Part of 1. Questions to the Minister for Social Justice – in the Senedd at 2:23 pm on 16 March 2022.
A recent report by Charanpreet Khaira for BBC Cymru Wales raised serious questions, though, about whether international students are being treated fairly by Welsh employers. Reporting included an interview with a Nigerian woman who qualified for a band 7 NHS job after a Master's in public health in Wales, but she'd been turned away from band 2 carer jobs, despite there being demand for staff in that sector. The BAME Mental Health Support charity said they'd helped more than 40 people—20 of them were qualified doctors—to make applications, but they'd all been rejected. I know the Welsh Government is aware of this because the economy Minister did respond to the report, but I'd grateful if you, Minister, could give an assurance that you'll work with your colleagues in Government to try to ascertain the scale of this problem and to find solutions that would benefit both international students and Welsh service providers.