Speeches by Dixon.

“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…”

“I would like to draw on some further evidence that we have received and to home in on a couple of aspects relating to care that you have brought in to effectively address the historical problem, the first being the hubs. These are for people who have found themselves here, who have come in under the work visa, only to …”

“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 want to come specifically to the care labour market, because there are particular characteristics, as you are saying, of the care labour market, not least that these are quite low-paid workers. I do not like to say “low skilled” because they are doing important and skilled work. It was very easy for organisations to …”

“We are going to come on to what was done and whether it was done in a timely enough way to protect very vulnerable workers coming into this country with good intentions and for good reason. There are nearly 2 million—I think it is 1.8 million—workers in the care sector doing an amazing job every day looking after older…”

“Very significant changes were made to the route, in particular—I am sure we will spend quite a bit of today’s session on this—the inclusion of care workers in 2022 and then further changes to eligibility requirements in spring 2024. I want to understand what work was done to assess the impacts ahead of implementation a…”

“Good morning. I should briefly declare that I know Mr Ridley from a leadership programme some years ago. It is very good to see you. I would like to clarify with Mr Hobbs, if I may, when the evaluation that you just mentioned was actually commissioned.”

“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…”

“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…”

“I think we will be coming back to some points there but thank you.”

“I am guesting from the Public Accounts Committee and thank you for your contributions so far. Obviously since the Children and Families Act in 2014 we have over a decade now of attempts for joint working. I think back in 2015 there was a SEND code of practice and it described that partners must agree on how they will c…”