Advice on migrant worker limits

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The Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) has drawn up a list of occupations where there is a shortage of workers which it feels could sensibly be filled by migration.

Only skilled workers from outside the EU should be offered jobs in the UK, the committee will advise.

Maths and science teachers will qualify, but teachers of other subjects will face restrictions. It was also reported that ship and hovercraft workers and racehorse trainers are on the shortage list.

Professor David Metcalf, the MAC chairman, said the list was aimed at improving the overall skill level of the British workforce. "In order for the employer to hire somebody from outside Europe, they have got to meet three hurdles," he told the BBC Radio 4 Today Programme.

"First of all, the job has got to be skilled, secondly it's got to be in shortage and third it's got to be sensible to bring the person in. There we are looking at the tension between the short-run fix of bringing immigrants in and the long-run need to upskill the economy.

"The changes that are coming in - the points-based system of which MAC is just a part will cause the labour market to be that much more skilled than perhaps it previously was."

A spokeswoman for the Home Office said MAC's role was advisory, and it was for the government to decide whether, and to what extent, to implement its recommendations. Immigrants from outside the EU would also be required to speak English to work in the UK, she added.

Midwives are also not on the list, while workers in care homes must be earning at least £8.80 an hour to qualify.

On Sunday a coalition of MPs and peers from all parties called for significant cuts in immigration. The Cross-Party Group on Balanced Migration called for a policy of balanced migration, under which immigration levels are capped in line with the number of emigrants to maintain a stable UK population over time.