I am today announcing that John Grant, the Permanent Representative to the EU, has written to the European Commission to confirm that the worker registration scheme will continue beyond 1 May 2006.

The Treaty of Accession 2003 makes provision for the member states to apply transitional arrangements restricting nationals of the new member states' access to their labour markets (other than nationals from Cyprus and Malta). The worker registration scheme was established under these arrangements and has allowed the Government to monitor the impact of enlargement of the European Union on the United Kingdom's labour market.

Under the Treaty of Accession 2003, member states are required to notify the Commission by the end of April 2006 whether they intend to continue to apply transitional measures beyond that date.

The Government's decision to open its labour markets to nationals of the new member states immediately upon their Accession to the EU has been vindicated. Nationals of the new member states have entered the United Kingdom to work, have helped fill vacancies in parts of the economy experiencing labour shortages and have helped to deliver public services. There is no evidence that the entry of workers from the new member states has impacted on the unemployment rate for resident workers.

It is, however, important that the Government should continue to be able to monitor the numbers of nationals of the new member states coming here to work and their impact on the labour market. That is why I have decided that the worker registration scheme will continue beyond 1 May 2006. The need for the scheme will, however, continue to be kept under review.