Budget: Rules to be relaxed to attract overseas IT skills

From the FT budget report.

The government is relaxing its restrictions on work permits to attract high-flyers with key skills into Britain to tackle the growing skills shortage in sectors such as information technology.

Gordon Brown said he was determined to ensure the country led in e-commerce and the internet and could compete for scarce labour in the global economy.

The move comes as the government is tightening rules to cut the numbers of refugees and asylum seekers. But ministers believe foreign talent is necessary if the new economy is to grow, and it will require providing a "fast track" to attract the best experts.

The scheme will be run by the Department of Education and Employment, not the Home Office. Among proposed changes are the extension of work permits from four to five years, the introduction of e-mail and a web site for the 'people with outstanding ability' to find out about vacancies.

The government is also going to encourage foreign students on skills courses to move into employment without having to leave the country and then return to fill the job vacancies.

Ministers want to expand the number of "work permit-free sectors" through a rolling programme that responds more rapidly to the changing needs of the labour market in the new economy.

These changes are due to concern voiced by IT companies at the growing lack of people with the right skills to fill their vacancies. At present the number of high flyers coming into the UK to such jobs is rising by 10 per cent a year to about 80,000.

Ministers were last night unable to say how big an increase they wanted to see nor when the rules would be published, but there is to be no quota system.

But the government is aware that Germany and Sweden are relaxing their work permit regulations to attract IT experts globally. 'If we are going to enhance our economic prosperity, we will need to use all the talents available everywhere to meet our needs,' a minister said.