Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when the Labour Market Evidence Group plans to visit Northern Ireland to consult local businesses.

The Labour Market Evidence Group (LMEG) is supporting the UK Government’s aim to rebalance UK labour market away from an over-reliance on international recruitment and towards domestic workers and ensuring that growth-driving sectors have access to the skilled workers they need now and into the future. LMEG has been established and is meeting regularly at working level with the first formal meeting of LMEG taking place on 29th July 2025. That meeting contained representatives from:

• the Industrial Strategy Advisory Council
• the Department for Work and Pensions
• Skills England and equivalent organisations in the Devolved Governments in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland
• the Migration Advisory Committee

At the first meeting LMEG members agreed a workplan in collaboration with Devolved Governments including Northern Ireland Executive. This workplan will support LMEG’s ambition, as set out in the Immigration White Paper, of working together to gather and share evidence about the state of the workforce, training levels and participation in the domestic labour market, including at Devolved Government and regional levels.