Oral question asked in the House of Commons, by Phil Woolas (Labour). It was answered on Monday, 6 September 2010 on behalf of the Home Office.

Immigration Cap

Question: I welcome the Minister's remarks on the relationship between temporary and permanent migration. Will he confirm that it is the Government's intention to go ahead with the previous Government's plans for a points-based system for citizenship, which would help to reach exactly the objectives that the hon. Member for Mid Sussex (Nicholas Soames) set out, on behalf—if I may say—of Migrationwatch UK?

Answer: I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for that question, not least because he and I debated the details of the system when the Bill in question was considered, when he was standing at this Dispatch Box. Although I accept the idea that we need a better system for allowing people to proceed to settlement or full citizenship, I was not convinced that the system that the previous Government proposed was anything other than a bureaucratic nightmare. I can assure him that I am still looking carefully at the details so that we can have an effective system that does not place too great a burden on the voluntary sector, which, as I said at the time, I thought his system did.

Secondary information