Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate she has made of the cost of the Immigration Skills Charge to the NHS in (a) 2017-18, (b) 2018-19, (c) 2019-20 and (d) 2020-21.

Exemptions from the Immigration Skills Charge for employers were announced on 24 March 2016. These include exemptions for employers of specified occupations skilled to PhD level and individuals switching from a Tier 4 student visa to Tier 2 (General). All employers, including the NHS and other public sector employers, who recruit workers through the Tier 2 skilled worker route will benefit from these exemptions.

We have not estimated the annual cost of the charge to providers. The cost will depend on employer use of the Tier 2 skilled worker route.