Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she has made an assessment of the potential effect of a points-based immigration system on the video games industry in the UK.

The points-based immigration system was developed following advice from the independent Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) who assessed evidence provided by many interested sectors of the economy.

The new points based system includes broadening the minimum skill level for the skilled work route to RQF 3, equivalent to A levels, and lowering the general salary threshold to £25,600. Many games industry jobs are eligible for the skilled work visa, including computer games programmer and computer games tester.

The new points-based system plays a key part in our long-term approach as the Government brings forward its strategy to rebuild our economy, support businesses to grow and get people back to work, with immigration policy being considered as part of our overall strategy for the UK Labour market, not in isolation to it.