Transparency data

Migration Advisory Committee minutes, 15 May 2020

Published 28 July 2021

127th meeting of the Migration Advisory Committee (MAC)

Friday 15 May 2020 11am to 1:30pm

Video / Telephone conference

Attending:

• Professor Brian Bell
• Dr Jennifer Smith
• Professor Jo Swaffield
• Professor Jackline Wahba
• Paul Regan
• MAC Secretariat

Agenda item 1 - Welcome

1. Brian Bell opened the meeting and welcomed a new member of staff to the secretariat.

Agenda item 2 - Home Office, MAC Secretariat and MAC updates

2. Paul Regan provided an update on Home Office business. Covid 19 remains a focus of the Home Offices priorities. Government remains committed to launching the new immigration system on the 1st of January. Government are currently considering the new chair for the MAC.

3. Toby discussed the Call for Evidence going live and stakeholder engagement is ongoing, as well as the government moving forward with replacing departing MAC members as well as the new Chair.

4. Brian discussed a meeting with the Immigration Minister discussing the call for evidence, devolved administrations involvement, the impact of Covid 19 and the future of the MAC.

Agenda item 3 - Stakeholder engagement update

5. The Secretariat and committee discussed the ongoing stakeholder engagement, which went live on Wednesday. The virtual approach to future meetings was discussed, as well as the possibility of having more meetings to ensure stakeholders are heard.

Agenda item 4 - Employer research and CfE update

6. The Secretariat and committee discussed the ongoing employer research, which is currently in its early stages as well as receiving an update on the progress of the call for evidence, with 200 page hits but very few completed surveys so far.

Agenda item 5 - SOL methodology chapter

8. The Secretariat and committee discussed a paper on the SOL methodology, with focus on the sensible criteria when producing the SOL and whether it should be tied to reduced salary thresholds. There were no recommendations to change the methodology at this stage.

Agenda item 6 - Devolved Administration SOLS

9. The Secretariat and Committee discussed the current work regarding developing shortage lists for the Devolved Administrations. The committee discussed different salary thresholds across regions as well as the timescale/frequency of reviewing the lists and the possibility of major/minor reviews.

10. The committee also discussed employer compliance with the lists and ensuring employers do not exploit the lists.

Agenda item 7 - Future SOL

11. The Secretariat and Committee discussed producing the future SOL, with focus on the time scales of producing the report and the publication of up to date data sources. There was also a discussion of the possibility of including key worker occupations on the SOL to ease the economic impact of Covid 19.

Agenda item 8 - Salary Threshold Methodology

12. The Secretariat and Committee discussed the current Salary Threshold Methodology, as well as potential changes to how missing data is accounted for in analysis. There were no suggestions that the methodology or approach to technical analysis should be changed.

Agenda item 9 - Data priorities, including Employer Skills Survey update

13. The Secretariat and Committee discussed the potential for obtaining new datasets to fill evidence gaps in analysis, such as the Migrant Worker Scan. There was also an update on the ESS and a discussion of how it is carried out.

Agenda item 10 - AOB

14. There was no other business.