WORK PERMITS (Hansard, 21 April 1980)

§ The Earl of KINNOULL
My Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question which stands in my name on the Order Paper.ion

The MINISTER of STATE, DEPARTMENT of EMPLOYMENT (The Earl of Gowrie)
My Lords, the number of non-United Kingdom nationals currently in this country who have been given leave to enter as work permit holders is not known. Records are kept by my department of the numbers of work permits issued, but not of the numbers of permit holders who actually arrive in this country, or of those who return abroad. Not all permit holders remain in this country for the period of validity of the work permit.

§ The Earl of KINNOULL
My Lords, while I thank my noble friend for that reply, in view of the size of the unemployment at the moment I hope my noble friend will review and perhaps even tighten the regulations on such permits; and is he aware that when one wishes to find a typical English restaurant with typical English food it is becoming increasingly difficult?

The Earl of GOWRIE
My Lords, on my noble friend's first supplementary question I can reassure him that we have tightened very considerably the criteria for work permits, which are issued only if the conditions of the scheme are met. Among other requirements my Department must be satisfied that the vacancy in question is highly skilled or specialised and that there is no suitable resident labour available, and that the employer concerned has made attempts to seek to 524 fill the post from resident labour. So there has been a considerable tightening up of the scheme.
I was not quite sure what point my noble friend was making in regard to English restaurants and English food, but it is very welcome news that they are improving.

§ Lord AVEBURY
My Lords, as the Home Office has decided to act in the issuing of work permits for catering and hotel staff, was this not the main basis on which the few hundred work permits were being awarded in the last few years; and is it not a fact that the employers in the hotel and catering industry only find it difficult to obtain English labour because their wages are so much less than can be obtained in other occupations?

The Earl of GOWRIE
My Lords, it was in fact myself who was taking steps on the question of the work permits, rather than the Home Office. The position is, as the noble Lord is no doubt aware, that the issue of a work permit is not a contract of employment, so someone could be allowed into the country for the purposes of a work permit, but we do not direct labour in this country and he would be perfectly free to leave, and that is why we have had to tighten the restrictions very considerably. In fact it is possible to come into the country under the work permit scheme for hotel and catering work but only, of course, in the higher reaches of skill and in the higher salary brackets.

§ Lord LEATHERLAND
My Lords, in order to keep a proper sense of balance, can the Minister tell us how many British people are working abroad, particularly as with a Tory Government in office so many people are eager to leave the country?

The Earl of GOWRIE
My Lords, I am afraid the pressure on the flow is still very much into our beleaguered country rather than out of it. I am sorry to disappoint the noble Lord on that score. We do not keep statistics for the outflow but, as I have said, we monitor very carefully the pressures on inflow.

Lord INGLEWOOD
My Lords, is my noble friend aware that the remarks about wages in the hotel and catering 525 industry leave an entirely wrong impression, and that at this time the various technical schools in the country have done a great deal to raise the status of work in kitchens and in hotel management generally? Does he not agree that there is a hope of an entirely different picture very soon?

The Earl of GOWRIE
My Lords, I am most grateful for that intervention from my noble friend and I am sure that is indeed the case. Judging from your Lordships' House it would appear that it has already started to take effect.