Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) annual governance report, 2024 (accessible)
Published 17 December 2024
© Crown copyright 2024
This publication is licensed under the terms of the Open Government Licence v3.0 except where otherwise stated. To view this licence, visit nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3 or write to the Information Policy Team, The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: [email protected].
Where we have identified any third party copyright information you will need to obtain permission from the copyright holders concerned.
This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/migration-advisory-committee-annual-report-2024/migration-advisory-committee-mac-annual-governance-report-2024-accessible
December 2024
Foreword
The Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) is a non-statutory, non-time limited, advisory non-departmental public body (NDPB) funded by the Home Office. Established in 2007, the Committee is currently made up of 5 members, including a Chair.
This governance report sits alongside and separate to the more analytically focused Annual Report. This is the fifth Annual Report published as part of our wider remit which was established in the 2018 Immigration White Paper and is laid out in the current framework document.
The framework document lays out our terms of reference, governance arrangements, as well as the responsibilities of our Chair, Committee members and the Secretariat. Finally, it details our working arrangements and how we conduct our business. This document is due for renewal and this process is underway between the MAC Secretariat and Home Office officials.
To support transparency, we are required to produce an annual declaration of financial accounts, and these form an integral part of this governance report. A summary list of the stakeholder engagements that Committee members have attended this year is provided, as is a record of all our commissioned work and research papers published in 2024.
The Migration Advisory Committee
Chair
Professor Brian Bell
Brian Bell is a Professor of Economics at King’s Business School, a faculty of King’s College London (KCL). He joined KCL in 2017, following 4 years as an Associate Professor in the Department of Economics at Oxford University and a Tutorial Fellow at Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford. He is a Research Associate at the Centre for Economic Performance at the London School of Economics and a Trustee of the Nuffield Foundation. Professor Bell is a leading labour economist who is widely published, and his work on immigration has included papers examining the progress of immigrants in the labour market in the UK, and the impact of immigration on crime in the UK. He has also worked extensively outside academia, including at the Bank of England, the International Monetary Fund, and in a number of financial companies in the UK.
Professor Bell has previously served as a member of the Police and National Crime Agency Remuneration Review Bodies.
- Appointed February 2018 to February 2021
- Appointed Chair July 2020 to June 2023 (extended to September 2023)
- Reappointed Chair September 2023 to August 2026
Members
Professor Dina Kiwan
A Professor of Comparative Education at the University of Birmingham, Professor Kiwan has an interdisciplinary background in psychology, sociology, and education. Her broad research programme focuses on citizenship, inclusion and is interdisciplinary and comparative in scope. Her interests centre around sociological and politico-philosophical examinations of inclusive citizenship through the lens of education policy, naturalisation policy and migration policy, in particular in the context of pluralist/multicultural societies, and also societies in conflict.
Professor Kiwan has extensive and long-standing experience and networks in the UK and internationally, in the field of citizenship and currently leads the GCRF Network Plus Disability Under Siege programme (2020-2024) working with partners in Jordan, Lebanon and Palestine to address the challenge that most children with disabilities never go to school. Her policy and consulting experience includes co-authoring the UNESCO curriculum framework for global citizenship education (2015), co-authoring the Diversity and Citizenship review for UK Government’s Department of Education (2007), and appointment by the Home Secretary to the Home Office ‘Life in the UK’ Advisory Group (2002).
- Appointed May 2021 to April 2024
- Reappointed May 2024 to April 2027
Professor Sergi Pardos-Prado
Sergi Pardos-Prado is Professor of Comparative Politics and Research Director of the Politics and International Relations department at the University of Glasgow. He was previously Associate Professor in Politics at Merton College, University of Oxford, and Postdoctoral Prize Research Fellow at Nuffield College Oxford. He received his PhD in Political and Social Sciences from the European University Institute in Florence.
Professor Pardos-Prado’s research expertise lies at the intersection between comparative politics, comparative political economy, and political behaviour. His work focuses on how labour market structures, welfare state designs, and immigration policy regimes affect migrant integration and inter-ethnic conflict. Professor Pardos-Prado’s research has been published in leading political science journals and gained external funding from prestigious funders.
- Appointed May 2021 to April 2024
- Reappointed May 2024 to April 2027
Dr Madeleine Sumption MBE
Madeleine Sumption is the Director of the Migration Observatory at the University of Oxford, which provides impartial analysis of migration in the UK for public and policy audiences. Her research focuses on labour migration and the economic and social impacts of migration policies.
Before joining Oxford, Madeleine was Director of Research for the international program at the Migration Policy Institute (MPI), in Washington, DC. She is currently chair of the Migration Statistics User Forum, which brings together producers and users of migration data in the UK. In 2017, she received an MBE for services to social science.
- Appointed July 2016 to July 2019
- Reappointed July 2019 to July 2022
- Reappointed July 2022 to July 2025
Professor Jo Swaffield
A Professor of Economics and Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences at the University of Southampton, Professor Swaffield is an applied micro labour economist with strong research expertise in the UK labour market and a track record of providing quality research evidence to government. Her main research fields are in labour economics and applied micro-econometrics, focusing on issues such as the gender wage gap, low wages including minimum wages and the living wage, and employment, particularly in terms of working hours.
Professor Swaffield’s research has been published in leading economics journals and gained external funding from prestigious funders. She has delivered a number of commissioned research reports that have formed part of the evidence base for the Low Pay Commission’s recommendations on the UK’s National Minimum Wage.
- Appointed February 2018 to February 2021
- Reappointed February 2021 to February 2024 (extended to April 2024)
- Reappointed May 2024 to April 2027
Register of interests for Committee members.
Financial reporting
This is our financial statement for the period 1 April 2023 to 31 March 2024. The allocated budget by the Home Office was £1,350,000 and is managed by our Head of Secretariat.
Table 1: Budget and expenditure
| Financial year 23/24: Budget (£) | Financial year 23/24: Expenditure (£) | Financial year 22/23: Budget (£) | Financial year 22/23: Expenditure (£) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Secretariat salaries | 1,336,850 | 1,202,329 | ||
| Chair salary | 40,000 | 40,000 | ||
| Committee member fees | 23,650 | 23,581 | ||
| Travel and subsistence | 12,909 | 7,575 | ||
| Training & Development | 6,548 | 15,870 | ||
| Other Office Costs | 10,877 | 11,433 | ||
| Total | 1,350,000 | 1,430,834 | 1,180,000 | 1,300,788 |
Source: Home Office financial system.
Note: Budget breakdown is not available. Total budget was delegated as a single amount. The total number of staff includes 7 placements of various grades funded by separate central Home Office budget and are not included in the salaries in Table 1.
The expenditure for Financial Year (FY) 23-24, excluding research, which is set apart (see section below), was £1,430,834. The overspend of £80,834 can be attributed to 2 additional secretariat positions to support an increased workload with rapid reviews and an increase in travel and subsistence costs associated with an overseas research field trip.
The costs accounted for are:
-
The Chair’s salary, who is paid £40,000 per year (for 2 days work per week on MAC business);
-
Committee members fees (a rate of £275 per day), with members normally working 2 days per month on MAC business. Members are expected to attend at least 80% of the full meetings held by the MAC each year, with these typically being held once a month;
-
Salaries of the MAC Secretariat (a team of 27 civil servants);
-
Administrative costs came from specialist staff training and facilities for office space; and,
-
Additional travel expenses were incurred due to a field trip to Kyrgyzstan to conduct research as part of the MAC’s review of the Seasonal Worker Scheme.
The new government has stated its intention to strengthen the MAC by expanding its Secretariat and Committee capacity to support increased outputs and a new remit in linking skills and migration policy. To support these functions, expenditure on Committee and Secretariat is expected to increase in FY 24-25.
Research and publications
During this reporting period, we commissioned 2 external research projects[footnote 1], using the standard Home Office procurement process to ensure it delivers value for money.
Research costs were as follows:
-
£59,700 (excluding VAT) was used for a qualitative study on the review of the Seasonal Worker visa; and,
-
£24,475 (excluding VAT) was used for a qualitative study on the review of the Graduate Route[footnote 2].
Both studies were carried out by Revealing Reality. The published reports can be found via the links in the ‘MAC publications’ section of this report.
In addition, approximately £28,000 was utilised procuring licences for access to labour market data for use in the review of the Immigration Salary List and the review of the Graduate route.
Recruitment
Professor Dina Kiwan, Professor Sergi Pardos-Prado, and Professor Jo Swaffield were reappointed to the Committee for a further 3 years from May 2024.
In line with the government’s intention to strengthen the MAC, 2 changes will be made to the Committee from January 2025:
-
Professor Brian Bell will take on his role as MAC Chair on a full-time basis until the end of his term in August 2026.
-
Dr Madeleine Sumption will take on a new role as Deputy Chair of the MAC for an initial 12 months. In this role, Madeleine will increase her time working for the MAC to between 1-2 days per week.
Stakeholder engagement in 2024
This section provides a record of all Committee member stakeholder engagement in 2024 leading up to this report. In addition to the specific engagements listed below, the MAC Secretariat held regular meetings with cross-government and Devolved Government colleagues regarding our work.
| Date | Meeting | Attendees |
|---|---|---|
| 08/01/2024 | Meeting with Sir Steve Smith, UK Government International Education Champion | Prof Brian Bell (Chair), Holly White |
| 09/01/2024 | Meeting with CCLA Investment Management on seasonal workers | Prof Brian Bell (Chair) |
| 12/01/2024 | Visit to G’s Fresh | Prof Brian Bell (Chair), Prof Jo Swaffield, Holly White + Secretariat Members |
| 17/01/2024 | Meeting with Minister of State for Legal Migration and the Border, Tom Pursglove MP | Prof Brian Bell (Chair) + Secretariat Members |
| 30/01/2024 | Briefing for Home Affairs Select Committee (HASC) on MAC 2023 Annual Report | Prof Brian Bell (Chair) + Secretariat Members |
| 05/02/2024 | Meeting with The Rt Hon Robert Jenrick MP | Prof Brian Bell (Chair) |
| 21/02/2024 | Meeting with Nyasha Weinburg, Office of Yvette Cooper MP | Prof Brian Bell (Chair) |
| 01/03/2024 | Meeting with Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority (GLAA) | Prof Brian Bell (Chair) |
| 06/03/2024 | Meeting With Cavendish Coalition | Prof Brian Bell (Chair) |
| 12/03/2024 | Meeting with Sir Steve Smith, UK Government International Education Champion | Prof Brian Bell (Chair), Holly White + Secretariat Members |
| 13/03/2024 | Meeting with Universities UK (UUK) | Prof Brian Bell (Chair) + Secretariat Members |
| 14/03/2024 | Meeting with Pisces Working Group (Scottish Fishing) | Prof Brian Bell (Chair) + Secretariat Members |
| 21/03/2024 | Westminster Higher Education Forum: Next steps for international students | Prof Brian Bell (Chair) |
| 21/03/2024 | Meeting with HM Treasury (HMT) officials | Prof Brian Bell (Chair), Holly White |
| 22/03/2024 | UUK Pro-Vice-Chancellor (PVC) meeting | Prof Brian Bell (Chair), Holly White + Secretariat Members |
| 25/03/2024 | Graduate Route review roundtable | Prof Brian Bell (Chair), Professor Dina Kiwan, Professor Sergi Pardos-Prado, Dr Madeleine Sumption, Professor Jo Swaffield, Holly White + Secretariat Members |
| 26/03/2024 | Meeting with Home Secretary, Rt Hon James Cleverly MP | Prof Brian Bell (Chair), Holly White |
| 26/03/2024 | Graduate route review roundtable | Prof Brian Bell (Chair), Professor Sergi Pardos- Prado, Dr Madeleine Sumption, Professor Jo Swaffield, Holly White + Secretariat Members |
| 27/03/2024 | Meeting with Secretary of State for Education, Rt Hon Gillian Keegan MP | Prof Brian Bell (Chair), Holly White + Secretariat Members |
| 27/03/2024 | Meeting with Minister for Higher and Further Education, Scottish Government, Graeme Dey MSP | Prof Brian Bell (Chair) + Secretariat Members |
| 03/04/2024 | Graduate route review roundtable | Prof Brian Bell (Chair), Professor Dina Kiwan, Professor Sergi Pardos-Prado, Dr Madeleine Sumption, Professor Jo Swaffield, Holly White + Secretariat Members |
| 05/04/2024 | Graduate route review roundtable | Prof Brian Bell (Chair), Professor Dina Kiwan, Professor Sergi Pardos-Prado, Dr Madeleine Sumption, Holly White + Secretariat Members |
| 08/04/2024 | Meeting with Sir Steve Smith, UK Government International Education Champion | Prof Brian Bell (Chair), Holly White |
| 10/04/2024 | Graduate route review roundtable | Prof Brian Bell (Chair), Professor Dina Kiwan, Professor Sergi Pardos-Prado, Professor Jo Swaffield, Holly White + Secretariat Members |
| 22/04/2024 | Meeting with Cabinet Secretary for Education of Wales, Lynne Neagle MS | Prof Brian Bell (Chair), Holly White + Secretariat Members |
| 23/04/2024 | Meeting with Minister of State for Employment of the United Kingdom, Jo Churchill MP | Prof Brian Bell (Chair), Holly White |
| 23/04/2024 | Meeting with Minister for the Economy of Northern Ireland, Conor Murphy MLA | Prof Brian Bell (Chair), Holly White + Secretariat Members |
| 29/04/2024 | Meeting with Sir Steve Smith, UK Government International Education Champion | Prof Brian Bell (Chair) |
| 14/05/2024 | Briefing for senior civil servants on MAC Graduate route review | Prof Brian Bell (Chair) + Secretariat Members |
| 14/05/2024 | Meeting with Rt Hon Yvette Cooper MP | Prof Brian Bell (Chair) |
| 15/05/2024 | Oral evidence session at Home Affairs Select Committee (HASC) on legal migration | Prof Brian Bell (Chair) |
| 15/05/2024 | Meeting with Minister of State for Legal Migration and the Border, Tom Pursglove MP | Prof Brian Bell (Chair) + Secretariat Members |
| 15/05/2024 | All-Party Parliamentary University Group (APPUG) event | Prof Brian Bell (Chair) + Secretariat Members |
| 06/06/2024 | Meeting with Sara Thornton, former Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner | Prof Brian Bell (Chair) + Secretariat Members |
| 12/06/2024 | Meeting with GLAA | Prof Brian Bell (Chair) + Secretariat Members |
| 18/06/2024 | Meeting with Danish Ambassador to the UK, René Dinesen | Prof Brian Bell (Chair), Dr Madeleine Sumption, Holly White |
| 16/07/2024 | Briefing for senior civil servants on MAC Seasonal Worker visa review | Prof Brian Bell (Chair), Holly White + Secretariat Members |
| 16/07/2024 | Meeting with National Farmers’ Union (NFU) on MAC Seasonal Worker visa review | Prof Brian Bell (Chair) + Secretariat Members |
| 22/07/2024 | Meeting with Minister for Migration & Citizenship, Seema Malhotra MP | Prof Brian Bell (Chair), Holly White |
| 09/08/2024 | Meeting with HMT officials | Prof Brian Bell (Chair), Holly White |
| 12/08/2024 | Meeting with Minister for Equalities, Scottish Government, Kaukab Stewart MSP | Prof Brian Bell (Chair) + Secretariat Members |
| 12/08/2024 | Meeting with Seasonal Worker Interest Group | Prof Brian Bell (Chair) + Secretariat Members |
| 28/08/2024 | Meeting with Richard Pennycook, Interim Chair, Skills England | Prof Brian Bell (Chair), Holly White + Secretariat Members |
| 09/09/2024 | Sectors review stakeholder engagement event | Prof Brian Bell (Chair) + Secretariat Members |
| 10/09/2024 | Find It, Fix It, Prevent It (FFP) Working Group on Seasonal Worker visa review | Prof Brian Bell (Chair) |
| 24/09/2024 | MAC Cross-government Stakeholder Forum | Prof Brian Bell (Chair), Professor Dina Kiwan, Professor Jo Swaffield, Holly White + Secretariat Members |
| 25/09/2024 | MAC External Stakeholder Forum | Prof Brian Bell (Chair), Professor Dina Kiwan, Holly White + Secretariat Members |
| 26/09/2024 | Westminster Legal Policy Forum: Next steps for UK immigration policy | Prof Brian Bell (Chair) |
| 07/10/2024 | Meeting with Minister for Migration & Citizenship, Seema Malhotra MP | Prof Brian Bell (Chair), Holly White |
| 08/10/2024 | BusinessAmerican Business Event: Business Immigration Briefing - In Conversation with the Minister for Migration and Citizenship Seema Malhotra MP | Prof Brian Bell (Chair) |
| 14/10/2024 | Meeting with Home Office Chief Scientific Adviser, Jennifer Rubin | Prof Brian Bell (Chair), Holly White + Secretariat Members |
| 16/10/2024 | Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration (ICIBI) Away Day | Prof Brian Bell (Chair), Holly White |
| 16/10/2024 | Meeting with HASC Clerk | Prof Brian Bell (Chair), Holly White |
| 21/10/2024 | Meeting with Director of Labour Market | |
| Enforcement (DLME) | Prof Brian Bell (Chair) | |
| 29/10/2024 | Centuro Global Event: Why the Skilled Worker Visa Route Matters for UK Businesses | Prof Brian Bell (Chair) |
| 04/11/2024 | Chartered Association of Business Schools Conference Speaker | Prof Brian Bell (Chair) |
| 04/11/2024 | MAC focus group with engineering sector skills bodies | Prof Brian Bell (Chair), Dr Madeleine Sumption + Secretariat Members |
| 11/11/2024 | MAC focus group with IT sector employers | Prof Brian Bell (Chair), Holly White + Secretariat Members |
| 11/11/2024 | MAC focus group with engineering sector employers | Prof Brian Bell (Chair), Professor Sergi Pardos- Prado, Holly White + Secretariat Members |
| 12/11/2024 | The Festival of Higher Education | Prof Brian Bell (Chair) |
| 19/11/2024 | MAC focus group with IT and engineering sectors employee representatives | Prof Brian Bell (Chair) + Secretariat Members |
| 20/11/2024 | Meeting with Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice, Trefnydd and Chief Whip Jane Hutt, and Cabinet Secretary for Economy, Energy and Planning Rebecca Evans, Welsh Government | Prof Brian Bell (Chair) + Secretariat Members |
| 26/11/2024 | Independent Higher Education Annual Conference | Dr Madeleine Sumption |
| 26/11/2024 | MAC focus group with IT sector skills bodies | Prof Brian Bell (Chair), Professor Dina Kiwan, Professor Sergi Pardos-Prado + Secretariat Members |
| 27/11/2024 | Immigration Law Practitioners Association | Prof Brian Bell (Chair) |
| 27/11/2024 | Meeting with Minister for Equalities, Scottish Government, Kaukab Stewart MSP | Prof Brian Bell (Chair), Holly White + Secretariat Members |
| 29/11/2024 | Meeting with Association of Colleges | Prof Brian Bell (Chair) + Secretariat Members |
| 03/12/2024 | Resolution Foundation Event: Economic Growth and the Challenge of Demographics | Prof Brian Bell (Chair) |
| 04/12/2024 | Meeting with Second Permanent Secretary for the Home Office, Simon Ridley | Prof Brian Bell (Chair), Holly White |
MAC publications in 2024
| Date | Name of publication |
|---|---|
| 23/02/2024 | Rapid review of the Immigration Salary List |
| 27/03/2024 | Immigrant downgrading: new evidence from UK panel data |
| 16/05/2024 | Graduate route: rapid review |
| 09/07/2024 | Graduate visa holders in the UK, a qualitative study by Revealing Reality |
| 16/07/2024 | Seasonal Worker visa review |
| 16/08/2024 | Seasonal Worker Visa Scheme, a qualitative study, by Revealing Reality |