Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what engagement he has had with representatives of the construction industry on the Immigration White Paper.

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 construction sector

The Migration Advisory Committee recommended reducing the level required for those coming to the UK as skilled workers to include those at RQF level 3 and above. They did not recommend a route for low skilled workers. However, the White Paper does propose a temporary short-term workers route which will be open to people at any level.

Our proposals in the immigration White Paper, the UK’s Future Skills-Based Immigration System, were accompanied by a full economic appraisal. As the Government has been clear, we are launching a twelve month engagement process in order to listen to businesses and organisations. As part of this, there has already been engagement with the construction sector. We will consider the feedback from this process before making a final decision.