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Speaking in an interview with Shout99, DTI's Minister Stephen Timms, said: "If there is an India company in the UK, which quite a lot of Indian IT companies now are, it is important that where they have a requirement for someone who has experience of that particular company, it should be possible for that person to come in to work for that company in the UK. We shouldn't be putting up unnecessary barriers to prevent that because if we were to try to do so, we would be moving in a protectionist direction which, in the end, is in no-one's interests."
DTI Minister, Stephen Timms at an interview with Shout99 | Last year, Mr Timms visited Bangalore in India and saw for himself the capabilities and ambitions of the Indian software industry.
He said: "When I was in Bangalore, I saw a number of very impressive Indian IT companies, one had a presence in the UK and also a large campus in Bangalore. However, 70 per cent of their turnover came from the US, with about 20 per cent coming from Europe, of which the UK was only a small part.
"Has that led to an enfeebled US software industry? No, the reverse is true. What the US has been able to do is to take advantage of commercial partnerships like that with very skilled IT specialists in India and elsewhere in the world to build a very strong software industry. A recent benchmarking study has shown that the US is the best environment in world for e-commerce. That's what we need to do. We need to take advantage of our strong trading links with companies around the world, to take advantage of the skills that are available."
Intra Company Transfers
The transfer of workers from countries outside the EU to the UK has been the subject of some controversy in the past year as some groups felt it was open to abuse or misuse. The 'Work Permits' or 'Fast Track Visa' (FTV) is overseen by a section of the Home Office, Work Permits UK, and is intended to meet specific skills shortages or direct company requirements without having to pass the usual immigration requirements.
The main part of the scheme is the so-called 'Tier One' includes 'Intra Company Transfers' (ICTs), which was the section Stephen Timms was commenting on.
ICTs apply to employees of multinational companies who are transferring to a skilled post in this country. The criteria is that the post must need an established employee who has essential company knowledge and experience. The transferring employee should have at least six months experience working for the overseas company. To qualify as an ICT, the UK company must have a direct link with the overseas company by common ownership (one company owns the other, or both must be part of a group of companies controlled by the same parent or holding company).
A recent attempt by UK agencies, led by agency-representative body ATSCo, to bring workers in directly was rejected by the Government.
Skill shortages
Another part of the Tier One system is the skill shortage list, where an official panel of experts recommends which skills are in short supply and therefore can by-pass the normal immigration requirements. There was a number of IT skills on the list until August 2002, when they were removed following evidence that the list was out-of-date and there was no IT skills shortage in the UK market.
Mr Timms said: "The Home Office Fast Track scheme is about encouraging or making it easier for people to come to the country where there are clear skill shortages. The view that the Home Office has reached, and I think people in the contracting industry have welcomed this, is that at the moment, there is not an overall IT skill shortage in the UK and therefore it isn't appropriate to have the Fast Track special scheme applying to this sector."
Tier One also covers senior board-level or similar posts where the person must have a personal daily input into directing the company at a strategic level and should have substantial senior board level experience; and new posts that are essential to an inward investment project.
Tier Two
Tier Two has also proved controversial as it covers specific positions which have been unable to be filled in the UK and therefore the employer has cast his net wider. Work Permits lays down detailed criteria which must be met to apply for a visa under this section, including evidence of the employment history of the applicant; details of the availability of suitably qualified 'resident workers'; evidence of the recruitment search and details of responses to all methods of recruitment.
Trading nation
Mr Timms recognised the importance of the UK's tradition as a trading nation and felt that this would be an advantage to the domestic market.
He said: "It is important that we are not protectionist in the UK, we are a trading nation. We are trading very successfully and I think it would be a big mistake for us to get very defensive about our industry and say we need to shore it up against outsiders. If we try and do that we'll just smother it and break the trading links and that it will be a very damaging step and it's certainly not something the Government is going to do.
"In the UK we want a very high value-added level of skills and I am confident on that basis that we can continue to enjoy a very prosperous and successful UK software industry - and one that is very successful in the world market."
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Susie Hughes, © Shout99.com 2003
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