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Statement of Changes in Immigration Rules

My Lords, I am very grateful to the noble Baroness and to other noble Lords who have taken part in this important debate. The noble Baroness referred to the previous Government. I am sure that we can trade experiences of previous Governments, and that is always good sport, but one thing that the previous Government did do was to take the reports of the Merits Select Committee very seriously. One of the important conclusions of our debate is our asking the Government to reflect on the experience of this SI in relation to future changes that may be made in the Immigration Rules and the way in which information should be given to Parliament. As my noble friend Lord Haskel said, this is a very important change. I am sure that he is right to reflect to the House on the potential impact that these changes might have on some of our most of successful institutions. The noble Baroness referred to the comments of the CBI director-general. Of course she is right to suggest that, as a result of the consultation, some changes were made in the Government's approach. We are very glad that that happened. She will be aware of the very high level of concern—particularly in the business, university and arts sectors—about the impact that the original proposals would have on them. However, as my noble friend Lord Haskel suggested, there are still concerns in those sectors about the impact. He referred to Imperial; he also referred to BIS and its role in promoting UK interests. Clearly there is concern that the proposals, as now enunciated in this statement of change, will none the less have an adverse effect on British interests. I would say to the noble Baroness that my experience in the health field and in the Department of Health is that whatever the tensions—and there have been tensions—about the recruitment of overseas students into our medical schools, the fact is that for very many years the NHS has depended on those students becoming doctors and working in the NHS. Also, the evidence suggests that when those doctors go back to their home countries, the links that they maintain with UK medicine and the UK medical and pharma industries have been immensely valuable to the UK. It is very important that we do not lose those contacts. The noble Baroness, Lady Valentine, had a very good point to make about the need to analyse the economic and social impact of these measures—I think she suggested by the end of the year. I very much hope that that point is taken to heart. The noble Earl, Lord Sandwich, referred to a number of instances that are as relevant to the debate that will follow as they are to this debate. His substantive point was the need for strong policy evidence to be available in order to guide government and Parliament when considering whether to support these changes. My noble friend Lord Judd pointed to the need for a strong evidence base and an impact assessment. He made a particularly important point about the potential link between the lack of economic development in some developing or not-so-developing countries and terrorism and security, on which the noble Baroness has much knowledge and expertise. The noble Lord, Lord Avebury, in a very thoughtful speech, raised a number of issues, including that of praying time. My understanding is that Section 2 of the Immigration Act 1971 gives either House 40 days after laying a Statement—excluding Dissolution, Prorogation and Adjournment for more than four days—to disapprove it. I understand that this Statement was laid on 16 March. The issue that the noble Lord raised is what this House is to do in particular about such Statements and, indeed, about statutory instruments in general. There have been very few occasions on which this House rejected delegated legislation. It has resolved its unfettered freedom to vote on any subordinate legislation, but in practice it has chosen to do that on very rare occasions. I say to the noble Lord that when we come to discuss substantive House of Lords reform the issue of how we deal with secondary legislation will be very important. I make the point to him that an elected second Chamber, particularly under a proportional system of voting in the event of a no vote in the AV referendum on Thursday, dealing with a House of Commons elected on a first past the post system would raise some very interesting questions about the role of a second Chamber elected under PR and what it would want or feel itself able to do in relation to statutory instruments. I suspect that such a second Chamber would feel pretty confident in voting down secondary legislation. When we come to that long-awaited draft Bill, we will discuss the important issue of how we should deal with statutory instruments and changes, particularly, as the noble Lord, Lord Avebury, said, when we debate them some days after the instrument has been brought into force. Let me come back to the substantive issue on debate. The noble Baroness has given us a very full response in relation to the consultation and why a summary was given. I have to say that a suspicion still rests in my mind as regards the lack of a comprehensive report, although I agree that the Government moved their position as a result of the consultation. In fact, there was an overwhelming concern with the original proposals among the many institutions which responded to the consultation. It would have been better if the Government had given a much fuller flavour of those responses. In conclusion, I would just remind the House that the Merits Committee, which is very experienced in these matters, said that the ““supporting information”” provided by the Government, "““falls short of what we would expect for such an important policy change. This is particularly disappointing as the interim caps have been in place since last summer and should have provided a basis for a thorough assessment of the impacts of the policy””." It concluded: "““On consideration of this instrument, the Committee believes that the gaps in the evidence presented by the Government are sufficient to create a measure of doubt as to whether the Statement will achieve its policy objectives””." The Merits Committee has entered a very important qualification. I very much hope that the noble Baroness and her department will take note of that and will ensure that considerable work is done to look at the impact of this change in policy in the way in which the noble Baroness, Lady Valentine, suggested and that when future changes are proposed the fullest information is made available to Parliament. Having said that, I am grateful to all noble Lords who have taken part in a very interesting debate. I beg leave to withdraw the Motion. Motion withdrawn.