New skilled migrant rules welcome - CBI

Commenting on the announcement on Tuesday of new rules for UK firms bringing in skilled workers from outside the EU, Susan Anderson the CBI's Director of HR policy said:

Migrants play an important role in helping UK firms fill skilled jobs where they would otherwise struggle to find staff. The work permit system must be flexible enough to respond to the changing needs of firms and today's rules should help deliver this.

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In the longer term, the UK's competitiveness depends on its home-grown talent. Firms already play their part in this, investing 33 billion a year in training their staff, but ensuring our young people leave education with the skills and attitudes they need to succeed in work is also vital.

Welcoming the government's decision to take a pragmatic approach to workers' English language skills, Susan Anderson said:

Firms often need to draw on the technical skills of migrants, and an unduly onerous English test would have presented too high a hurdle in some cases. The proposals in today's announcement represent a sensible compromise between the need for English to aid integration and ensuring that the English test is relevant to the job that is being done.