§ Miss Richardsonasked the Secretary of State for Employment what criteria are used in deciding whether to issue work permits to citizens of each of the following countries: Bangladesh, Egypt, India, Israel, Japan, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Pakistan, Portugal, Saudi Arabia, South Yemen, Spain and the United Arab Emirates.
§ Mr. John GrantThe basic criteria for the isue of work permits for overseas workers remain as given in the statement to the House of Commons on 25th January 1973—[Vol. 849, cols. 220–221]—when a copy of the more detailed arrangements was placed in the House of Commons Library. These provide that permits will be issued only for work requiring a professional qualification, skill or experience and where the employment of an overseas worker is necessary. A work permit will not be issued if suitable resident labour is available to fill the post190W offered nor it the wages and conditions offered are less favourable than those obtaining in the area for similar work.
Work permits for hotel and catering workers and for resident domestics and nursing auxiliaries, however, are subject to numerical limitations fixed annually. The numbers for 1978 are 1,500 for hotel and catering workers and 1,500 for resident domestics and nursing auxiliaries.
Modifications have been made from time to time to the detailed arrangements. A Press statement of 4th August 1977 indicated that my Department would no longer accept applications for work permits for nationals of countries outside Europe as resident domestic workers in private households, hospitals, schools and similar institutions and as nursing auxiliaries; and in reply to a Question on 16th December 1977 about changes in arrangements for the issue of work permits, I said that this limitation would from 1st January 1978 apply also to resident domestic workers for the hotel and catering industry—[Vol. 941, c. 431–4.] These changes affected all the countries mentioned except Spain and Portugal.
§ Miss Richardsonasked the Secretary of State for Employment how many work permits have been issued since 1st January 1977 to citizens of each of the following countries: Bangladesh, Egypt, India, Israel, Jordan, Japan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Pakistan, Portugal, Saudi Arabia, South Yemen, Spain and the United Arab Emirates.
§ Mr. John GrantDuring the period 1st January 1977 to 30th September 1977 in respect of the countries concerned the numbers of work permits issued for workers overseas and permissions given to those already in this country were as follows:
Bangladesh … … 28 Egypt … … 223 India … … 265 Israel … … 108 Jordan … … 16 Japan … … 585 Kuwait … … 5 Lebanon … … 120 Pakistan … … 119 Portugal … … 253 Saudi Arabia … … 6 North and South Yemen … … 4 Spain … … 390 United Arab Emirates … … 7 Separate figures are not available for South Yemen. The statistics for the full 191W year 1977 are not yet available, nor are those for this year.