Correspondence

Response from Professor Brian Bell, 12 March 2024 (accessible)

Updated 12 March 2024

© Crown copyright 2024

This publication is licensed under the terms of the Open Government Licence v3.0 except where otherwise stated. To view this licence, visit nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3 or write to the Information Policy Team, The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: psi@nationalarchives.gov.uk.

Where we have identified any third party copyright information you will need to obtain permission from the copyright holders concerned.

This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/mac-commissioned-to-review-the-graduate-route/response-from-professor-brian-bell-12-march-2024-accessible

Migration Advisory Committee
2nd Floor Peel Building NE
2 Marsham Street
London
SW1P 4DF

Rt Hon James Cleverly MP
Home Secretary
2 Marsham Street
London
SW1P 4DF

12th March 2024

Dear Home Secretary,

Thank you for your letter dated 11th March 2024 asking the Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) to undertake a rapid review of the Graduate Route. To support the ambition to build the evidence base on the Graduate Route, we accept this commission and acknowledge your request to report back by 14th May 2024. We would note that the timescales for this review are much shorter than a normal commission. As such, this will substantially limit the quality and quantity of evidence that we can provide to answer the questions included in the commissioning letter. We will not be able to conduct a Call for Evidence given the timelines set by the government for this commission. We also note that it has taken longer for the government to commission us than we have been given to complete the review.

To conduct this review, we urgently require the Home Office to provide data on Graduate Route migrants by 26th March 2024. We will provide an update if we do not receive the data required to conduct the review by this date, noting that any delays in receiving the data will lead to a delay in the publication of our report. This includes the following:

  • Home Office data of all those on the Graduate Route since its inception to current date, linked to their confirmation of acceptance of studies;
  • Home Office data of all those on the Graduate Route, linked to any visas moved onto after that point (such as Skilled Worker Route) since its inception to current date. Visa information should include employment information where relevant;
  • Home Office visa data linked to HMRC records, for all financial years available with an agreement for us to conduct independent analysis of this data and publish without Ministerial clearance. This is the only source that will provide a comprehensive picture on whether those on the Graduate Route are in work and if so what types of roles they are doing, needed to assess the economic impacts of the route. Without this we will be unable to respond to some of the questions set out in the commissioning letter.

We look forward to actively engaging with Sir Steve Smith and the Higher Education Sector as part of our rapid review. As set out in the MAC’s Framework Document, the MAC will maintain its independence throughout this commission and the final report is solely the responsibility of the MAC.

On behalf of the Migration Advisory Committee,

Yours sincerely,

Professor Brian Bell
Chair, Migration Advisory Committee

Back to top