Political Monitor
Excerpt from Political Monitor for APSCO for the week 28/6/2010
What's
being said in Westminster
Interim cap on non-EU migrant workers
coming to UK
A temporary limit on the number of migrant workers
from outside the EU allowed
into the UK is to be introduced ahead of a
planned permanent cap. Home
Secretary Theresa May will limit the
number of workers to 24,100 - down
around 5% - between now and April
2011.
The Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC), which
represents the
UK's £27bn private recruitment industry, said it was
concerned the cap would
lead to greater skills shortages and would
affect the delivery of social care in
some areas.
During the
election campaign David Cameron said he wanted to reduce net
annual
migration from hundreds of thousands to tens of thousands. The figure
currently
stands at 163,000. The Liberal Democrats opposed a cap during the
election
campaign in May but signed up to the Tory idea as part of the coalition
deal.
Details
of how the final limit will be delivered will be agreed following a
12-week
consultation with businesses. In the meantime an interim
limit will be introduced
to ensure there is no rush of applications
and the number of work visas issued
stays below 2009 levels. The Home
Secretary has also asked the Migration
Advisory Committee, the
Government's independent adviser on migration issues,
to launch a
separate consultation into what level the limit should be set at,
taking
into account social and economic impacts.
To avoid large numbers
of applications between now and April next year, the
Government will
impose an interim limit which will take effect from 19 July 2010.
The
interim limits will ensure the number of work visas issued stays below
2009
levels.
These interim measures include:
- Capping
the number of Tier One migrants at current levels and raising the number
of points needed by non-EU workers who come to do highly skilled jobs
from 95 to 100; and
- Limiting the number of certificates of
sponsorship that licensed employers can issue to those who wish to
come to fill skilled job vacancies. This will reduce the number of
people entering through Tier Two by 1,300.
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