Will the Cabinet Minister confirm whether the Welsh Government holds a Home Office sponsor licence, and if so, set out which grades and professions it has used that licence to recruit to since 2021?
The Welsh Government has held a Skilled Worker sponsor licence since December 2021. The default position, however, is that successful candidates must already have the right to live and work in the UK without sponsorship from the Welsh Government. Sponsorship is considered only in limited circumstances, usually for specialist roles at SEO level and above where the required skills are not readily available within the settled workforce.
Since 2021, the Welsh Government has used its sponsor licence for two specialist digital appointments, one at SEO grade and one at HEO grade. The HEO appointment was sponsored before the current sponsorship principles were introduced. Under those principles, sponsorship is ordinarily considered only for specialist roles at SEO level and above.