Following the Home Secretary’s recent written statement on legal migration (see Legal update, Home Secretary issues written statement on legal migration to the UK), the Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) has been commissioned to review the reliance on international recruitment in both the IT and telecommunications professionals and engineering professionals sectors.
The MAC is instructed to consider:
- The types of roles in shortage and the drivers of these shortages, including training, pay and conditions
- How sectors have responded to these shortages, beyond seeking to recruit from overseas
- What impact being on the shortage occupation list has had on these sectors and occupations
- What policy levers within the immigration system could be used to incentivise recruitment from the domestic workforce
- The benefits of a differentiated approach, based on region, occupation or other factors
The MAC must report its conclusions within nine months and is expected to be asked to undertake similar reviews of other key sectors in due course.
