Written question asked by Lord Spellar (Labour) on Tuesday, 20 December 2005, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 9 January 2006. It was answered by Tony McNulty (Labour) on Monday, 16 January 2006 on behalf of the Home Office.

Work Permits

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what steps his Department is taking to prevent abuse of the work permits scheme.

Answer: Work Permits (UK) caseworkers carry out a risk assessment when the application is submitted. They can request further checks of an employer before a work permit is issued. Further checks, either random or intelligence-driven, can follow the issue of the work permit. These checks can result in revocation of permits, refusal of existing permit applications by the employers in question and the curtailment of leave of those who have permits with the company. Where they believe that a work permit is forged or has been obtained using deception, Immigration Officers and Entry Clearance Officers can refuse entry.On 27 April 2004, the Prime Minister announced a top-to-bottom review of managed migration routes, to assess the extent to which they were open to abuse or otherwise open to improvement. This has included an ongoing review of the work permit arrangements.The Government have recently undertaken a consultation exercise on proposals to replace existing migration routes for work and study, including the work permit system, with a new points-based system. One of the objectives in introducing the new system is to ensure that it is robust against abuse. The Government's response to the consultation document will be published in due course.

Secondary information