David Metcalf, the government’s adviser on migration policy, has suggested that a ban on non-EU unskilled workers may be lifted if preparations for the 2012 Olympics fall behind schedule.
Metcalf, head of the new Migration Advisory Council (MAC), told a Lords economic committee that UK firms might not be able to train enough local workers in time for 2012, leading to labour shortages, and therefore a rethink of the current ban on non-EU unskilled workers was needed.
The MAC is compiling a list of official shortage occupations, which UK firms will be able to advertise outside the EU, as part of the government’s new points-based migration system.
Metcalf said: “The worry I think one has about this is the inevitable tension between the short run and the long run.
“If you talk about the Olympics having to be on-stream by 2012 and therefore the facilities having to be built by 2011, a modern apprenticeship is three years.”
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“It isn’t automatic you are going to get the skilled labour coming on stream in time to build the facilities,” he said.
He added that from a personal viewpoint, UK firms should be made to invest in training as a condition of gaining contracts, according to a report by the BBC.
