Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to his Oral Statement of 4 December 2023 on Legal Migration, Official Report, column 41, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of the proposals announced in that Statement on the visa status of (a) Ukrainian refugees and (b) others who have claimed asylum in the UK.

Our Points Based System enables the Government to prioritise the skills and talent we need to help our economy grow and support our NHS, while encouraging investment in, and protecting, our own resident workforce.

In arriving at this package of measures, we have been mindful of the need to balance the impacts on economic growth and the needs of the labour market.

The Ukraine schemes are temporary visa schemes, all those who are granted permission to remain in the UK under them are provided 36 months leave, given access to benefits, healthcare and are able to work.

Asylum seekers who are in the UK asylum system and have had their asylum claim outstanding for 12 months or more, through no fault of their own, are allowed to work in jobs on the Shortage Occupation List (SOL). The government will be commissioning the Migration Advisory Committee to advise on the future composition of the Immigration Salary List, the successor to the SOL.