Migration Advisory Committee minutes, 12 February 2021
Updated 5 July 2022
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136th meeting of the Migration Advisory Committee (MAC)
Friday 12th February 2021 10am to 12:30pm
Video / Telephone Conference
Attending:
- Professor Brian Bell
- Dr Jennifer Smith
- Madeleine Sumption
- Professor Jo Swaffield
- Professor Jackline Wahba
- Della McVay
- MAC Secretariat
Agenda item 1 – Welcome
1. Brian Bell opened the meeting. There were a few minor minutes changes from last meeting.
Agenda item 2 – Home Office, MAC secretariat and MAC updates
2. Della McVay provided an update on Home Office business. Still awaiting the official Social Care commission. A letter is currently being prepared from the Home Secretary on the MAC SOL recommendations, the intention is to announce a response in March. The SOL will not be required to be reviewed again until 2022.
3. Toby Nutley provided an update on secretariat business. There have been new starters in the secretariat. The DA job adverts have gone live with the deadline in the coming weeks. Also, a submission of recommendation to extend Jennifer, Jackie and Jo’s appointments has gone to the Home Secretary. There has been a minor suggested change to the framework document due to the existing wording around the extension policy for committee members.
4. Brian Bell met with Glyn Williams (Home Office DG) and raised concern about wait times for committee candidates and getting them on the committee. They also talked about data matching.
Agenda item 3 – ICT commission policy questions
5. The secretariat asked for comments and thoughts from the committee on the ICT commission policy questions that were flagged in advance of this meeting. The committee gave positive feedback across most of the points.
Agenda item 4 – ICTs policy background paper
6. Skipped due to time constraints and covered briefly in agenda item three.
Agenda item 5 – Subsidiary and overseas representative of business visa background paper
7. Skipped due to time constraints and covered briefly in agenda item three.
Agenda item 6 – ICT Call for Evidence Update
8. The secretariat gave update on the progress of the ICT call for evidence and asked for any comments or thoughts from the committee on any other questions that need to be asked.
Agenda item 7 – Social Care Call for Evidence
9. The secretariat gave an update on the three main strands that this Call for Evidence is following and asked for any comments or questions from the committee.
10. Concerns were raised about the potential ambiguity of the questions that were proposed and the committee suggested adding prompts in the questionnaire. This will be re-drafted and cleared by correspondence ahead of the next committee meeting. Further comments to be returned by email.
Agenda item 8 – Social Care interviews
11. The secretariat outlined the plan to interview employers/representatives from a sample frame relating to the Social Care sector. The plan is for this to be commissioned to a contractor to conduct the interviews.
12. The committee commented it may be better to just interview employers and leave the representative organisations to answer the Call for Evidence.
13. Brian Bell stated this contracting option is not guaranteed to happen due to procurement issues; we are waiting to hear from the Home Office for permission.
Agenda item 9 – Social care plan and proposed academics
14. The secretariat outlined the social care analysis that was detailed in the previous meeting and broke it down into four main strands. They asked for committee comments and thoughts on a few specific questions.
15. The secretariat has compiled a list of academics and experts on social care in order to assist with the social care commission. They asked for comments or recommendations about whether these covered what the committee wanted.
Agenda item 10 – MAC evaluation update
16. The secretariat outlined the three phases that they have planned for the evaluation of previous work. They asked for any comments or views from committee, further thoughts are to be sent by email.
Agenda item 11 – Labour Force Survey
17. The secretariat gave an update about the Labour Force Survey statistics and why the reality may be significantly different to the latest statistics, specifically related to issues around the migrant non-response rate. The committee was happy with the note in general.
Agenda item 12 – Work plan update
18. The secretariat stated that the workplan has been updated and asked the committee for comments via email.
Agenda item 13 – AOB
19. Brian Bell wants to do analysis on the cost of visas to see if it affects whether employers choose to bring in certain workers. The secretariat is to come to a future meeting with an idea of how we may approach this.
20. Toby Nutley stated HO is about to undergo a slight restructuring, but this will not significantly affect the MAC.