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Migrant Domestic Workers (Visas)

I congratulate the hon. Member for Reading, West (Martin Salter) on his impressive and fluent speech and on raising a critical issue in the way he did, and I thank you, Mr. Benton, for calling me to speak. I will not speak for long, as I am supposed to be, if not looking after, at least involved in an Albanian delegation from the Inter-Parliamentary Union, at a meeting in the IPU Rooms. I hope it will not be seen as a discourtesy to hon. Members if I do not stay for the winding-up speeches, but I will be listening in every other way to what the Minister says. We need not recite the problem, as the hon. Gentleman has explained it. I understand the Minister's concerns and those of the Government. The issue, roughly, is that developed countries, such as those in western Europe, have staff coming in to assist people who need domestic help, which is nothing special. Between 14,000 and 16,000 people a year get domestic work visas, which do not entitle any of them to live in the UK permanently. I think they must renew the visas yearly—the Minister can correct me—and can go on doing so, although they must also report to the police annually. I do not think they have any right to settle here. The Minister's advisers will be telling him whether I got that right, but I think I did, largely because he told me about it. There is no problem on the domestic front, thanks to the Government's decision to change the rules, as the hon. Member for Reading, West said, and until 2011 it is a totally safe arrangement. The hon. Gentleman asked whether it will go beyond 2011, and I believe the Minister should today state that it will be extended for another three or five years, because it has worked well and been a success. The problem relates to the small number of domestic workers who come to the UK under a diplomatic visa, which is a restrictive visa, and who often arrive with the officials they worked for in the countries they come from. They might be chauffeurs, domestics or nannies, and often they arrive with a diplomat's family. The allegation is that the family changes, in the manner of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, as soon as they arrive. One must have some regard for the notion that the domestic workers talk to other people and realise that they are getting a pretty rough deal by comparison. I am fully aware of that aspect of the situation, but another aspect is the abuse of domestics. I pay considerable tribute to Kalayaan, which is a modest organisation that meets in a church in Notting Hill Gate. It has extremely effective staff who have done an amazing job over the years to attract people who are being abused. Kalayaan has become known as a place where abused people can get solace, support and practical help. I pay tribute to the organisation and its workers, who are outstanding. Its runs on a shoestring. In fact, the Government might consider supporting it a little, because they give £1.8 million to the POPPY project and £1.8 million to the UK Human Trafficking Centre, yet they give nothing to an organisation that actually works with people. Perhaps the Minister might respond to that comment in his winding-up speech, because I know he is listening carefully. The Government should be giving money to non-governmental organisations, and not just the big ones. There is a small number of abused women in that situation. There are examples of rape, sexual abuse and physical abuse through punishment and assaults, and those are a minority. However, the visas prevent those people from moving employment, as there is a bar on moving. The result is that the only way they can escape is to be deported, because once they escape they have no status in this country and must be deported. That is the pattern, so they are between a rock and a hard place.