Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 5 July 2017 to Question 2290, what steps he has taken to support the employment of non-EEA crew on construction and maintenance vessels in the offshore wind sector since June 2017.

A concession, which operates outside of the Immigration Rules, has been introduced, and extended until 21 April 2019, for the purpose of facilitating the employment of non-EEA workers employed on vessels engaged in the construction of wind farms located in UK territorial waters. This remains a temporary arrangement which is in place to afford the industry opportunity to take steps to regularise its arrangements for such crew.