Borders, Citizenship and Immigration Bill [HL]

My Lords, it is a pleasure to follow the noble Lord, Lord Tomlinson, who gave a timely reminder about the importance of some aspects of this Bill. I will return to his powerful point about education. Although the debate has been very interesting, as the noble Lord, Lord Tomlinson, pointed out there has been a preponderance of concentration on asylum issues, which technically are not a substantive feature of the Bill. Further to what the noble Lord, Lord Marlesford, said, this is the seventh such piece of legislation in recent times, and we have just been told that there is at least one simplification measure in the pipeline. I think Parliament is entitled to ask what is going on at the Home Office. It seems to be bringing forward legislation willy-nilly, in a way bordering on incoherence. If it is difficult for policy-makers and legislators, how much more so is it for practitioners who try to keep up with such measures? Based on the discussion so far today, I think this Bill gets about four out of 10. The noble Lord, Lord Tomlinson, is right: the Minister has work to do to persuade us that it is worth the candle. There are good bits but it will need substantial improvement if it is to meet the high standards that some noble Lords rightly referred to. I wish to make a few remarks about Scotland. The Scottish Parliament is not the only devolved legislature that must be taken into account but it should be considered that Scotland has a separate, free-standing and well established legal system, quite different from the Anglo-American system in other parts of the United Kingdom. I have a different perspective on borders, citizenship and immigration. It draws on some of the powerful points made by the right reverend Prelate about hospitality, which is a concept we must cling to, and by the noble Lord, Lord Morris, and other noble Lords about the importance of sanctuary. Looking at the demographics and fertility rates for the mid to long term, I foresee a real problem in getting a working-age population in this country that will create wealth. Somebody said to me the other day that one in every four children born in Britain today can expect to live to age 100. That creates a completely different perspective. I can understand the noble Lord, Lord Marlesford, and people of his ilk saying that security, security, security is the order of the day, and perhaps we may have to pay careful attention to that in the short term, but in the long term, as the noble Lord, Lord Morris, said, we must encourage people to come and live here, and welcome, support and nurture them. That longer-term perspective is a much more positive way of looking at this important policy area. I hope that the noble Lord, Lord Tomlinson, will continue to bring his valuable experience in education into the consideration of this Bill. It is important to understand that loopholes are being used, but I want to argue it the other way round. I do a little work for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office regarding UK universities’ attempt to get scholarships for Iraq—it is a registered interest, which I declare. It is very important work. Iraq needs our help, and when the service men and women come back from Basra, where they have done a wonderful job, they will leave a situation where as a country we can really start to help Iraq. One of the best ways of doing that is through scholarships promoted by the United Kingdom. The noble Baroness, Lady Warwick, made a very powerful plea in that direction too; she is right. It is not just Iraq, but there are peculiar circumstances there. I hope that we can persuade the noble Lord, Lord Tomlinson, where there are scholarships attached to bona fide institutions, to give his support to promote these important programmes. From a Scottish point of view, £600 a month is a tall order, as is a four-year limit. Medical schools in Scotland are very concerned about some of the rather arbitrary conditions laid down. The noble Baroness, Lady Warwick, has rightly identified that there is a problem, and I hope that we can count on the support of the noble Lord, Lord Tomlinson, to redress other problems in that regard. I wish to make two points derived directly from my experience in Scotland. For the Scottish legislative establishment, Clause 50 landed out of the blue. Worse than that, I do not know who was consulted in Scotland but certainly the Law Society of Scotland was not. I would have thought that it would be one of the first consultees on the list. I concur with everything said about Clause 50 and understand the tension that the noble and learned Baroness, Lady Butler-Sloss, recognised whereby there are some real problems in English courts. There are pressure points in Scotland but they are quite different north of the border. Mr Brian Gill is right now doing a review of civil justice in relation to the Court of Session in Edinburgh—he is yet to report—and we are awaiting the important recommendations of the report of the Administrative Justice Steering Group chaired by Lord Philip; therefore, it causes offence in Scotland to introduce Clause 50 out of the blue. If the Minister is not careful he will get another border established in the United Kingdom—it will be drawn by the Scots, between Carlisle and Newcastle—and that is in absolutely no one’s interests. The tone of the consultative paper was studiedly English; it is just gratuitous. I do not know who does these things but somebody in the department must be tapped on the shoulder and told that proper consultation wins friends and influences people in a much better way than has been done in the past. The noble Baroness, Lady Hanham, made an important point about training. Training in Scotland is essentially important because there is not only a separate legal system but, as the noble Baroness rightly said, a separate taxation system. I know the difference in the powers of current immigration officers and customs officers but, when that is overlaid with the Criminal Justice (Scotland) Act, a lot of training will have to be done. The regulations will have to spell out what training is necessary to give people comfort north of the border that this will all be done in a sensible, grown-up and reasonable way. In my final minute, I should like to endorse everything that the noble Earl, Lord Sandwich, said about Section 4 of the 1999 Act and Clause 51 of this Bill. Talking about safeguarding and promoting the interests of children in families who are living on vouchers introduced under Section 4 of the 1999 Act is a contradiction in terms. Something has to be done about that. If the Government do not come up with something in Committee, I think that there will be cross-party support for pressure being brought to bear on an extension of Section 95, as the noble Earl rightly suggested, as the way forward. It can be done in a way that saves money as well as saves destitution, which is in everyone’s interests. I hope that the Government will give that active consideration.