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Migrant Domestic Workers (Visas)

Yes. To repeat, the difficulty, as the hon. Member for Birmingham, Yardley and others have said, is that although the Government are aware of a number of cases, there are strong reasons why cases would not come forward. Therefore, one cannot look just at the transparent evidence available to the Government. It is really a question of reviewing how the protection is working, not whether it should be there. I do not rule out another way of providing protection—it would be foolish to do that—but there is no intention on the part of the Government to remove that protection. Indeed, the conversations that we have had with Kalayaan and hon. Members have been aimed at improving the system as best we can. The hon. Member for Ashford made a very wise point—he has obviously started to think about policy in detail. It is true that the great advantage of the points-based system is its simplicity. It is also true that although relatively small numbers take the diplomatic route—the numbers for entry and potential settlement via the domestic servant route are actually significant—that is the third such exception that I have dealt with today. There are many such cases of special interests—I will not say special pleading, because this cause is clearly valid. That, however, is the Government's policy on the first question. On the second question, I cannot give the positive answer today that I had wanted to give. The timing of the debate is fortunate from the point of view of raising the issue, but it is unfortunate from my point of view because the Government's deliberations have not been concluded. Those are not, I hope, weasel words. Let me give some of the background. I was asked about the figures. Complaints from diplomatic domestic servants are forwarded to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, which is aware of two cases involving allegations of abuse in the past 12 months. To emphasise the point, those are just the cases that the Foreign Office has been made aware of. As the hon. Member for Birmingham, Yardley said, if someone cannot run away, they cannot be protected, and I think there is consensus in the House on that. I am not suggesting that there are only two cases of abuse; those two cases are the ones we are aware of. It would be illuminating for hon. Members if I explained how the cases proceeded. Both complaints were referred to the FCO by the police. The first is the subject of a police investigation and a request for the waiver of criminal immunity to allow the diplomat to give evidence to rebut the allegations or to help to confirm to the police that there is a case to answer. In the second case, the police decided that no criminal offence had been committed. As has been suggested, therefore, there is the possibility, at the end of the road, that the diplomatic position would be withdrawn. As the hon. Member for Ashford rightly said, there is also the criminal justice route. The question is whether the ability to transfer the visa to another employer would provide better protection for people we are not aware of because they have not come forward with complaints. We are undertaking investigations, but the issue is complicated because of our relationship with the diplomatic service and our reciprocal diplomatic arrangements. However, there is no question that we are putting those diplomatic relations above the interests of victims. I can confirm that the Vienna convention does not preclude us from allowing a private servant to switch employment to outside the mission. The issue is the convention's definition of interfering""unduly with the performance of the functions of the mission."" We have to be on strong ground on that point. Of course, I understand the point that we should not put the protection of diplomatic relations above the interests of victims of violent, physical or, indeed, verbal abuse. We are working to solve the problem. Our policy is to look at the suggested solution of switching visas. As I said, the timing of the debate is fortunate in terms of raising the issue, but it is unfortunate for me in that I have not yet concluded my deliberations. However, my experience based on eight years as a Minister is that it is better to get things right than to respond to an Adjournment debate or a question in the House just because it might make my life easier now.