Home Secretary Yvette Cooper has written to the Chair of the Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) to commission a review of the IT and engineering sectors’ relationship to international recruitment.
The MAC has been asked to review key occupations in the Information Technology and Telecommunications and Engineering Professions and understand the reliance on international recruitment.
The MAC is to consider:
- What types of roles are in shortage?
- What are the different drivers of these shortages, including training, pay and conditions?
- How have the sectors sought to respond and adapt to these shortages beyond seeking to recruit from overseas?
- Where relevant, what impact has been on the shortage occupation list had on these sectors/occupations?
- What policy levers within the immigration system can the government use more effectively to incentivize sectors to focus on recruiting from the domestic workforce? Whether the Immigration Salary List should remain in its current form.
The Home Secretary has invited MAC to consider a broader range of options, merits, and approaches, including considerations based on region, occupation, and other factors. MAC is expected to work closely with Skills Evidence and the Industrial Strategy Council, with input from DWP, on developing the evidence base and with the Devolved Administration.
The MAC has nine months to produce the report.
