Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she has made a recent assessment of the potential merits of increasing the number of visas available for (a) HGV and (b) public service vehicle drivers.

The Government has no plans to increase the number of visas available for (a) HGV and (b) public service vehicle drivers, as these occupations are not eligible under the Points Based System. The Government’s position is that employers should invest in recruitment from the resident workforce, which includes UK workers and migrants with general work rights, for jobs with relatively short training requirements.

The independent Migratory Advisory Committee (MAC) is currently reviewing the Shortage Occupation List (SOL), which involves extensive consultation with industry. The MAC will report its recommendations in the Autumn, after which the Government will consider its position. As per the Government’s commissioning letter to the MAC last year, inclusion on the SOL for jobs which do not meet the skills threshold should only be considered in exceptional circumstances, such as when we added care workers last year.