Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has had discussions with the Secretary of State for the Home Department on the potential merits of allowing disabled people who directly employ their own care workers to sponsor care workers from abroad.

The Secretary of State has not had specific discussions with the Home Secretary regarding this issue.

Personal assistants are not eligible for the Health and Care Visa, because Home Office rules require an employing organisation, not a private individual or household, to act as the visa sponsor for any care workers recruited from abroad.

The two departments have an ongoing dialogue about ways to improve the accessibility of the immigration system for the care sector.