| Previous Section | Index | Home Page |
“any person from being employed or holding office in a civil capacity under the Crown”,
and by repealing section 6 of the Aliens Restriction (Amendment) Act 1919, the whole of the 1955 Act, and the 1991 order.
I think we understand the point made by my hon. Friend when he says that in many cases the complexity of the legislation can make it difficult to ensure that the right rules have been applied. Is there merit in the changes he proposes? That is a matter for the House to decide and the Committee to consider.
I mentioned a moment ago that the spouse of an EEA national can be deemed eligible for Crown employment irrespective of their own nationality. The family members of EEA nationals gain their rights in circumstances where the EEA national has exercised their rights under the treaty of the European Community—in particular, the right to freedom of movement. My hon. Friend raised this specific point.
The interrelationship of EC and UK law has created what is commonly referred to in the civil service as the alien spouse anomaly, whereby a Chinese national married to a French national who was working in UK could be deemed eligible for civil service employment by extension of their spouse having exercised their freedom of movement rights. But if the same Chinese national were married to a UK national working in the UK, they would not be deemed eligible, thereby giving more rights to EEA nationals and their families than to UK nationals.
It is worth noting—this is where I have some disagreement with my hon. Friend’s analysis, though he is essentially right in practice—that the consequence of the freedom of movement rights does not represent a complete bar on the spouses of UK nationals. UK nationals themselves may have gained their rights by exercising freedom of movement or are open to that, as any other EEA national is. If they have triggered those rights, their spouse may well be eligible for Crown employment, irrespective of their nationality. However, it is accepted that in reality an EEA national living and working in the UK is more likely to be able to show that they have engaged their freedom of movement rights than a UK national living in the UK.
The Bill seeks to remove the anomaly. Beyond this, one could argue that the Bill represents a sensible tidying up of somewhat aged and complex legislation, removing an administrative layer from recruitment and putting the Crown and civil service on an equal footing with the rest of the UK. That is the considerable merit of the Bill. However, there are difficulties that need to be teased out in Committee, and that is why I cannot give the Bill my full support at present.
One of the questions that we should consider is whether there is at the moment a problem with the recruitment or retention of talent and which the Bill addresses, and whether it is helpful in that regard. The Crown, including the civil service, evolves like all other employers. It needs to be able to reflect a diverse society to understand and meet its needs. To do that, it must be able to draw on a range of talent and variety of individuals. The civil service would accept that the widest pool possible was to its benefit in getting the talent and the skills that it requires. The legislative framework as it stands allows recruitment from a wide range of nations so that the Crown and civil service are able to recruit the talent that they need, without affecting policies on national security and/or immigration.
The changes in the economic and working climate within which we should consider the Bill are brought into focus if we consider that during the Bill’s presentation in 2007 my hon. Friend:
“I have the honour to represent a constituency in London, which is a diverse city, but 330,000 people in London, or 7 per cent. of its working-age population, are entirely excluded, not just from the higher echelons of the civil service, but from even applying for the most junior social security clerk’s job. It is no wonder that we have difficulty filling civil service jobs in the capital when so many of my fellow Londoners are entirely out of the equation.”—[ Official Report, 29 June 2007; Vol. 460, c. 579.]
He made a similar point today.
The use of aliens certificates means that individuals are not barred per se from employment, even at the most junior levels. They can be employed at any level, in any city or town, when there is a need. That they are not suggests that there currently is not the need. What is more, and critical in illustrating the changing climate, is the fact that since my hon. Friend made his statement in 2007 about job opportunities in London, the efficiency and relocation programme undertaken by the civil service dictated that some 20,000 jobs were to be relocated out of London and the south-east by 2010.
In the recent Budget, the number of jobs to be relocated out of London and the south-east by 2010 was further increased to 24,000. So far, more than 17,000 jobs have been so relocated. Now some three quarters of civil service jobs are located outside London and the south-east. Alongside that, the civil service currently has a work force of 487,000 full-time equivalent civil servants. That is the lowest number since 1999. In the year ending March 2008, the turnover was 7.8 per cent., so there is evidence of a slowing down in the rate of departure in the current economic climate.
To put that in context, when the Bill was first introduced in 2001, the civil service had 39,230 entrants and 31,360 leavers, and a work force of more than 500,000. By 2008, that had fallen to 23,490 entrants and 41,050 leavers, and a work force of 487,000. Indeed, the number
of entrants to the civil service is at its lowest level since the Bill was first introduced, whereas the number of leavers is proportionally at its highest.
In 2001, 39,000 people joined the civil service, against 31,000 people leaving, so 11 per cent. more joined than left. In 2002, 47,370 joined, against nearly 28,000 leaving, so 42 per cent. more joined than left. In 2003, well over 60,000 joined yet nearly 45,000 left, so 26 per cent. more joined the civil service than left. In 2004, 54,500 people joined the civil service, while not that many fewer—46,000—left, so 15 per cent. more joined than left. In 2005—another year in which my hon. Friend introduced his Bill—40,000 joined, against nearly 51,000 leaving, which gives a difference of 20 per cent. In 2006, 37,000 joined, with 42,000 leaving. In 2007, nearly 25,000 joined, against 36,000 leaving, which gives a 31 per cent. difference. In 2008, 23,000 joined the civil service and 41,000 left, which gives a difference of more than 43 per cent.
Of the vacancies available in the civil service, all departmental vacancies are initially advertised for a minimum of two weeks to staff at risk of redundancy, because we obviously want to maximise redeployment and minimise any possibility of compulsory redundancy. I am sure the House would accept that, particularly at this time, those are the actions of a good employer. They are, of course, also supported by the national trade union side, and form part of an agreement made in April 2008.
Coupled with that, the civil service, like any other big employer, has a policy of redeployment, within departments and across departmental boundaries, and promotions. That enables the service to utilise people’s key skills, which Departments will have invested in, and retain key talent. That said, the civil service cannot be protectionist or keep all its posts for its own people. It recognises that external recruitment is essential at all levels to provide opportunities to jobseekers and bring in new talents, experiences and ideas. To that end, a large number of jobs at all levels are advertised in the external market each year, both in the press and in a number of other ways, but mainly through local jobcentres and on the civil service website.
The key is to have balance. External recruitment and internal moves allow new ideas to be brought in and job opportunities to be created, while ensuring a level of stability in organisations and—I emphasise this point—reducing the need to resort to compulsory redundancies. The civil service, as the largest employer under the heading of the Crown, has to strike that fine balance between finding efficiency savings and supporting the UK and its workers through the current economic downturn, and it has shown a determination and commitment to achieve this.
I spoke earlier about the relocation away from London and the south-east, and about the current position on recruitment. Relocations away from London are not the only issue, of course. As part of the efficiency and relocation programme, significant work force reductions have had to be faced and some 76,600 were achieved between July 2004 and March 2008. Further reductions continue to take place.
Despite that context of efficiency savings and relocation, the civil service is seeking to play its role in the current economic climate, and is actively recruiting to Jobcentre Plus to deal with the rise in registrations and to assist people back to work. It is right that that should be
done; if finding work becomes harder, we should do more to help, not less. The civil service has also committed fully to the success of local employment partnerships. As the House will know, LEPs aim to get priority group customers into work. They are a partnership between business and Jobcentre Plus and provide tailored support to prepare the unemployed for work. I am pleased to report that the civil service has committed to filling at least one in four of its administrative staff vacancies through LEPs.
The discussion on recruitment helps to illustrate the fact that there simply is not an endemic problem that repealing the existing legislation on nationality would solve. Whatever merits the Bill has, it would not automatically resolve the point at issue. With the exception of Jobcentre Plus, which is creating jobs for a specific reason—actively to assist the British economy towards recovery—recruitment is at a reasonably low level. Repealing the legislation at this time would have little practical effect in the current climate.
That is supported by the most recent findings of the Migration Advisory Committee, which recently published its first review of the shortage occupation lists for skilled workers coming to the UK from outside the EEA. In announcing the publication of its recommendations, Professor David Metcalf, the chair of the committee, said:
“The points-based system, including the shortage occupation list, has to operate for the benefit of United Kingdom workers, especially given the current economic climate. These latest recommendations take account of the impact of the worldwide recession on the United Kingdom. We have looked critically at the evidence regarding the occupations under review and made recommendations which balance the needs of the UK workforce against those of employers. It is important to note that some shortages of skilled labour will still exist in a recession. This can be where there is a long-term structural shortage of skilled workers, where workers provide key public services, or in areas such as culture where the United Kingdom needs to maintain global leadership.”
If we consider the occupations on the list for tier 2 of the points-based system, we see that the terms “civil servant” and “Crown employee” do not appear. Terms that we might associate with professions in the civil service or in Crown employment—for example, “administrator”, “policy official” or “project manager” do not appear on the list. It is reasonable to conclude that they do not appear because there is not a shortage in those areas.
Any roles within the civil service or under the Crown that may appear on the list are likely to be in more specialist or technical areas and would not, as a result, be widespread across the civil service. Situations such as a qualifying national not being available or specialist skills being needed would attract the use of the aliens certificate route. For example, “structural engineer” appears on the shortage occupation list and a structural engineer is currently employed in the civil service under cover of an aliens certificate.
You will be aware, Mr. Deputy Speaker, that I have only recently undertaken this brief. One of the things that I have wanted from my officials is more detailed information on aliens certificates—how they are used and how many are used. My hon. Friend the Member for Hendon has also been looking into that issue. I shall share the information that I have received with the House.
A criticism of the framework has often been that, although it provides for a wide-ranging group of nationalities to be deemed eligible for employment under the Crown, a significant number of nationalities and individuals are precluded. It is argued that that preclusion prevents as wide a pool of talent as possible from being chosen, denies the Crown the best available people and prevents a diverse work force from being created. That is not strictly the case. Where necessary, the current framework does allow individuals to be employed from outside the UK, the EEA, the Commonwealth, Switzerland and Turkey.
The Aliens’ Employment Act 1955 allows for the employment of non-UK, non-eligible nationals under cover of what are known as aliens certificates. The circumstances in which an aliens certificate may be issued are set out in section 2 of the Act:
“a certificate may be issued under this section either in respect of employment of a specified alien in specified service, or in respect of the employment of aliens generally in specified service or in service of any specified class or description; but no such certificate shall be issued unless it appears to the responsible Minister, at the time of the issue of the certificate,
(a) in the case of a certificate in respect of the employment of a specified alien in a specified service, either that no suitably qualified person being a British subject is available for employment in that service or that the alien possesses exceptional qualifications or experience fitting him for such employment;
(b) in the case of any certificate, that suitably qualified persons being British subjects are not readily available, or available in sufficient numbers, for employment in the service, or class or description of service, specified in the certificate.”
In brief, a certificate can cover the employment of a particular individual in a particular post or the employment of individuals generally in specific posts or in posts of a particular class or description. For the purposes of the civil service nationality rules, this is described as a certificate being able to be issued where
“there is no suitably qualified UK national available for employment in that post; or the alien possesses exceptional qualifications or experience for the post. Other certificates (including those covering the employment of aliens in posts of a particular class or description) may only be issued if suitably qualified UK nationals are not readily available, or available in sufficient numbers for employment in the post or class or description of the posts specified in the certificate.”
Aliens certificates currently in force cover a diverse range of nationalities. It may be helpful if I provide the House with a breakdown of where individuals covered by the certificates come from. Fourteen certificates cover individuals from the USA. One individual is from Egypt, three are from China, one is from Iran, 61 are from Nepal, one is from Tunisia, one is from Chile, one is from Argentina, one is from Japan, one is from Sudan, one is from Ukraine, one is from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, one is from Colombia, one is from Brazil, one is from Venezuela, and one is from Thailand. The range of posts is equally widespread, from junior administrative grades to specialists in scientific fields—from individuals employed in Ministry of Defence barracks to specialist marine biologists and, as I said, a structural engineer.
As my hon. Friend the Member for Hendon suggested, the use of aliens certificates has been criticised for being an overly onerous administrative process. It would therefore help the House if I explained how a Department goes about getting an aliens certificate. It is not that burdensome, but it is, as he said, an additional administrative layer of
bureaucracy. For applications for a certificate on the grounds that no qualifying national is available, the Department concerned makes a business case to the Cabinet Office setting out certain details: confirmation that there are no restrictions on the candidate’s taking up employment or that the Home Office has given the necessary clearance; confirmation that the post is non-reserved; confirmation that no qualifying national is available; details of the recruitment campaign, including when and where the post was advertised, the number of applications and the results of interviews; and a draft copy of the aliens certificate.
For applications on the grounds that the candidate brings specialist skills, experience or qualifications, the business case to the Cabinet Office should provide: confirmation that there are no restrictions on the candidate’s taking up employment or that the Home Office has given the necessary clearance; confirmation that the post is non-reserved; details of the recruitment campaign, what is the specialist requirement of the post, and what specialist skills the candidate brings that others do not; and a draft copy of the aliens certificate. The Cabinet Office will then consider the case and, assuming that consent is granted, send the confirmation back to the Department with the certificate for signature by the Minister in that Department. Once signed, the certificate is returned to the Cabinet Office. Given the numbers involved, the processing of aliens certificates is not an overly onerous administrative task to place on Departments and agencies, so repealing the legislation and removing the need for the certificates would not solve a problem or create any significant efficiency savings.
I would not for one moment claim that the current system is perfect. It would be inappropriate to do so. My hon. Friend addressed the issue moderately by saying that the Bill would remove an administrative burden and tidy up legislation, but the current law allows a workable, pragmatic approach to recruitment.
UK, Commonwealth and European economic area citizens are available to the Crown, and the issuing of aliens certificates allows Departments, agencies and so on to widen their scope where necessary, perhaps when a post requires such specialist skills that the number of candidates is naturally limited, or if recruitment at a junior level is traditionally difficult due to the geographical location of the post, its salary, its low level or local unemployment. The pool of talent available to the civil service is therefore both wide and diverse.
It is reasonable to suggest that were there a shortage of eligible nationals available to take up posts or a lack of expertise in specialist posts, applications for the certificates would be growing in number. They are not, and I gave my hon. Friend the relevant figures earlier. At any one time there are approximately 60 to 80 certificates in force, in a civil service that currently has 487,000 employees. Indeed, in the financial year 2008-09, requests for applications fell by almost 20 per cent. In the current financial year to date, the number requested is three, compared with six in the same period in 2008-09.
I shall expand the discussion on the use of aliens certificates. It has been argued that the mechanism is difficult to use, which is why its use is minimal compared with the total number of civil service employees. In 2004,
the late Eric Forth spoke about the Aliens’ Employment Act 1955 in a debate on the earlier version of this Bill. He said:
| Next Section | Index | Home Page |