UK Borders Bill

We have had an interesting short debate, covering monogamy, passport personal interview centres, replies by the recently ennobled Lord, the noble Lord, Lord West, and a plea for family reunion. It is amazing what can be squeezed into a Lords Committee debate. I congratulate noble Lords on their ingenuity. The amendment has been tabled in response to the scale of the fee increases that were introduced in April. It is worth registering that there are no fundamental objections to the principle that those who use the immigration system should pay most towards the costs, including fees that are set above normal cost-recovery levels. We believe that the safeguards in the Asylum and Immigration (Treatment of Claimants, etc.) Act 2004—that is the Act that Clause 20 seeks to amend—are sufficient. Those safeguards require the Secretary of State to consult with such persons—those whom she deems appropriate—before making an instrument prescribing fees above cost-recovery levels and that the instrument is subject to the affirmative processes in both Houses. The Act also states that fees set above cost should reflect the benefits that the Secretary of State thinks are likely to accrue to a successful applicant. I think we should focus some of our attention on that. We believe that in order to set fees at fair and sustainable levels in the future we need to maintain flexibility. The measure in the amendment proposing an acceptable increase to the fees would not, of course, allow us to amend the fees to reflect wider policy changes that affect the entitlements and benefits of a successful application. It would also limit our ability to correct anomalies in the charging structure, should those arise over time. For those primary reasons we are not able to accept the amendment. Members of the Committee asked for further and better particulars. The noble Lord, Lord Roberts, asked why we thought that the increase from £335 to £750—in this example, for postal applications—was right. We did it to bring us more into line with similar fees charged in other countries, as we are considerably less costly than most, and to reflect the administrative costs of determining settlement and to ensure compliance with our immigration laws. I make the comment that settlement brings with it rights to access the labour market and the benefit system for applicants and their dependants. We think that the fees charged to users of the system, who benefit from the services that we offer and from living in our country, reflect a good offer. It is right that the charge is a fair reflection of those benefits. The noble Lord, Lord Avebury, asserted that we were not listening to consultation. The majority of respondents agreed that the fees should reflect the value of the entitlements to a migrant from a successful application and should support the Government’s position. It is certainly not the case that we did not undertake consultation—that much is clear. There is a statutory duty to do that, as I have already said. The consultation ran from 30 October to 22 December last year. The consultation document was sent to over 3,000 people and stakeholder groups and was published on the Home Office website. We received some 340 written responses: 51 per cent were educational establishments, 35 per cent employers and 14 per cent arts and entertainment organisations. Additional consultation was undertaken through sector-based events—that is, meetings—with different organisations and bodies, through the education, employer and arts and entertainment organisations and task forces. Over 400 people attended one event: 87 per cent agreed that we should set fees flexibly to take into account wider policy objectives and 79 per cent agreed that fees should reflect a range of factors, not only those of value to migrants. I believe that I have answered most of the points. If there are any other issues that Members of the Committee feel I have not touched on, I shall happily endeavour to respond to them.