Those foreign worker lists everyone’s against won’t be made public
Controversial plans to force businesses to list the number of foreign workers they employ would not be made publicly available, it's been revealed.
The proposal by home secretary Amber Rudd to track the number of non-British workers within companies caused outrage across business and beyond.
Read more: UK tech is outraged about Rudd's immigration crackdown
Now, education secretary Justine Greening has said the figures would not be made public and would be used to identify the business sectors and parts of the country where there was a shortage of British workers.
"This is not data that will be published," she said, speaking on ITV's Peston on Sunday show.
BREAK @JustineGreening says that the stats on numbers of foreign workers in companies will NOT be published to the public. U-Turn? #Peston pic.twitter.com/VbXiWGwb6b
— Peston (@itvpeston) October 9, 2016
She said: "This is about informing policy so that we understand particularly which areas and parts of the country there are skills shortages, evidenced by the fact that employers are not taking local workers as much as they might do and that really allows us to tailor policy… and for people to take advantage of the opportunities economically in their area."
The backlash from across business caused Rudd to backpeddle on the proposals, saying it was just a suggestion and would not necessarily come into force.
The latest details that any list would not be published signals a u-turn on the proposal which would have essentially named and shamed companies
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