UK Borders Bill

My Lords, I cannot give the noble Lord an answer: I should like to reflect on the issue. I shall be more than happy to correspond with him on that and will share that response with other noble Lords who have been involved in this discussion. My noble friend Lord Judd was concerned about visible ethnic minorities being subject to greater checks, which prompted the amendment. Public service providers and employers when requiring proof of immigration status will have to do so compatibly with the Race Relations Act 1976 and its subsequent amendments. In the employment context, prospective employees must already provide documents to establish that they are entitled to work. A code of practice sets out how employers should do so in a non-discriminatory fashion. The introduction of the BID will not change that. It will instead provide a simpler and, one can fairly argue, much more secure means for employers to check that a person is entitled to work in the UK. The noble Lord, Lord Avebury, reflected on comments made in Grand Committee on the requirements on employers to check eligibility. Under Section 8 of the Asylum and Immigration Act 1996, an employer commits an offence if he employs someone who is not entitled to work in the UK. The employer has a defence if he takes steps to check and copy certain documents, including, for example, a British citizen’s passport. To ensure that employers do not discriminate, Section 8A of the same Act provides for a code of practice for employers to avoid discrimination. Similar provisions are in place to avoid discrimination in the forthcoming civil penalty regime under the Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Act 2006. The introduction of the BID does not affect the existing provisions in any way, which is extremely important. We must ensure that our anti-discrimination legislation is effective in this policy field as much as anywhere else.