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.

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.