Last weekend saw a range of excellent news from the Home Secretary, Sajid Javid, on changes to our immigration system.

Since 2011 the Home Office has had a cap on non-EEA highly skilled workers of 20,700 per month.

This cap has been oversubscribed since December last year, preventing highly-skilled workers in certain sectors from working in the UK.

In view of this, the Home Secretary will be exempting all doctors and nurses from the cap. This change will mean that, from July 6, doctors and nurses can be sponsored without putting pressure on the entire immigration system. This will also free up space for other highly skilled occupations, such as engineers, IT professionals and teachers.

This is very welcome news. The NHS has been under increasing pressure, and the arbitrary cap on their ability to recruit from abroad only damaged our health system.

The Prime Minister followed this on Monday with the announcement that by 2023-24, the NHS budget will increase compared to today by over £20 billion a year in real terms, which is approximately £600m a week in cash terms.

The new funding will come from savings from the previous government's management of the economy and planned efficiency and technology improvements, such as the integration of health and social care. The NHS needs more funding, and this new five year budget will go a long way to improving patient outcomes, from mental health to cancer care.

Beyond changes to help the NHS, there will be further changes to our immigration system.

The Dubs Amendment, which allows unaccompanied children to seek asylum in the UK is being updated: it will now allow those who do not qualify for international protection to remain here long term.

Although most of the children who have arrived have already been granted humanitarian protection, there are some who would have been refused, so it is very good news that they will be allowed to stay.

Afghan nationals who have worked with our Armed Forces in Afghanistan will also be able to apply to stay permanently. These applications will be free of charge.

From Spring 2019 there will also be a new start-up visa for those looking to start their first business in the UK and the ‘Exceptional Talent’ route will open up to include leading fashion designers and a wider pool of TV and film applicants.

The immigration system in this country is long overdue a rethink and these measures demonstrate a commitment to a fair and humane immigration system which encourages the brightest and the best to come to the UK.