.
Asked by: Karl Turner (Labour - Kingston upon Hull East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 29 June 2022 to Question 24576, on Migrant Workers: Wind Power, how many (a) workers and (b) employers have made use of the Offshore Wind Workers Immigration Rules Concession 2017 since its introduction.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
The information is not held in the requested format.
Asked by: Karl Turner (Labour - Kingston upon Hull East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 29 June 2022 to Question 24576, on Migrant Workers: Wind Power, whether she is taking steps to help ensure employers are recruiting offshore wind workers from the resident labour market before the expiration of the Offshore Wind Workers Immigration Rules Concession 2017 on 31 October 2022.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
The information is not held in the requested format.
Asked by: Karl Turner (Labour - Kingston upon Hull East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether Regulated Qualification Framework levels are required for occupations subject to the Offshore Wind Workers Immigration Rules Concession 2017.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
The information is not held in the requested format.
Asked by: Karl Turner (Labour - Kingston upon Hull East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her officials have had discussions with the Migration Advisory Committee on the effect of the Offshore Wind Workers Immigration Rules Concession 2017 on the Shortage Occupation List (a) since the concession was first introduced and (b) to date.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
The information is not held in the requested format.
Asked by: Karl Turner (Labour - Kingston upon Hull East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 29 June 2022 to Question 24576 on Migrant Workers: Wind Power, how many employers that used the Offshore wind workers Immigration Rules concession 2017 have applied for a sponsor licence since 1 July 2022.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
The information is not held in the requested format.
Asked by: Karl Turner (Labour - Kingston upon Hull East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what discussions she has had with Border Force on the potential implications of extending the Offshore wind workers Immigration Rules concession 2017 from 2 July 2022 to 31 October 2022.
Answered by Kevin Foster
We regularly review all policies and concessions, engaging with Home Office operational commands and stakeholders during this process.
On 22 June 2022 we announced the ‘Offshore wind workers Immigration Rules concession 2017’ will be extended for a final time, ending in line with the implementation of Section 43 and Schedule 6 of the Nationality and Borders Act 2022. Leave to enter under the terms of the concession will not be granted beyond 31 October 2022.
We expect employers to use the period between July and October to recruit labour from the resident workforce, or should they wish to continue employing overseas labour, to obtain a Home Office sponsor licence and secure the necessary permission to work for all their foreign workers.
Asked by: Karl Turner (Labour - Kingston upon Hull East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many passport applications are currently being processed by HM Passport Office; and how many passport applications are taking longer than 10 week estimated processing time.
Answered by Kevin Foster
Since April 2021, people have been advised to allow up to ten weeks when applying for their British passport as more than 5 million people delayed applying due to the pandemic.
Between March and May, 98.5% of UK applications processed were completed within ten weeks.