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Written Ministerial Statements
Friday 20 June 2003
HOME DEPARTMENT
Working Holidaymaker Scheme
The Minister for Citizenship and Immigration (Beverley Hughes): The Home Office White Paper, "Secure Borders, Safe Haven: Integration with Diversity in Modern Britain", contained a commitment to review the Working Holidaymaker Scheme. The main aims behind the review were to make the scheme more inclusive of the whole Commonwealth, to remove unnecessary employment restrictions and to reduce abuse of the scheme.
Removing employment restrictions will enable less affluent applicants to prove more easily to entry clearance officers their ability to support themselves without recourse to public funds. This change would also help to alleviate acute recruitment difficulties in certain sectors of the UK economy. Many working holidaymakers are highly skilled and it is sensible to make maximum use of their skills to boost the productivity of the UK workforce. I therefore propose to remove all current employment restrictions on the scheme and allow working holidaymakers to take employment in any field.
The Immigration Rules do not presently permit switching from the scheme into work permit employment. Permitting switching would benefit UK businesses, as they would be able to recruit skilled Commonwealth nationals quickly. It would also offer a legal route for working holidaymakers who want to stay in the UK at the end of their visa to extend their stay here, discouraging illegal working. It is not logical to force talented working holidaymakers to return home simply to apply for a work permit. I therefore propose to amend the Immigration Rules to allow working holidaymakers to switch into work permit employment. Working holidaymakers who want to switch will still have to meet the same work permit requirements as they would if they were applying for a work permit from abroad and, in addition, must have spent 12 months in the UK as a working holidaymaker.
The current scheme is for Commonwealth citizens only and I propose that it continue as a Commonwealth-only scheme. Some responses during the consultation process called for a global scheme. By significantly increasing the numbers entering the UK, a global scheme would add to the economic benefits to the UK from the existing scheme. However, the increase in numbers on a global scheme might necessitate the imposition of a quota, which would adversely affect access to the scheme for Commonwealth citizens. In order to increase access to the scheme I propose that the maximum age criterion be increased from 27 to 30 years of age to permit those who have studied in tertiary education to apply.
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The review also considered whether the existing duration of stay granted was appropriate for a youth exchange scheme. We have concluded that two years is a sufficient period of time for a working holiday in the UK and therefore do not propose to change the maximum length of stay of the current scheme, nor to allow individuals to obtain a second working holiday visa.
Additionally, the review considered issues relating specifically to gap year entrants, who enter the United Kingdom to take placements in schools during the year between the end of their secondary education and the start of tertiary education. Some of these entrants have been entering on a concessionary basis under the working holidaymaker provisions; others under the concession for voluntary workers. Concerns had been expressed that neither of these categories met the specific needs of that type of entrant. Under the amended provisions of the working holidaymaker scheme, Commonwealth nationals who wish to spend a gap year in the United Kingdom, and who meet the requirements of the Immigration Rules relating to working holidaymakers, will be able to spend a full year working in the United Kingdom in any form of employment and then return home. If they do so, however, they will not be able to spend a second year in the category, as the provisions permit only one entry in the category.
In the light of the cultural value of gap year placements in the United Kingdom, I have decided that it is desirable to create separate provision to enable gap year entrants of all nationalities to enter the United Kingdom for a period of one year and take paid employment in schools. Work will now begin on preparing the necessary changes to the Immigration Rules.
Those already in the UK as working holidaymakers will be allowed to benefit from the proposed changes to the scheme with immediate effect. The changes will become effective for all new applicants from 25 August 2003.
Commission for Racial Equality Annual Report
The Minister for Citizenship and Immigration (Beverley Hughes): The Commission for Racial Equality's Annual Report 2002 is published today.
Copies will be available in the Libraries of both Houses. Copies will also be sent to the Scottish Parliament and the National Assembly for Wales.
TRANSPORT
Strategic Road Network (England)
The Secretary of State for Transport (Mr. Alistair Darling): The strategic road network managed by the Highways Agency is part of the backbone of this country, carrying about third of all road traffic in England, and two thirds of all freight traffic. Many people and businesses depend on it.
This strategic road network is amongst the safest in Europe. But there is a need to strengthen the way those roads are managed, to maintain traffic flow and
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maximise use of the available road space, to deal with unplanned incidents such as vehicle accidents, breakdowns and spillages and to provide better information to motorists about traffic conditions.
Under the present arrangements, this will place an increasing burden on the police. The Government do not believe that is sustainable. Network management is a core responsibility of the Highways Agency, but it is not a police function, and asking the police service to do more in this area can only detract from their core tasks of security, tackling crime and ensuring public safety and public order
For that reason, the Government have charged the Highways Agency to develop its role as a network operator for the strategic road network. To support that, the Agency has undertaken, in partnership with the Association of Chief Police Officers, a review of both organisations' roles and responsibilities for management and operation of the strategic road network.
I am today publishing the report of that review. I am arranging for copies to be placed in the Library of the House.
The review concluded that responsibility for a number of tasks associated with the management of the strategic road network should be transferred from the police to the Highways Agency. These include a range of supporting and ancillary tasks associated with effective road management and keeping traffic flowing, such as abnormal load route planning, setting message signs and signals, answering emergency roadside telephones and dealing with the traffic consequences of an incident. The intention is to increase the total level of resources being applied, and to enable the Agency and the police to focus their efforts in support of their core roles.
The Government have endorsed this report and have instructed the Highways Agency to increase the priority they give to network management and to develop measures to deliver progressive and demonstrable benefits over the next two years. The Association of Chief Police Officers has also strongly endorsed the report.
The Government attach a high priority to seeing the conclusions of this review implemented quickly and effectively. A joint Agency and police implementation team has already been established and an implementation programme developed. The Agency will also work closely with key motorists' organisations such as the AA and RAC, and the freight haulage and vehicle recovery organisations. The Highways Agency will:
- Establish a network of regional control centres, operated jointly by the Agency and the police, to monitor the motorway network and co-ordinate action when an incident occurs. These are currently being developed and the first, covering the motorways around Birmingham, is expected to come on-stream in Spring 2004. This will streamline and simplify current arrangements where each police force in England has its own control centre, with varying degrees of joint working with the Highways Agency and local authorities.
Recruit, train and deploy a uniformed motorway patrol service, operating round the clock, with powers to take action and a focus on taking whatever steps are necessary—as soon as possible—to get traffic flowing.
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- The Agency's traffic officers will work in close co-operation with the police, roadside assistance and recovery organisations, the Agency's maintenance contractors and other organisations to ensure that equipment to carry out essential repairs and remove damaged vehicles is summoned quickly, that local diversion routes are opened up quickly and that timely and accurate information is relayed to motorists about the situation. The police will remain in overall control of dealing with the management and investigation of accidents, and they will continue to be responsible for enforcement of road traffic offences.
Although much of this work can be developed within the existing legislative framework, there is a need to provide the Agency with traffic management powers to enable them to fully develop their role. There is an existing model for this—the powers granted to the operator of the Dartford River crossing that have operated successfully for many years. I have instructed the Agency to prepare the necessary legislation, which I intend to introduce when Parliamentary time permits.
I believe that this initiative will improve the service provided to motorists and will make an important contribution alongside other initiatives to tackling congestion on the strategic road network.
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