After a campaign led by CaSE
we welcomed the recent announcement by the Home Secretary to exempt doctors and nurses from the Tier 2 visa cap. The exemption will free up places within the cap for other vital roles, ending the thousands of visa refusals for engineers, teachers, tech and IT specialists.
CaSE has been campaigning on this issue for three years.
La
st
month we
published a Freedom of Information response we received from the Home Office detailing the number of Tier 2 visa refusals due to the annual cap over the last four months.
The publication received widespread support from across the political parties and those sectors affected by the cap, as well as substantive
media coverage, all combining to put pressure on the Government to change their policy. CaSE Executive
Director Dr Sarah Main had a lead comment piece published in City AM, as well giving
evidence to the Commons Science and Technology Committee on
new proposals for immigration (read our written submission here), and the Commons Exiting the European Union Committee on science and research.
But there is more work to be done. CaSE has welcomed the Government's decision to review its Shortage Occupation List and we have
reiterated our call
to exempt roles on this list and PhD level roles from the Tier 2 visa cap.
These recommendations are taken from CaSE's
recent immigration report
, which calls on the government to rebuild confidence in the short term and create a streamlined system in the long term that supports research and innovation.
These also form part of CaSE's
new Brexit report
, published t
o mark the year anniversary of the triggering of article 50, which sets out
policy asks from the science and engineering sector on people, funding and regulation.
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CaSE has responded to the European Commission's proposal for Horizon Europe, the research and innovation programme that will succeed Horizon 2020.
This follows last months response to the Framework for the UK-EU Partnership on science, research and innovation, published by the UK Government.
CaSE recently contributed to a Commons Science and Technology Committee workshop putting forward proposals for a new immigration system that works for science and research.
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Government department spend on science, engineering and technology
CaSE Policy Officer James Tooze takes a look at the recent ONS publication of how government departments spend money on science, engineering and technology (SET).
These figures allow us to
provide an insight into where and how public money is being invested across government, and will form part of our wider work in holding Government to account on its R&D spending to ensure it is spending it well.
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On Monday CaSE was delighted to attend the launch of Evidence Week in Parliament. Organised by Sense About Science, Evidence Week brings together MPs, peers, parliamentary services and people from all walks of life across the UK to talk about why evidence matters.
CaSE wants to see an increasingly evidence-informed approach to policy making in the UK so that expertise, evidence and knowledge can be used towards making policies smarter and, ultimately, lives better.
Last year we published a report,
Improving the use of evidence in UK government policymaking
, making key recommendations under three themes: architecture; supply and demand; and evaluation and accountability.
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Research funding for Scottish universities
CaSE has welcomed the uplift in funding research for Scottish universities announced this week.
The Scottish Government announced an £11.6m increase in research and innovation funding to be delivered by the Scottish Funding Council (SFC).
For further analysis on this funding allocation
see here
.
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Over the last few weeks CaSE has met with Parliamentarians including
Daniel Zeichner MP and Chi Onwurah MP,
as
well as the Chief Scientific Advisor for the Department of International Trade and the Chief Scientific Advisor for Wales. CaSE attended an Industry Forum event with Damian Collins MP and a Leading Women in Tech event with Lizz Truss MP.
CaSE has engaged with a wide range of organisational members, including the Royal Society of Chemistry, Zoological Society of London, University of Essex, BioIndustry Association, University of Bristol, Association of Medical Research Charities, Kingston University, and Oxford University.
CaSE has also met with the Royal Society, Research England, UKRI, National Audit Office, UCB, Elsevier, and the United States Embassy.
Our staff have attended and contributed to a number of events including the Confederation of Indian Industry, Huawei academic salon, British Science Association, British Academy, Digital Science, BASF, Sense About Science, Royal Society of Biology, STEM Disability Advisory Committee, Science and Innovation Conference, and the APPG for Medical Research.
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Dr Tony Strike, University Secretary and Director of Strategy and Governance at the University of Sheffield, discusses the importance of recognising the value of equivalent qualifications to A levels for entry to selective university programmes.
Yasmin Ali, a chartered engineer and member of the Women's Engineering Society (WES) Young Members' Board, on the need to champion diversity in engineering and the importance of this year's International Women in Engineering Day on 23rd June.
Fiona Fox, Chief Executive, and Fiona Lethbridge, Senior Press Officer at the Science Media Centre, on a new system
which could help the research community communicate their findings in an accurate and measured way.
Our Guest Blog series brings together topical comment and views from members and collaborators across the science and engineering sector. If you would like to write an article for our blog, please get in touch.
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House of Commons Home Affairs committee
Closing date: 2 July 2018
Commons Treasury Committee
Closing date: ongoing open consultation
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