Speeches by Dixon.

“Are there timescales for the administrative review process to conclude?”

“As constituency MPs, we get quite a lot of casework through, including relating to visa applications. I just want to share briefly one case, that I think illustrates the challenge of not having any targets for your non-straightforward cases. A care assistant from Zimbabwe arrived in April 2023 under a skilled worker vi…”

“The sponsors’ requirement extends to where there has been an agency in the country abroad that effectively makes the introduction and charges a fee there.”

“I have examples currently of people overseas still having agencies advertised to them, and distinguishing between those that are exploiting and those that are fair is really difficult. Those people will ultimately be coming through your skilled worker visa route and may find themselves here already destitute, because t…”

“The NAO Report, in paragraph 3.25, highlights evidence of people being charged significant fees in their home countries, which I mentioned briefly. Given the criticism here that there was potentially limited engagement with the FCDO and overseas partners, we have touched a lot on what is going on in the UK, but could y…”

“Yes, particularly about what happens overseas. Both Clive and I have concerns about that.”

“I am conscious that we need to pause in a moment for the two-minute silence, but I will ask a brief question and for a brief answer. Given all of that, was it a mistake to use the skilled worker visa for the care sector?”

“In a sense, it is an example of the failure of Government Departments to join up, because, in a way, the solution is for the Department of Health and Social Care and local authorities to be providing contracts with guaranteed hours. It sounds like the two are incompatible.”

“I was going to come to the fact that, again, all of this just seems like it is closing the stable door after the horse has bolted. We have brought in all these people, and we are now suddenly doing lots of things to close down bogus sponsors. It would have been a basic thing to have made sure that these were legit care…”

“I want to come back to some of the evidence that we have received. Unison surveyed 3,000 people who had come to the care sector. It was saying that one in seven had paid money to an employer, and one in 11 to a recruiter or agency, before coming here. We will get on to this shortly. In terms of the conditions that thos…”

“My understanding, just to clarify, was that if they lost employment with the sponsor, they were then, effectively, no longer here legally. Often, if the accommodation is tied, they find themselves basically destitute. Until this matching process works and another sponsoring organisation takes them on, there is a period…”

“To illustrate this briefly, most of the shortage in care is in rural areas and in domiciliary care, yet that was not where most of the people were being brought to. There was a complete mismatch, both regionally and in the type of workers. Now that these revocations have happened, that means that the people who are lef…”

“I apologise for not getting here earlier; I have been listening to carers who have been sharing their stories. I spoke to a woman who is caring for her husband, who has a neurodegenerative disease and currently scores only two points across the board. Their family would be penalised under the tightening restrictions. D…”

“Will the Minister give way?”

“The Lansley reforms were implemented top down by the Conservatives. The idea that the NHS could ever be truly independent, when it is there to serve us—the taxpayer and the general public! Does the Secretary of State agree that it is absolutely the right decision to move funding away from the centre to the frontline to…”

“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mr Efford. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Derby South (Baggy Shanker), the hon. Member for Newton Abbot (Martin Wrigley) and other colleagues for securing this important debate, and I thank all Members who have made contributions illustrating something that is a sc…”

“I recently visited an early years provider. One of the other things is, are we getting the same level of data as we might expect through schools? But obviously as we move towards more publicly funded childcare hours and also school-based nurseries, whether we can bring in more data on early years settings as well. Is t…”

“Are there other sources of data or information that you think we should be gathering to be in that more anticipatory approach?”

“I want to go back a little to the SEND and joint commissioning. I think we are all in agreement that there is some strengthening needed around the engagement of health and perhaps social care in joint commissioning arrangements. Some of the evidence the Committee has received from the Council of Disabled Children talks…”

“In the Public Accounts Committee report we said there was this risk of a lost generation because so many children are not getting their needs met at the earliest opportunity. We have had evidence from an organisation Contact, they are suggesting perhaps a joint legal duty across health, social care and education. We he…”