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Managed Migration

There are two separate issues. The point about the skills advisory board, which we welcome as one of the good things about the system, is not to overload it. It is perfectly possible, if it tries to be too prescriptive, that it will be overloaded in an attempt to micro-manage the economy. That is a much bigger problem. Another big area of concern is the policing of the system. Both universities and businesses seem to be responsible not just for their current students or employees, but for those who have left. We should be clear that universities and businesses do have responsibilities when they bring people into this country, but it is important that what they are being asked to do is practical. Many of them, especially small businesses, will not have the capacity to act as a police force for their ex-employees, and if the Government expect them to do so, another element of potential chaos will be introduced in the system. In addition, how is the public sector to be policed? With the NHS being the biggest importer of migrant labour, who will be responsible for the inevitable offences? Will it be individual NHS trusts? If they are culpable, how will they be punished? There will be something perverse about a trust in deficit, as many of them are, perhaps laying off medical staff, as many of them are, having to pay a fine to another part of government because some of its trainee nurses have gone walkabout halfway through their scheme.