Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate she has made of the number of sponsor licence applications that will be required ahead of the implementation of the proposed new points-based immigration system; and what steps her Department is taking to anticipate any surge in licence applications.

Planning for the implementation of the new UK points-based system includes ensuring that all aspects of operational readiness have been considered and this includes resourcing, recruitment and the delivery of training.

In UK Visas and Immigration, who will be delivering the new system operationally, there is a natural cycle of recruitment of caseworkers every year and this year the requirements of the new system have been factored in, including the forecast increase in sponsor licence applications.

Work is underway on this and there is specific strand project planning for the overall programme in place. Progress is reported weekly and monitored by the FBIS programme board which oversees the delivery of the new system.

The Impact Assessment for the Immigration and Social Security Co-ordination (EU Withdrawal) Bill included an assessment of the potential number of skilled workers that may be eligible under the new points-based immigration system, and therefore would require sponsorship. This can be found on GOV.UK: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/immigration-bill-2020-overarching-documents