Ms Fiona Ward:

Our experience is that it has been extremely inflexible. It has been difficult for employers to navigate the system because of the prescription in primary legislation. The intention is not to in any way reduce the requirement to undertake a labour market needs test or to ensure the labour market is not fully tested within the domestic and EEA labour market before recruitment of a non-EEA national. That is not the intention at all. We want to make sure it is anchored in primary legislation but that flexibilities are given to allow for a differentiated approach depending on the occupation regulation. That is the thinking behind it.