Asked by: Steve Double (Conservative - St Austell and Newquay)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment he has made of the effect on the community pharmacy sector of excluding pharmacists from the shortage occupation list.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
The Shortage Occupation List is based on advice from the independent Migration Advisory Committee (MAC).
Last July, the Government commissioned the MAC to undertake a full review of the current composition of the SOL. That review is now complete and was published on 29 May.
The Government is grateful to the MAC for a comprehensive report, the content of which we are now considering, before making final decisions.
Asked by: Steve Double (Conservative - St Austell and Newquay)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many refugees have been resettled through the (a) Vulnerable Persons Resettlement Scheme, (b) Vulnerable Children’s Resettlement Scheme and (c) Community Sponsorship Scheme in (i) the constituency of St Austell and Newquay (ii) Cornwall and (iii) the South West of England.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
The Home Office is committed to publishing data in an orderly way as part of the regular quarterly Immigration Statistics, in line with the Code of Practice for Official Statistics.
Latest statistics published on 24 May showed that 15,977 people have been resettled in the UK under the Vulnerable Persons Resettlement Scheme (VPRS) and 1,410 resettled through the Vulnerable Children’s Resettlement Scheme (VCRS). Since the Community Sponsorship scheme began in July 2016, 281 refugees have been resettled by community sponsor groups across the UK.
The statistics, which include a local authority breakdown of resettlements under the VPRS and VCRS, are available at https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/immigration-statistics-quarterly-release
We do not publish geographic breakdowns of resettlements at town or parliamentary constituency level, or by community sponsor.
Asked by: Steve Double (Conservative - St Austell and Newquay)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 14 March 2019 to Question 230817 on Seasonal Workers: Cornwall, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that officers of the Migration Advisory Committee are aware of such statistics and other relevant information when carrying out stakeholder engagement sessions.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
The Migration Advisory Committee are independent and take account of all available information through a range of methods including calls for evidence, stakeholder engagement and research.
Asked by: Steve Double (Conservative - St Austell and Newquay)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when the consultation on the £30,000 salary threshold will commence; and whether that consultation will take into account the views of employers and recruiters in the health and social care sector.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
The Government is committed to developing a future borders and immigration system that will cater for all sectors of the UK, including for those who make a very valuable contribution to our health and social care sector.
The Migration Advisory Committee has recommended that we should retain the existing system of salary thresholds including the minimum £30,000 salary threshold for skilled workers in the future borders and immigration system. Such a threshold is an important mechanism to control who can come here.
As the Government has been clear, we are launching a twelve month engagement process in order to listen to businesses and organisations on what a suitable threshold should be. We will consider the feedback from this process before making a final decision. We are also considering whether jobs recognised in national shortage should attract a lower salary threshold.
Our proposals in the immigration White Paper, the UK’s Future Skills-Based Immigration System, were accompanied by a full economic appraisal.
Asked by: Steve Double (Conservative - St Austell and Newquay)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 21 February 2019 to Question 220952 on Seasonal Agricultural Workers' Scheme, whether it will be possible for seasonal workers who have spent six months in any twelve month period working in the UK under the scheme and have left the UK to re-apply to the scheme and return to the UK.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
The Immigration Rules set no limit to the number of times a migrant worker can be granted leave under the Seasonal Workers Pilot, provided that grant of leave would not result in them spending more than six months in the UK during any rolling 12 month period.
Asked by: Steve Double (Conservative - St Austell and Newquay)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether seasonal workers who come to the UK through the seasonal agricultural workers pilot scheme (a) will be asked to leave the country after a period of time, (b) how long this period of time will be and (c) whether it will be possible for those workers to re-apply to the pilot scheme after they have left the UK.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
As the Government has set out in the Statement of Changes in Immigration Rules laid before this House on 11 December (HC 1779), migrants granted leave for the Seasonal Workers Pilot can spend a maximum of six months working in the UK, in any 12 month period.