Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the news stories entitled Changes to student visa route will reduce net migration, published on 23 May 2023, and Home Secretary unveils plan to cut net migration, published on 4 December 2023, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of changes to international student visas on the (a) number and (b) experience of people from developing countries coming to the UK to study.
Answered by Robert Halfon
The government believes in a fair and robust migration policy, while maintaining the UK’s place as a top destination for the best and brightest students from around the world. The department remains committed to the ambitions set out in the government’s International Education Strategy to host 600,000 international students per year and to increase the value of our education exports to £35 billion per year, both by 2030.
The changes announced on 4 December 2023 strike the right balance between acting decisively on migration while protecting the UK’s position as a world-leader in higher education (HE).
The department expects the UK to remain a highly attractive study destination. The UK has four universities in the top ten, and 17 in the top 100. The UK has a highly sought after HE experience, which is respected by students across the globe. The department is hugely proud to have met its international student recruitment ambition two years running.
The department continues to work closely with the Home Office, Department for Business and Trade, and other government departments to assess the impact of these changes on HE providers.
Asked by: Lord Weir of Ballyholme (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government how they intend to fill the gap in the jobs market created by the anticipated reduction in legal working migrants as a result of the Government's proposed change to the income requirement thresholds for legal migration, and how much such actions or training schemes are expected to cost.
Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
As the Prime Minister has made clear, current levels of migration to the UK are far too high. The long-term plan the Home Secretary has announced would mean around 300,000 of the people who came to the UK last year would not have been able to come.
Raising the salary criteria is designed to ensure that resident workers’ wages cannot be undercut and ensures that the skilled worker route is not used as a source of low-cost labour. This will encourage employers to invest in the resident population and move away from the reliance on migrant labour.
This is alongside our extensive efforts to get more British people working. The Government believes immigration must be considered alongside investment in, and development of, the UK’s domestic labour force, rather than as an alternative to it. Enquiries on how best to address recruitment issues and/or take of advantage of the skills system to grow the workforce should in the first instance be directed to the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) and the Department for Education, as the departments dealing with employment and skills respectively.
DWP has a broad offer to support people back into and progress in work. Our £2.5bn Back to Work plan – announced as part of the Autumn Statement - will go further by helping thousands of people with disabilities, long-term health conditions and the long-term unemployed, to move into jobs.
Asked by: Vicky Foxcroft (Labour - Lewisham, Deptford)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he is taking to help improve (a) the quality of recruitment and (b) staff retention levels within his Department.
Answered by Paul Maynard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
DWP is committed to improving its recruitment processes and improving candidate experience. The Resourcing Centre of Expertise has an ongoing work programme to ensure policy, guidance and tools support the business to fill high volumes of vacancies across a wide range of professions, grades, functions and locations. DWP work closely with recruitment suppliers, candidates and vacancy holders to identify ways to improve our processes and the quality of our recruitment outcomes.
DWP actively takes steps to promote and raise awareness of careers opportunities to increase attraction of diverse talent from the widest possible range of geographical, social, diversity and career backgrounds by:
Within the Civil Service Success Profiles framework, DWP use high quality selection tools which are centrally evaluated such as Civil Service online tests and video interviewing. Processes have been developed to increase the diversity of panel members and tested different approaches to evaluate their impact on diverse outcomes, inclusive candidate experience, and quality of hire.
The DWP People Strategy specifically sets out to ensure we offer fulfilling, rewarding careers that attract and retain motivated people. Most recently DWP have been implementing measures to increase retention by:
Asked by: Geraint Davies (Independent - Swansea West)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the Oral Statement from the Secretary of State for the Home Department of 4 December 2023 on Legal Migration, Official Report, column 41, whether she has made an assessment of the potential impact of the changes to immigration rules announced in that Statement on higher education institutions.
Answered by Robert Halfon
The government seeks to ensure that there is a fair and robust migration policy, whilst maintaining the UK’s place as a top destination for the best and brightest students from around the world. The department remains committed to the ambitions set out in the government’s International Education Strategy to host 600,000 international students per year, and to increase the value of our education exports to £35 billion per year, both by 2030. The department is hugely proud to have met its international student recruitment ambition two years running.
However, the level of legal migration remains too high. As a result, on 4 December 2023, the government announced a new package of measures to reduce net migration and curb abuse and exploitation of the country’s immigration system.
The department expects the UK to remain a highly attractive study destination. The UK has 4 universities in the top 10, and 17 in the top 100. The UK has a highly sought after higher education experience, which is respected by students across the globe.
The department will work closely with the Home Office, Department for Business and Trade, and other governmental departments to assess the impact of these changes on higher education providers.
Asked by: Jonathan Ashworth (Labour (Co-op) - Leicester South)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, how much her Department spent on external recruitment consultants in each of the financial years (a) 2020-21, (b) 2021-22, and (c) 2022-23.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Department for Business and Trade was created on 7 February in a Machinery of Government change. During the period in question, the Department for International Trade (DIT) and the Department for Business Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) were operating as two separate Departments.
DIT expenditure as below.
It is not possible to disaggregate the BEIS expenditure.
DIT spend
Year | Total Spend |
20/21 | £183,480.00 |
21/22 | £161,970.70 |
22/23 | £377,336.77 |
Asked by: Ruth Cadbury (Labour - Brentford and Isleworth)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many probation officers in the probation delivery units in the areas covering Greater London left the probation service in (a) 2022 and (b) 2023.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The quarterly HMPPS workforce statistics publication covers staffing information, including number of leavers by group by structure/division. The latest publication covers data for up to the period 30 September 2023.
Data for the number of probation officers who left the London Probation Service by probation delivery unit, in the period 1st January 2022 to 31st December 2022 and the period 1st January 2023 to 30th September 2023 is provided in table 1 and table 2 below.
Table 1: Probation officers who left the London Probation Service by probation delivery unit, in the period 1st January 2022 - 31st December 2022
(headcount)
PDU | Headcount |
LDU Cluster Ealing, Harrow and Hillingdon | 1 |
PDU Barking, Dagenham and Havering | 2 |
PDU Brent | 4 |
PDU Camden and Islington | 2 |
PDU Croydon | 3 |
PDU Ealing and Hillingdon | 6 |
PDU Enfield and Haringey | 5 |
PDU Greenwich and Bexley | 4 |
PDU Hackney and City | 3 |
PDU Hammersmith, Fulham, Kensington, Chelsea, Westminster | 4 |
PDU Harrow and Barnet | 2 |
PDU Kingston, Richmond and Hounslow | 6 |
PDU Lambeth | 2 |
PDU Lewisham and Bromley | 4 |
PDU Newham | 3 |
PDU Redbridge and Waltham Forest | 6 |
PDU Southwark | 5 |
PDU Tower Hamlets | 5 |
PDU Wandsworth, Merton and Sutton | 3 |
PS London Accrued Programmes and Structured Interventions | 1 |
PS London Corporate Services | 0 |
PS London Headquarters | 0 |
PS London Public Protection Custody | 8 |
Total | 79 |
Table 2: Probation officers who left the London Probation Service by probation delivery unit, in the period 1st January 2023 - 30th September 2023 (p)
(headcount)
PDU | Headcount |
LDU Cluster Ealing, Harrow and Hillingdon | 0 |
PDU Barking, Dagenham and Havering | 1 |
PDU Brent | 6 |
PDU Camden and Islington | 4 |
PDU Croydon | 4 |
PDU Ealing and Hillingdon | 6 |
PDU Enfield and Haringey | 2 |
PDU Greenwich and Bexley | 0 |
PDU Hackney and City | 0 |
PDU Hammersmith, Fulham, Kensington, Chelsea, Westminster | 6 |
PDU Harrow and Barnet | 2 |
PDU Kingston, Richmond and Hounslow | 3 |
PDU Lambeth | 3 |
PDU Lewisham and Bromley | 3 |
PDU Newham | 4 |
PDU Redbridge and Waltham Forest | 3 |
PDU Southwark | 2 |
PDU Tower Hamlets | 0 |
PDU Wandsworth, Merton and Sutton | 0 |
PS London Accrued Programmes and Structured Interventions | 0 |
PS London Corporate Services | 1 |
PS London Headquarters | 1 |
PS London Public Protection Custody | 2 |
Total | 53 |
The leaving rate for probation officers in the London Probation Service was 12.4% in the 12 months to 30 September 2023 – a fall from the year prior.
Both recruitment and retention remain a priority across the Probation Service. We have accelerated recruitment of trainee Probation Officers (PQiPs) to increase staffing levels, particularly in Probation Delivery Units (PDUs) with the most significant staffing challenges. There were 2,185 staff, equivalent to 2,164 FTE, as at 30 September 2023 undertaking the PQiP training, which we anticipate will start to directly impact on the reduction of caseloads as they qualify.
Notes to table 1 and table 2:
(p) Figures relating to current financial year are provisional and may be subject to change in future.
Asked by: Mark Logan (Conservative - Bolton North East)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking to increase the number of air traffic controllers.
Answered by Jesse Norman
The recruitment of air traffic controllers is a commercial matter for the private businesses that operate air traffic control services.
However, the Department is working with industry and other Government Departments, as part of the Generation Aviation programme, to support medium and long term recruitment.
This work includes the promotion of air traffic controller careers, and co-operation with industry and the Department for Education to review current apprenticeship standards so as to encourage greater uptake.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to support farmers experiencing seasonal worker shortages.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Defra continues to speak regularly with the sector and other government departments to understand labour supply and demand, including both permanent and seasonal workforce requirements, and to make sure that these requirements are understood across government.
The Government recognises the importance of a reliable source of seasonal labour for crop production, and that it is a key part of bringing in the harvest for the horticultural sector. A key source of seasonal labour is the Seasonal Worker visa route, which allows a pre-defined number of overseas workers to come to the United Kingdom for up to six months to support horticulture growers during peak production periods, whilst maintaining robust immigration control.
To reduce the risk of seasonal labour shortages in horticulture, in December 2022, the Government announced that an allocation of 45,000 Seasonal Worker visas will be made available in 2023. This is an uplift of 15,000 visas compared to the allocation at the start of 2022. The Government confirmed at the Food Summit on 16 May that the number of Seasonal Workers visas available in 2024 for horticulture will again be 45,000. A further 2,000 visas are available for seasonal poultry workers to help manage pre-Christmas demand.
A further 10,000 visas are potentially available for horticulture should there be demand and contingent on sponsors and growers continuing to improve worker welfare standards. There are visas available in this year’s allocation and businesses should contact one of the scheme operators if they need seasonal workers.
There are currently six scheme operators for horticulture and two for poultry as follows:
Agri-HR (horticulture)
Concordia (horticulture)
Ethero (horticulture)
Fruitful Jobs (horticulture)
HOPS (horticulture)
Pro-Force Ltd (horticulture and poultry)
RE Recruitment (poultry)
To inform future decisions on labour across the sector, Defra also commissioned John Shropshire to carry out an Independent Review into Labour Shortages in the Food Supply Chain throughout 2022 and 2023, considering how automation, domestic labour and migrant labour could contribute to tackling labour shortages in our sectors, including horticulture.
This report was published on 30 June 2023 and the government response – which will also be informed by the Review of Automation in Horticulture – is expected to be published in autumn 2023. At the same time as the response, the Government will set out how it will support the sector to access the labour it needs alongside actions to reduce the sector’s reliance on migrant labour, including via our work on automation and promoting domestic labour procurement and training.
Asked by: Julian Knight (Independent - Solihull)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department is taking steps to help support information-sharing on concerns about staff between (a) hospitals and (b) hospital departments.
Answered by Will Quince
National Health Service hospitals must comply with the NHS employment check standards, which set out the statutory and mandatory check requirements that employers must undertake as part of any recruitment, ongoing employment or redeployment within the NHS in England, including where staff move between hospitals. The standards are intended to support employers to ensure individuals are of sound character and have the appropriate qualifications, skills and competency to properly and safely perform the tasks required of them. These standards can be found at the following link:
In July 2018, the Government commissioned Tom Kark KC to write a report and make recommendations in relation to the fit and proper persons test. The Government accepted the majority of the recommendations and NHS England has developed and recently introduced the Fit and Proper Person Framework. These improvements will help to prevent unfit board members from moving between NHS organisations. To support information sharing on senior leaders, fields have been added to the Electronic Staff Record system to capture an ongoing record of annual Fit and Proper Person testing.
Asked by: John Healey (Labour - Wentworth and Dearne)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy applications are awaiting an initial eligibility decision from his Department.
Answered by James Heappey
HMG knows who worked for, or alongside the UK Government in Afghanistan. We have therefore rightly prioritised the way we process ARAP applications by identifying those we know to be eligible and in need of our support.
The Ministry of Defence has, through the recruitment of more caseworkers and improved processes, made significant progress in processing ARAP applications. This has resulted in over 58,000 decisions being issued to applicants in the last three months.
As of 5 September 2023, 2,026 Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (ARAP) applicants are awaiting an eligibility decision. Of these:
a) 38 have been awaiting an eligibility decision for more than three months;
b) 98 have been waiting more than six months;
c) 214 have been waiting more than 12 months;
d) 364 have been waiting more than 18 months; and
e) 745 have been waiting more than 24 months.
In addition, there are 567 ARAP applicants who have been awaiting an eligibility decision for less than three months.
We are working at pace to resolve the small number of remaining complex cases, of which many require consultation with other Government Departments.