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WRITTEN QUESTION TO THE CHIEF MINISTER
BY DEPUTY G.P. SOUTHERN OF ST. HELIER ANSWER TO BE TABLED ON TUESDAY 18th FEBRUARY 2014
Question
Will the Chief Minister give details of the anomalies' (referred to by the Assistant Minister in his presentation of the Interim Population policy) in the declarations made by employers under the new Control of Housing and Work manpower returns when compared with the previous system?
Will he expand on the graph on pages 22- 28 of the IPP report to show the changes in licensed staff and total staff employed under licences over the period shown?
How will the general principle of granting permission for licensed and registered staff in support of activities which have high economic value (pages 20 – 26) be used to control migration when the finance sector recovers and seeks to significantly expand using highly skilled and expert migrant staff in the light of the trend revealed by the table "Profile of migration 2010 -2012" (pages 17 - 22) which indicates large numbers of "registered" migrant workers being replaced by "licensed" workers over the period?
Does the Chief Minister accept that by 2016 under his interim "policy of stability" the population of those in private households will have grown by 2,400 to stand at 99,500 and the total population will have exceeded the previous limit of 100,000?
Answer
The new manpower returns system requires employers to report the residential status of every employee. During the presentation on the Interim Population Policy, the Assistant Chief Minister referred to the Population Office's ability to verify this information after it has been reported by employers.
This is one of the ways in which the new Control of Housing and Work Law can support local employment, economic growth, and migration control.
The following table shows J-category employees (now called licenced employees) by year:
| 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 |
J-category employees (now called licenced employees) | 1,150 | 1,120 | 1,140 | 1,180 |
Total non-locally qualified employees (now called registered employees) | 6,400 | 6,120 | 5,540 | 4,910 |
Total J-category and registered employees | 7,550 | 7,240 | 6,680 | 6,090 |
The task of limiting migration as the economy improves will be a challenge across all sectors, as we aim to limit immigration while also securing economic growth.
"Preparing for Our Future" provides a framework to develop long term solutions. In the meantime, the Interim Population Policy proposes to:
- Maintain the planning assumption of +325 migrants per year from 2014-2015
- Support migration that adds the greatest economic and social value, and where local talent is not available. In particular:
- Support initiatives to encourage employment and improvements in skills for Islanders
- Increase the employment of "entitled" and "entitled to work" staff
The Interim Population Policy covers the years 2014 and 2015. Our population had reached 99,000 by the end of 2012. It is likely that we are now close to 100,000, and even without inward migration will potentially be slightly above this by the end of the life of the Interim Population Policy. It will be up to the next Council of Ministers to set a longer term policy for population as part of its long term planning.