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Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Bill

My Lords, I support what was said by the noble Baroness, Lady Anelay, about the issue affecting the Chinese community. All of us have met the person concerned at different times and she has made representations on behalf of the Chinese community. However, she also made it very clear that the issue affects other minorities, particularly those involved in the catering industry. One of the assumptions that is often made by decision makers is that if you have a large ethnic community in this country, particularly involved in the catering trade, you should be able to find people from that community to provide services. That is utter nonsense. A large number of people growing up in this country who comprise the second, third or fourth generations of their ethnic minority do not want to do precisely what their parents did. They have received a better education and are better qualified than their parents and do not want to go into the catering industry. However, that industry creates substantial wealth for this country. It contributes about £2.3 or £2.4 billion to the British economy. We ought to be careful to ensure that no generalised assumptions are made where applications are concerned and that the Minister takes into account the special needs of that community to be able to make them.