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 5 January 2022 to Question 93748 on Immigration Controls: Shipping, what the status is of deckhands in the (a) fishing and (b) merchant navy with respect to the Shortage Occupation List.
Answered by Kevin Foster
The Migration Advisory Committee (MAC), recommended that this occupation, and others, be added to the list of eligible occupations for Skilled Worker visas and to the Shortage Occupation List (SOL) following their review in 2020. However, the Government was of the view that wide scale changes to the SOL relating to medium skilled occupations - which only recently became eligible for Skilled Worker visas at that time – should not be made until the Government could assess how the UK labour market developed in response to the Coronavirus pandemic.
The Government therefore accepted only the first part of the MAC’s recommendation - to recognise deckhands on large (9m+) fishing vessels as meeting the skills threshold for the Skilled Worker route, where they have 3 years’ relevant experience. Although this job was not included on the SOL, it become eligible for Skilled Worker visas where a sponsoring employer is offering a salary of at least £25,600, in line with other non-shortage occupations.
The Government continues to monitor how the UK labour market is developing and also agreed to the MAC’s recommendation for a more regular pattern of reviews for the SOL, with one expected to take place later this year.
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 employers in Standard Industrial Classifications (a) 50100-50400 and (b) 52220 have used the visa system to import labour to the UK in each year since 2016 to date.
Answered by Kevin Foster
The Home Office does not use Standard Industrial Classifications and therefore cannot provide the data requested.
Asked by: Karl Turner (Labour - Kingston upon Hull East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the publication of 1 December 2021, Points-based immigration system: delivering on people’s priorities, if she will make an assessment of the impact of the points based system on skilled jobs (a) at sea and (b) on land in the maritime industry.
Answered by Kevin Foster
Acting upon advice from the independent Migration Advisory Committee (MAC), the Government broadened the skills threshold of the Skilled Worker route and introduced a lower salary threshold which – as modelling by the MAC suggests – strikes a reasonable balance between access to labour and controlling immigration.
Eligible offshore occupations under the Skilled Worker route include engineers, engine room attendants; ferryman; merchant seaman and seaman. Firms can hire overseas workers to fill these roles provided salary and English language requirements are met.
Furthermore, recognising the important role Deckhands play in the sector, the Government accepted the MAC’s recommendation to add the occupation (for vessels over 9m and for individuals to have at least 3 year’s experience in using their skills) to the Shortage Occupation List.
Importantly, the Skilled Worker route offers a flexible approach, by having no minimum length of required stay under the visa; workers can leave and re-enter the UK without interrupting the validity of their visa.
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 ministerial colleagues in the (a) Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy and (b) Department for Transport on the enforcement of the National Minimum Wage for seafarers of all nationalities working (i) in UK territorial waters and (ii) on the UK Continental Shelf since 1 October 2020.
Answered by Kevin Foster
I frequently engage with colleagues across Government, including those in the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy and Department for Transport on a wide range of issues, including the operation of the immigration system.
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 discussions she has had with ministerial colleagues in the Department for Transport on the points-based immigration system and seafarer employment.
Answered by Kevin Foster
I frequently engage with colleagues across Government, including those in the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy and Department for Transport on a wide range of issues, including the operation of the immigration system.
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 25 October 2021 to Question 58819 on Migrant Workers: Wind Power, when her Department plans to reach a decision on (a) renewing or (b) ending the concession before the expiry of the current concession on 1 July 2022; and when UK Visas and Immigration plan to consult employers on that matter.
Answered by Kevin Foster
The offshore wind farm worker concession was extended earlier this year on 2 July until 1 July 2022, to allow foreign nationals to work in the construction and maintenance of offshore wind projects in UK territorial waters.
The government is committed to promoting job opportunities for local labour and always encourages employers to look to the domestic workforce first.
We regularly review all concessions and will be considering the future of this concession and its place in the wider immigration system. We will confirm our intentions in due course.
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 25 October 2021 to Question 58819 on Migrant Workers: Home Office, how many visas have been issued to foreign nationals arriving for work in UK territorial waters under the terms of the concession as of 15 November 2021.
Answered by Kevin Foster
Home Office Migration Statistics do not publish the number of seafarers who have been granted leave to enter the UK to join vessels working in UK territorial waters under the Offshore wind workers Immigration Rules concession.
To capture numbers would require a manual trawl of data and to do so would incur disproportionate cost.
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 25 October 2021 to Question 58819 on Migrant Workers: Home Office, what UK Visas and Immigration’s annual (a) costs and (b) staff hours are from (i) administering and (ii) reviewing the concession from 2017 to the latest year for which figures are available.
Answered by Kevin Foster
The Home Office does not collect or store the data on the number of overseas nationals working 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 wider immigration system.
The Home Office is unable to report on the cost or staff hours spent in relation to the concession. To obtain this information would require detailed reporting against many Home Office units and could only be obtained at disproportionate costs.
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.
The information about the concession is published online at:
Offshore wind workers Immigration Rules concession 2017: July 2021 update - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
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 (a) publish the process for reviewing the Offshore Wind Workers Immigration Rules Concession 2017 and (b) take steps to include maritime trade unions in that process.
Answered by Kevin Foster
The Home Office does not collect or store the data on the number of overseas nationals working 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 wider immigration system.
The Home Office is unable to report on the cost or staff hours spent in relation to the concession. To obtain this information would require detailed reporting against many Home Office units and could only be obtained at disproportionate costs.
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.
The information about the concession is published online at:
Offshore wind workers Immigration Rules concession 2017: July 2021 update - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
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 25 October 2021 to Question 58819 on Migrant Workers: Home Office, how many letters have UK Visas and Immigration received from employers under the terms of the concession as of 15 November 2021.
Answered by Kevin Foster
The Home Office does not collect or store the data on the number of overseas nationals working 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 wider immigration system.
The Home Office is unable to report on the cost or staff hours spent in relation to the concession. To obtain this information would require detailed reporting against many Home Office units and could only be obtained at disproportionate costs.
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.
The information about the concession is published online at:
Offshore wind workers Immigration Rules concession 2017: July 2021 update - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).