Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Bill

Again, I am grateful to noble Lords for their comments. Earlier today I had the privilege of meeting representatives of the Chinese community. One of the issues we discussed was the question of employment. In a sense I have already been able to rehearse some of the points raised. My meeting was an enjoyable occasion and I shall be meeting with the representatives again to consider the points that were raised and, it is hoped, to be able to give them appropriate reassurances. Let me begin by setting out the purpose behind the provision. I think that noble Lords understand it, but this needs to be said. There is no question that if someone is trying to work illegally in this country, it should be dealt with. We are all in this together. It is important that the Government, employers and the nation overall should recognise that this is a problem we have to tackle in an appropriate and effective manner. In response to the noble Lord, Lord Hylton, regardless of how long a person has been working, realising whether that person is working illegally is important to ensure that we have in place a proper policy that welcomes appropriately those who contribute so much to our country in a legal and effective way. It is in that spirit that the Government have introduced this approach to working with employers. The first thing to make clear about the previous legislation is that, in my own view, it is a sledgehammer that recognises criminality. However, it means that in all circumstances we would be saying to employers that they are behaving in a criminal fashion. I do not think that is right. There are occasions when employers might have a slipshod approach to employment issues and may not do things properly, but by no means are they behaving in a criminal manner. We should make that distinction and I believe that we do so in these clauses. The purpose here is to recognise within civil justice that we can say to someone, ““You have not done this properly and you should have done. You will be penalised, but we do not intend to make you a criminal””. The next thing I want to say is that we have available a draft code of practice, copies of which I have with me although it is available in the Library. I am always conscious that noble Lords who contribute to the Committee proceedings may not have had an opportunity to see what we have produced. I shall be happy to pass round these copies either now or at the close of our deliberations if Members find the document helpful. It is an important draft document and we are consulting closely with employers on all these issues. The main question underlying Amendment No. 36 is that we want to be as clear as we can with employers about what they are required to do. The noble Lord, Lord Avebury, has told us that he had to purchase a quite expensive and very thick book. He is absolutely right to say that we do not in any way expect employers to be familiar with the detail set out in such a book. I have not read it all, although I am sure that the noble Lord probably has done so.