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Economic Migration (EUC Report)

My Lords, I understand what the noble Lord is saying. There is a chronology regarding when people were notified and what opportunity they were given. There is an issue about whether people fully understood that those changes would take place when they did. One has a certain human response to the situation. Whether or not it was as a result of people’s failure to understand, one must appreciate that it has apparently caused difficulty. I can understand why there is concern. Therefore, timing is important, as well as other matters. My understanding—I will correct it if I am not right—is that there was proper notice but people may not have understood the consequences of those changes before they came here, believing that the old system would still operate. I can appreciate that that would be very painful. We have a code. We have talked about the top end, but low-skilled legal migration can be one of the better migratory routes out of poverty. That was said by my noble friend Lord Parekh and the noble Earls, Lord Sandwich and Lord Listowel, and we agree with them. The UK understands that there has been concern over the issue. We have a code of conduct for recruitment of the higher skilled health professionals from states with key shortages, such as Nigeria, and will continue to look at those matters. There has been a plethora of specific issues that I do not have time to deal with, because my 20 minutes is now up. That demonstrates how powerful the debate has been. I should just like to endorse the work and statements of the noble Lord, Lord Best. I hope that he heard the resounding ““Hear, hear”” from around the House; the work done by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation has been rightly applauded by us all. As your Lordships can see from my notes, I could be with you for a long time, but time is up. I shall write to noble Lords on any matter I have failed to answer adequately or at all.