UK Borders Bill

I apologise for being late; I was tied up with the Statement on national security. I have two issues on which the Minister may wish to respond. First, almost all police stations have lay visitors. It is difficult for people who are detained to be able to trust someone at the other end of the phone; nor do I have much confidence in the ability of duty solicitors to provide the right advice on immigration matters. Does the Minister consider it appropriate to supply details of accredited advisors to lay visitors so that if any query of this nature comes in they are in a position to say who to get in touch with and what sort of advice may be appropriate in such cases? Secondly—I have seen the correspondence of my noble friend Lord Avebury, which saves me putting a Written Question to the Minister—I was aware when the legislation was passed that some people often provided the wrong advice when they were not supposed to provide advice at all because of the legal requirements for people to be accredited to do so. How many people have been prosecuted for these kinds of offences? It is one thing to have something in statute; it is another when there is no way of finding out what is happening, not only in relation to prisons but generally in terms of immigration advice. There is sheer exploitation going on in relation to minorities in this country.