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Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Bill

Yes, I can give my hon. Friend the commitment that he requests. Actually, a number of such meetings have been held already, between universities and officials and Ministers from the Home Office, and Foreign Office Ministers. This is an important dialogue, because these matters involve a change of culture. We shall have to work hard to change the Home Office culture, but everyone else will have to change as well. Now I really must make some progress. On the first pillar, clauses 42 to 44 provide a power to prescribe procedures to be followed and fees to be paid when making particular applications under the immigration rules. The purpose of that is that, in addition to improving the management of the current system, these provisions will support the implementation of the new points-based system for managed migration. On the new asylum process and refugee integration, clause 38 amends the statutory framework creating the refugee integration loan to reflect the change in policy announced in the five-year strategy granting refugees an initial five years’ leave to remain. The body of the Bill addresses two aspects of what I have described as the ““third workstream””. A key provision in the Bill will effectively tackle illegal working by punishing those who use workers who are not legally allowed to seek paid employment in the UK. Clauses 11 to 20 create a new civil penalty for employers of illegal workers and set out how the scheme will work. In particular, clauses 11 and 12 set out the circumstances in which a penalty may be issued to an employer found to be using illegal workers, the requirements that employers must fulfil to be able to prove that they have taken reasonable steps to assure themselves that employees or prospective employees are entitled to work in the UK, and the grounds on which an employer can object to the issue of a civil penalty. Clause 15 requires a code of practice to be issued covering the criteria to be used in determining whether a penalty should be issued, and the amount. The maximum amount to be paid per employee would be £2,000. Clause 17 creates a new criminal offence of employing a person knowing that they are not legally entitled to work in the UK. It provides that the maximum penalty for conviction following indictment is two years’ imprisonment and/or a fine. It is critically important that we drive out those illegal employers who keep people here, often in the most appalling conditions, and we must ensure that we deal with them in the most effective way. These measures are designed to achieve just that.