My Lords, I thank the Minister for introducing this statutory instrument, and of course we support it. The noble Lord, Lord Dholakia, very effectively set out the background to this. I will just set the scene and then ask a few questions of the Minister. First, I personally know a number of friends and colleagues who have welcomed Ukrainians into their homes. I am sure others in the Room have the same experience and, from what I have been told, it has been a positive experience for all concerned. However, there have been problems and we need to be realistic about them.
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The other thing I want to say in setting the scene is that, in principle, we believe that people who have had a brush with the criminal justice system or who have been in prison for something have served their sentence and paid their dues. When they come out, they should
be able to lead full lives, contributing to our society on as wide a basis as is practical. However, I understand the point that the Government seek to address: in some cases, particularly where children and some other examples are concerned, people should not be able to open their homes to refugees, who in many cases are very vulnerable. So we support the enhanced DBS check. As we have heard, some 100,000 Ukrainians have arrived on our shores in the last year or so.
I will dwell on some potential loopholes in the system. First, are hosts expected to inform the council when refugees arrive at their property? That is one side of the equation, but are they also expected to inform the council when people leave? That is a potential loophole, as the money being paid to the host may continue to be collected after refugees have left the property, for whatever reason.
I understand the points about the particular vulnerability of unaccompanied children, who may have a relatively loose relationship with the people acting as their hosts. My question is really about the level of discretion of local authorities to require DBS checks. In a house of multiple occupation, what level of discretion does the local authority have to check everybody in that house or only those living in the flat concerned? There would be an enhanced cost, which the noble Lord, Lord Dholakia, mentioned, but the Minister’s statement referred to this as only a power, not a requirement. In his view, should local authorities use that power on an appropriately wide basis to make sure that vulnerable people are kept safe?
As I tried to set out in my introduction, we approve of this statutory instrument and think the scheme has been a huge success overall. But our eyes need to be open to the pitfalls and loopholes that are available, so that they can be appropriately dealt with. We support this SI.