Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Bill

I shall take only a couple of minutes because I have some extremely important guests arriving for dinner at half-past seven. I simply wanted to let the Minister know that I was going to raise the question of the monitor if we had reached the amendment that deals with her appointment. But since we have not got there, I give the noble Baroness warning that I am very upset that the former monitor, Fiona Lindsley, relinquished her post on 1 November and that her replacement has not yet been appointed. When I rang up this morning to find out what was going on, I was told that the appointment was being submitted to the Minister. I take it that that is our colleague the noble Lord, Lord Triesman, because he deals with consular matters, but as he returned to the office only this morning, he has not yet had an opportunity of looking at the recommendation. So there has been a gap of two and a half months during which no independent monitor has been in place. If the Government were really serious about making the improvements that the noble Baroness has suggested, the first thing she and her colleagues would do would be to ensure that there was continuous monitoring by an independent person instead of allowing a gap of two and a half months—probably three by the time the person takes up the post—to occur. I am surprised that the noble Baroness has not had word from her department that I would raise the matter if we had reached the amendment in question, because I asked the office of the noble Lord, Lord Triesman, to inform her that I would. I would like to know why the Government allowed this gap to occur when they knew perfectly well that Fiona Lindsley’s contract was not being renewed for reasons that we can perhaps go into on another occasion. They apparently took no steps to interview or to attempt to discover a suitable replacement until some time after she had left office. That is a matter the noble Baroness will want to explore. I cannot say that I was satisfied with what the Minister told Members of the Committee concerning Amendment No. 15, which would take care of any changes in European law in the future. If she is concerned only with certain limited rights for these persons, as they are at the moment, that will not satisfy the need. I hope that she will think about our proposal which would be a far more comprehensive way of dealing with the matter than the one she suggested. I shall read very carefully what she said and, if necessary, come back to her in writing.