Memorandum submitted by the Migration
Advisory Committee (MAC)
1. In response to the invitation to submit
written evidence to the above inquiry, this note provides some
information about:
— what the Migration Advisory Committee
(MAC) is;
— what it has been asked to do, and what
it is doing;
— its methodological approach;
— what evidence it is using, how it
is going about gathering it, and which stakeholders it is working
with.
2. This note provides a brief overview.
It is submitted alongside the MAC's two published reports to date.
A fuller report on the MAC's work together with its recommended
shortage occupation lists will be published in August and sent
to the Home Affairs Select Committee.
THE MIGRATION
ADVISORY COMMITTEE
3. The purpose of the MAC is to provide
independent, transparent and evidence-based advice to Government
on where labour market shortages exist that can sensibly be filled
by migration. It underpins the new points based system for immigration
to the United Kingdom by advising on which occupations should
be designated as shortage occupations. The Government may, from
time to time, ask the MAC to advise on other matters relating
to migration, although it has not yet done this.
4. The intention to set up the MAC was first
announced by the Government in March 2007 following a successful
public consultation which showed overwhelming support for having
a new independent committee with 89% of respondents in favour.
5. The MAC is comprised of five economists
who were appointed by the Minister of State for Borders and Immigration
after an open competition in compliance with the rules governing
public appointments, together with two ex-officio members—a
representative of the UK Commission for Employment and Skills
and a senior official from the Border Agency at the Home Office.
The MAC is supported by a secretariat of nine staff.
The following information is also provided in
annexes to this note:
— a list of the members of the MAC
(appendix 1);
— the MAC's terms of reference (appendix
2);
— the MAC's workplan, as set by the
Government (appendix 3).
6. The MAC held its inaugural meeting on
7 December 2007 and has met formally 6 times in total. Its next
meeting is on 21 July.
WHAT THE
MAC HAVE BEEN
ASKED TO
DO
7. The MAC's workplan required it to produce
by January 2008 a report on what data on labour market shortages
exists. It also required the MAC to produce by February 2008 a
report on where there are gaps in the current data required by
the MAC in relation to labour market shortages, how those data
gaps should be filled, and how the MAC proposes to report on shortage
occupations in the meantime. Both these reports were produced
on time, and they can be obtained from http:/www.bia.homeoffice.gov.uk/mac.
8. The work plan also required the MAC produce
shortage occupation lists for UK and Scotland only (Tier 2 skilled
employment). The MAC is now actively engaged in deciding, on the
basis of evidence and analysis, which skilled occupations should
be recommended by it for inclusion on these lists. These lists
will be accompanied by a report by the MAC setting how the lists
were drawn up.
9. The MAC had been working to publish its
first recommended list in June 2008 as required by its workplan.
It has received a great deal of evidence and in order to give
the MAC more time to consider properly this evidence from employers
and others, the Government has agreed that the MAC should submit
its recommended shortage lists in August. This will ensure that
the first shortage occupation lists take full account of the most
up-to-date relevant information.
METHODOLOGY
10. The MAC sees its task as comprising
three main elements. Firstly, it has to determine whether an occupation
is skilled or not. If the occupation is not skilled, then it will
not go on the recommended shortage occupation list. The MAC is
working on the basis that the level of skill required is equivalent
to that attained at level 3 or above of the National Qualifications
Framework, because this is the level of skill content in a job
required to work in the UK via Tier 2 of the points based system.
The MAC has worked up a framework of skill indicators that can
be applied to evidence about a wide range of jobs. Relevant factors
include qualifications held by the workforce in that occupation,
average earnings, on-the-job training and required innate ability.
11. Once it is accepted that an occupation is
skilled, the MAC's next task is to decide whether or not that
occupation is in shortage. Once again, a framework of indicators
has been developed to help the MAC to do this. Relevant indicators
include evidence from employer surveys, earnings growth, vacancy
rates, vacancy to unemployment ratios.
12. If it is accepted that an occupation
is skilled and in shortage, then the MAC must then decide whether
it is sensible to fill these shortages by bringing in workers
from outside of the European Economic Area. Once again, a range
of indicators have been developed to help with this. Relevant
factors include efforts made by employers to use alternatives
to migrant labour, impacts on the upskilling of the UK-born workforce,
and broader labour market and fiscal considerations (although
these latter factors are difficult to assess at the detailed occupational
level beyond the extent to which they are already reflected in
the requirements for general Tier 2 of the Points Based System).
13. The MAC has adopted a combination of
"top-down" and "bottom-up" methodologies to
identify shortage occupations. A top-down approach uses national
level data to identify which occupational groups exhibit potential
symptoms of skill shortage. This is then enriched with bottom-up
data from relevant sectors and occupations, providing more fine-grained
and better contextualised data and information than from national
sources alone.
EVIDENCE GATHERING
14. The data sources available to the MAC
for the top-down evidence are mainly surveys conducted at national
level. National data sources relevant to the labour market analysis
include the Labour Force Survey (LFS), the Annual Survey of Hours
and Earnings (ASHE), Jobcentre Plus vacancy data, the National
Employers Skills Survey (NESS), and survey data for Scotland,
Wales and Northern Ireland.
15. In addition, the MAC has a budget it can
use to commission independent research to inform its work. So
far, the MAC has commissioned the following projects, which it
will publish on its website alongside its report in August:
— an overview of theoretical and practical
issues in the conceptualization and measurement of labour shortages,
skills shortages and skills gaps;
— a review of what information the
NESS can provide on detailed skill deficiencies;
— a conceptual and empirical review
of the micro-level nature and determinants of employer demand
for migrant labour and the alternatives to migration for responding
to labour shortages in key sectors of the UK economy.
STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT
16. The MAC has set about gathering the
bottom-up evidence by extensive open and transparent engagement
with stakeholders. The MAC developed a number of strategies to
ensure that it is effective in accessing bottom-up evidence. These
are discussed below.
17. The MAC issued a call for evidence on 29
February 2008, placing this prominently on the MAC's website and
sending it directly to a wide variety of stakeholders. The call
lasted some 8 weeks and the MAC received around 80 responses,
mostly offering comments on the MAC's approach and methodology
and/or nominating occupations for inclusion on the shortage occupation
lists. These responses will feed into the MAC's report in August.
I also sent the report to every Member of Parliament.
18. The MAC has undertaken a series of visits
throughout the UK to meet with employers and other stakeholders
directly. In addition to visiting Scotland, Wales and Northern
Ireland, the MAC has also visited each of the English regions.
19. To make the visits as targeted and informative
as possible the MAC sought and took recommendations from the Regional
Development Agencies, the Government Offices for the Regions and
the Border Agency Regional Directors as to suitable employers
and other stakeholders for the MAC to visit.
20. The MAC has also liased throughout the
year with the various Sector Skills Councils (SSCs), employer-driven
organisations that, together, articulate the voice of 89% of the
UK's employers on skills issues. The Chair met early on with the
Sector Skills Development Agency, has set up a meeting with the
UK Commission for Employment and Skills, and has met with Lantra,
who have coordination responsibility for migration amongst the
SSCs, to discuss joint working.
21. The MAC has also taken evidence from
the Sector Advisory Panels which were set up by the UK Border
Agency to provide stakeholder input into the shortage occupation
list. These Panels included representatives from the Sector Skills
Councils, trade unions, professional bodies and employers. They
cover the following key sectors: Healthcare, Education, Information
Communication Technology and Electronics, Engineering, and Hospitality.
22. According to the terms under which it
was set up, the MAC is required to establish a formal Stakeholder
Panel, comprising of national level representatives from relevant
sectors of the economy. The MAC has established this Panel and
its members are representatives from:
— the Confederation of British Industry;
— the Trades Union Congress;
— the British Chambers of Commerce;
and
— the National Health Service.
23. The Panel held its first meeting on
2 May 2008 and discussed the MAC's methodology and overall approach
to the work. Members were supportive of what they heard and offered
help with gathering the "bottom-up" evidence.
24. In order to take the views of a broader,
more representative group and in order to share the MAC's thoughts
with them, the MAC has also established a Stakeholder Forum. The
first meeting of the Forum was on 9 May 2008. Over 90 organisations
were invited and approximately 50 delegates attended. The MAC
presented its methodology to the Forum and followed this with
a wider discussion.
25. In addition to more organised stakeholder
events, the MAC has attended face-to-face meetings with a wide
range of stakeholders, including small and large employers, consultants,
financial institutions, government departments and representatives
from the ethnic catering industry. A full list of organisations
the MAC has met will be included in the August report.
July 2008
Appendix 1
MEMBERS OF THE MIGRATION ADVISORY COMMITTEE
APPOINTED MEMBERSProfessor
David Metcalf CBE (Chair) Dr Diane Coyle
Dr. Martin Ruhs
Professor Jonathan Wadsworth
Professor Robert Wilson
EX OFFICIO
MEMBERSProfessor Mike Campbell
OBE (UK Commission for Employment and Skills)
Jonathan Sedgwick (UK Border Agency)
Appendix 2
MIGRATION ADVISORY COMMITTEE—TERMS
OF REFERENCE
The Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) is a
non-statutory non-time limited Non-Departmental Public Body established
from April 2007.
TERMS OF
REFERENCE
The MAC will provide independent and evidence-based
advice to Government on specific sectors and occupations in the
labour market where shortages exist which can sensibly be filled
by migration.
The Government may, from time to time, ask the MAC
to advise on other matters relating to migration.
WORK-PLAN
AND METHOD
OF REPORTING
The Government will agree with the MAC an annual
work-plan. The work-plan will set out what the MAC will deliver
and by when.
Reports will be submitted by the MAC to Government
and should be published on the MAC's web-site and elsewhere as
appropriate.
MAC MEETINGS
The Committee will meet quarterly and more frequently
as required.
CONSULTATION
The MAC will consult employers, trade unions
and other stakeholders as it sees fit. It will in the future also
work closely with the new Commission for Employment and Skills.
RESEARCH
The MAC will commission research as it sees
fit, within a set budget.
Appendix 3
MIGRATION ADVISORY COMMITTEE—WORK-PLAN
2007-09
Year | Activity
| To be completed by |
2007-08 | Report on what data on labour market shortages exists, relevant to the role of the MAC.
| January 08 |
| Report on where there are gaps in the current data required by the MAC in relation to labour market shortages, how those data gaps should be filled, and how the MAC proposes to report on shortage occupations in the meantime.
| February 08 |
| 2008-09 | Produce shortage occupation lists for UK and Scotland only (Tier 2 skilled employment). These lists comprise occupations where, in the MAC's view, there are shortages which can sensibly be filled by enabling employers to recruit migrants. Occupations must be clearly specified so as to be easily understood by employers, prospective migrants and those operating the immigration system.
| August 08 |
| Review, if required, the Government's assessment of the demand for and desirability of low-skilled schemes for Romanians and Bulgarians to work in construction, social care and hospitality.
| September 08 |
| |
|
| 
