§ The Earl of Northeskasked Her Majesty's Government:
What consideration they are giving to the possibility of imposing greater restriction on the grant of work permits in the information technology sector, in light of estimates that more than 50,000 information technology professionals are currently out of work in the United Kingdom. [HL3119]
§ Lord FilkinThere are published criteria governing the issue of work permits, which are applied to all work permit applications irrespective of the sector in question. These criteria are designed to safeguard the interests of the resident labour force while meeting the need of employers to recruit workers with the skills that they need. All applications are checked to ensure that the requirements of the work permit arrangements are met and Work Permits (UK) may also conduct post-issue checks to establish that the work permit arrangements are complied with. The criteria of the work permit arrangements are kept under regular review by Work Permits (UK).
However, Work Permits (UK) does seek to ensure that operation of the work permit arrangements, and, in particular, the list of those occupations which should not be subject to a resident labour search requirement, reflects labour market conditions in specific sectors. Work Permits (UK) works closely with IT Industry bodies, trade unions and other government departments, which are represented on its Information Technology Communications and Electronics Sector Panel, to review the availability of suitably qualified IT workers in the resident labour market. On the advice of this panel, IT occupations were removed from Work Permit (UK)'s shortage occupation list in September 2002.