Transparency data

Migration Advisory Committee minutes, 13 August 2021

Updated 5 July 2022

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142nd meeting of the Migration Advisory Committee (MAC)

Friday 13th August 2021 10am to 12:30pm

Video / Telephone Conference

Attending:

  • Professor Brian Bell

  • Professor Dina Kiwan

  • Professor Jo Swaffield

  • Madeleine Sumption

  • Professor Sergi Pardos-Prado

  • Della McVay

  • Revealing Reality

  • MAC Secretariat

Agenda item 1 – ICT user research

1. Revealing Reality presented their qualitative research into ICT visas and took questions from the committee and the secretariat.

Agenda item 2 – Welcome and introductions

2. Brian Bell opened the meeting and welcomed new members of the secretariat who introduced themselves.

Agenda item 3 – Home Office (HO), MAC Secretariat and MAC updates

3. Della McVay provided an update on HO business, including updates on the upcoming spending review, the news that the salary employment checker is now live and new immigration rules. Della McVay also gave an update on how free trade agreements are developing and the potential for longer term policies related to Afghanistan.

4. Toby Nutley gave an update on new staff members joining the secretariat. Toby Nutley also informed the meeting that the social care commission call for evidence is now live and will run for 12 weeks. The recruitment exercise for the expert advisory panel has a good number of applications and the sifting phase will begin shortly. Toby Nutley also gave an update on the first stakeholder engagement event on social care with Care England.

5. Toby Nutley also updated the meeting on a meeting with the Scottish minister responsible for migration, which Brian also attended. Further meetings with other devolved nations are being booked as well as a meeting with the African Union.

Agenda item 4 – Expert advice for the social care commission

6. The secretariat gave a further update on the expert advice for the social care commission, including information on responses to the call for evidence. The secretariat also spoke about progress on the qualitative research for social care, aiming to bring a paper on the subject to the September meeting.

Agenda item 5 – ICT draft chapter – secondments and short-term options

7. The secretariat updated the meeting on the progress of the chapter and outlined recommendation options for secondments for the MAC to consider. The MAC discussed the chapter and the potential options. Della McVay gave her view from a HO perspective. The MAC agreed on a proposed option, with revised wording, and agreed to review the option again in September with updated information.

8. The secretariat also updated the meeting on the changes to the short-term options section of the chapter, and the new information that has been added. The MAC clarified that this section was not part of the commission originally but has been added following the stakeholder engagement and discussed what the recommendations should be.

Agenda item 6 – ICT draft chapter – subsidiaries

9. The secretariat updated the meeting on how the chapter is progressing. The secretariat noted that the data on the topic is limited and requested some guidance from the committee on what the recommendations should be. The MAC discussed the chapter and the lack of data and agreed on what the recommendations should be.

Agenda item 7 – ICT draft chapter – switching and settlement

10. The secretariat updated the meeting on the development of the chapter and asked the MAC if they agreed with the provisional recommendations or would like revisions to be made. The MAC discussed the switching and settlement options and highlighted that they still believe the ICT route should be a temporary route, and that this should come across in the recommendations. The MAC discussed their views and agreed on what the recommendations should be.

Agenda item 8 – AOB

11. Brian Bell stated the plan to have draft chapters written up and sent to chapter leads within the next couple of weeks, which will give the committee time to review them before the September committee.

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