Response letter from Professor Brian Bell to the Home Secretary, 15 August 2024 (accessible)
Updated 15 August 2024
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Migration Advisory Committee
2nd Floor Peel Building NE
2 Marsham Street
London
SW1P 4DF
Rt Hon Yvette Cooper MP
Home Secretary
2 Marsham Street
London
SW1P 4DF
15th August 2024
Dear Home Secretary,
Thank you for your letter dated 6th August 2024 in which you have asked the Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) to look at international recruitment of Information Technology and Telecommunications Professionals and Engineering Professionals.
We accept this commission and note your request that our review be carried out within a nine-month timescale. We also welcome your statement that the MAC Secretariat will be provided with additional staff to strengthen the MAC and will allow us to deliver this and future commissions. Additional capacity for Committee members will also be required to deliver this and future work. We are accepting this commission with an expectation that this Committee capacity will be in place by the end of October. Strengthening the capacity of the MAC will also allow us to fully engage with Skills England, the Devolved Nations, the Industrial Strategy Council and Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) as part of the joined-up, evidence-led approach you set out.
To conduct this review within nine months, we would be grateful for the full co-operation of government and Home Office colleagues to swiftly provide us with data, including, but not limited to:
- Home Office Management Information for Certificate of Sponsorship data for all occupations specifically including IT, Telecommunications and Engineering occupations covering all immigration routes with large usage by these sectors including Global Mobility Route, Intra-Company Transfer, Skilled Worker Route and Tier 2 General going back to 2014, by 16th September 2024.
- Migrant Journey data for all occupations including relevant SOC codes under IT, Telecommunications and Engineering occupations, including all immigration routes with large usage by these sectors by 1st October 2024.
- HMRC and HO linked data from 2019 to most recent available including SOC codes and reported salary at application stage for relevant routes (Global Mobility Route, Intra-Company Transfer, Skilled Worker Route), by 1st October 2024.
We will provide an update by 16th September if progress in accessing the data is not made, as any delays in receiving the data will lead to a delay in the publication of our report. We will also be planning targeted stakeholder engagement for this review of IT and Engineering Professionals.
We look forward to continuing to provide the Government with independent analysis and evidence-based advice.
On behalf of the Migration Advisory Committee,
Yours sincerely,
Professor Brian Bell
Chair, Migration Advisory Committee