Terrorism Act 2000 (Code of Practice for Examining Officers and Review Officers) Order 2022

Lord Ponsonby of Shulbrede Excerpts

Monday 13th June 2022 Grand Committee

We remain of the view the Schedule 7 and Schedule 8 powers are necessary, but we still have concerns that they are being used disproportionately against innocent minorities, particularly Muslims, and that the widening of the use of the powers to areas other than ports and the Northern Ireland border area may add to this disproportionality. Having said that, we understand the purpose behind these regulations and are generally supportive of the fact that they are necessary.

[Lord Ponsonby of Shulbrede (Lab)]

My Lords, we, too, support this statutory instrument. As the Minister said, it gives effect to the draft code of practice. We understand that these changes are being made in response to a recommendation by the Independent Reviewer of Terrorism Legislation, Jonathan Hall. We believe it is important that the proper safeguards are in place, support the order and thank Jonathan Hall for his work.

When speaking to the introduction of these powers during the passage of the Nationality and Borders Bill, the Minister, Lord Sharp, said that

“this is by no means an attempt to treat all migrants arriving in this manner as terrorists, or to stop and examine large numbers of people away from ports and borders. Schedule 7 is not designed and cannot be used as a universal screening mechanism”.—[Official Report, 10/2/22; col. 1939.]

What safeguards will be put in place to ensure that there is no slide into using these powers more extensively and frequently?

Furthermore, can the Minister clarify whether information given by someone in answer to a Schedule 7 examination, which is strictly counterterrorism powers, will be used for other purposes, for example by an immigration officer? I think the Minister answered that point, but I repeat the question. I also make the point that our staff got in touch with the department to ask this question and others, using the contact details given in the Explanatory Note, and did not receive a response. Usually there is a named civil servant at the bottom of an Explanatory Memorandum, but, in this case, there was a general email to contact. Our staff sent the email at 2.15 pm on Thursday and there was no response.

Although this order relates only to examinations under existing counterterrorism powers, new immigration offences under the Nationality and Borders Act have given rise to an issue about what questions it is appropriate for a person to be asked as part of these examinations. The nature of the questions was looked at as part of the Government’s consultation.

As far as those new offences are concerned, I repeat the general point we made during the passage of the Nationality and Borders Bill that we on this side of the Committee are opposed to the Government creating a broad offence of arrival that makes it illegal for people to travel to the UK to seek asylum, regardless of whether they are fleeing a war zone or there is a risk to their life. During the passage of the Nationality and Borders Bill we asked the Government instead to create an offence which captured the actual criminal behaviour that they want to target, such as arriving in breach of a deportation order, rather than an overly broad offence. We believe it is crucial that the Schedule 7 counterterrorism powers are used properly and proportionately to target terrorism concerns and not as a universal screening mechanism for people to be captured by broad, unrelated measures.

In conclusion, we must not let our fear of terror prevent us responding compassionately to those who need our help. Indeed, many of those arriving on our shores in an irregular manner are fleeing the same terror and violence that these measures are trying to protect our own citizens from. Terrorist organisations that would do us harm are ruthless and opportunistic; they look to utilise situations such as the refugee crisis for their own gain if given the chance. Therefore, we believe it is right that we ensure that our national security legislation is up to date and takes this into account, so that we can minimise the risk posed by irregular crossings of the channel.

[Baroness Williams of Trafford (Con)]

My Lords, I again thank both noble Lords for their very constructive points and in general. I will not repeat some of our debates on the Nationality and Borders Act—it keeps coming up and I think we will be talking about it for some years to come. The noble Lord, Lord Paddick, is absolutely right that it is the Immigration Act 1971, not 1972.

Preventing extension of scope is a very good point. Criteria for exercising the powers away from port have been drawn tightly to ensure that they catch those who have evaded conventional border controls by their irregular arrival; they do not extend more widely. The change reflects the practical consideration arising from the number of people embarking on illegal channel crossings, and it will ensure that those who enter the UK by such means are subject to the same scrutiny and powers as if they had entered the UK by conventional means. I think that avoids the conflation of some of the worries that noble Lords have.

The noble Lord, Lord Paddick, asked about confidential material; absolutely, yes, nothing has changed there. On the safeguards that the noble Lord, Lord Ponsonby, asked about, we are an open democracy, subject to scrutiny on a regular basis. On extension of scope, we will certainly keep an eye on ensuring that the legislation does what it is supposed to do and nothing further.

On the conflation of terrorism and immigration, it is worth reiterating my noble friend Lord Sharpe’s point that this is not a back-door method to treat all those who arrive in the UK irregularly as if they were terrorists—I think that reinforces the point I just made to the noble Lord, Lord Paddick.

Male Victims of Crime: Support

Lord Ponsonby of Shulbrede Excerpts

Thursday 9th June 2022 Lords Chamber

Asked by

[Lord Ponsonby of Shulbrede]

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to their policy paper Supporting male victims, published on 5 May, what plans they have to ensure that male victims of crimes are supported.

[The Minister of State, Home Office (Baroness Williams of Trafford) (Con)]

My Lords, male victims are included in and benefit from the support of measures in the tackling violence against women and girls strategy and the tackling domestic abuse plan. The Government recognise the specific challenges that male victims of these crimes may face. We have published Supporting Male Victims, outlining commitments to address these issues. The Home Office also funds the Men’s Advice Line and is uplifting funding for this year.

[Lord Ponsonby of Shulbrede (Lab)]

I thank the Minister for that Answer. Dame Vera Baird, the Government’s Victims’ Commissioner, wrote:

“It is estimated that one in six men will experience sexual violence or abuse at some point in their lives … The Home Office’s refreshed ‘Supporting Male Victims’ document—notably not a ‘strategy’—will do shamefully little to advance the interests of these victims … It’s hard to escape the impression that male survivors are an afterthought.”


Does the Minister agree with that statement?

[Baroness Williams of Trafford (Con)]

In all honesty, I have to say that I do not. In the year ending March 2020, the ONS Crime Survey for England and Wales found that 13.8% of men and 27.6% of women aged 16 to 74 had experienced domestic abuse. That is equivalent to an estimated 2.9 million men and 5.9 million women. So the VAWG strategy reflects the disproportionate impact on women, but that is absolutely not to say that we take no notice of the impact on male victims. In fact, we recognise some of the difficulties that men can find in, first, coming forward to report the abuse and, secondly, taking it through the criminal justice system.

Ukrainian Asylum Seekers and Refugees

Lord Ponsonby of Shulbrede Excerpts

Tuesday 7th June 2022 Lords Chamber

[Lord Harrington of Watford (Con)]

I reiterate that refugees from Ukraine are perfectly welcome to come here and there is absolutely no reason why they should be sent to Rwanda. They are welcome here, we have accommodation for them, local authorities are paid to look after them and we have already welcomed nearly 70,000.

[Lord Ponsonby of Shulbrede (Lab)]

My Lords, in the case of children accompanied by a parent or a legal guardian, should the children always be treated the same way? The reason I ask is that a case has been brought to my attention in which the parents and the elder child received visas in the normal way but the family had to travel a substantial distance to get a visa for the younger child. What possible explanation could there be for this? Surely this is just a source of delay for the family travelling to safety in this country.

[Lord Harrington of Watford (Con)]

The noble Lord makes an excellent point. There is a source of delay where there has been an identification problem with the youngest child. I hope the new system we have in place now means that that is not necessary. If they have to go to a visa centre—I have observed this happening in Warsaw and elsewhere—it is only because there is no way we could identify that very young child with the parent. We look for the lightest possible method of identification. In fact, I have seen a letter from the doctor who delivered a baby being considered acceptable. We have to satisfy ourselves that young children are indeed who the mother or relative says they are. I accept that it has led to hardship where there has been a big delay and I hope that will not happen again.

Immigration (Restrictions on Employment and Residential Accommodation) (Prescribed Requirements and Codes of Practice) and Licensing Act 2003 (Personal and Premises Licences) (Forms), etc., Regulations 2022

Lord Ponsonby of Shulbrede Excerpts

Tuesday 7th June 2022 Lords Chamber

[Lord Paddick (LD)]

My Lords, the noble Earl, Lord Clancarty, comprehensively set out the concerns with this statutory instrument, powerfully reinforced by my noble friends Lord Oates and Lady Ludford in particular. On a positive note, the instrument adds categories of people who can rent housing, but I am afraid that is about it.

There are two revised codes of practice: one on civil penalties and how to avoid them if you allow someone to work who is not entitled to work, for example, and another on how to avoid unlawful discrimination—for example, between British citizens and someone who is not a British citizen but is allowed to work in the UK.

The codes of practice on non-discrimination say that employers should do a right-to-work check on every applicant, British citizen or not, so as to treat everyone the same, but the checks are not the same. British and Irish citizens can produce a passport, current or expired. Would the Minister comment on whether an expired passport issued when the holder was six months old would be acceptable as a physical document for an employer? EU citizens who have applied for settled status can produce a document issued by the Home Office showing that they have applied, in which case they are entitled to work, but the employer must also have a positive verification notice from the Home Office employer checking service.

As other noble Lords have said, for foreign nationals who hold a biometric residence card, biometric residence permit or a frontier worker permit, even these documents can no longer be used as evidence on their own of their right to work without using the Home Office online system in addition. As other noble Lords have said, that will now include Ukrainian refugees. EU citizens who have settled status are even further discriminated against as they have no physical proof that they have a right to work, and the employer has to rely entirely on what is a not entirely reliable Home Office online system.

Despite the codes of practice to help employers avoid discrimination, the codes of practice on how to avoid civil or criminal penalties for employing someone not entitled to work are themselves discriminatory, in that British and Irish workers can be employed on the basis of a physical document, current or expired, but everyone else, even if they have physical proof, has to get it checked by the Home Office online system. How many employers, particularly those employing casual labour or temporary staff, will take the quick and easy route and employ a British or Irish citizen, based potentially on an expired passport, rather than a foreign worker?

As my noble friend Lord Oates said, the Windrush Lessons Learned Review emphasised the need for the Home Office to listen to the users of the system. Those who have to rely on digital-only proof of their rights have consistently said that they want physical proof. The Government have not learned the lessons of Windrush. We support this regret Motion and will support the noble Earl if he decides to divide the House.

[Lord Ponsonby of Shulbrede (Lab)]

My Lords, this is clearly an ongoing issue which the House of Commons and multiple Select Committees have raised and looked at over a number of years, as we have heard from a number of contributions. For me, it is a familiar problem. I think of the discussions and debates we had about the digitisation of the courts system, which raised many similar issues. I understand that the Government’s long-term interest is to look at a digital system and they want a digital-only system. The problems and concerns this raises are being debated today. We are also debating how the Government are responding, or not, to the concerns raised.

I echo the concern that this change is being made in a negative statutory instrument without an impact assessment—I see the noble Baroness, Lady Neville-Rolfe, nodding her head. Hers was the only speech that supported the Government’s position—or she said that she wanted to support the Government—so I wrote down her questions, as I think they are worth repeating. The first was the point about the impact assessment. Another was about the lack of detail on cost saving, which was a good question. What is the actual foreseen monetary cost saving through this policy? She also raised a question about the lack of consultation with the business sector on the scheme. I would be interested to hear those answers.

I anticipate that the Government will say that the scheme is no longer new or unfamiliar, as landlords and employers have had access to the online system since 2019-20. The questions are now: how is the system working? What about those people it excludes? Is it performing well enough to be rolled out to cover more people? Why can physical proof not work in tandem with the growing online system? Indeed, that seems to be the crux of the questions put to the Minister: why can we not have a physical system working in tandem with the online system?

Queen’s Speech

Lord Ponsonby of Shulbrede Excerpts

Thursday 12th May 2022 Lords Chamber

[Lord Ponsonby of Shulbrede (Lab)]

My Lords, it is a privilege to close today’s debate, which has indeed been long and interesting, from the Opposition Benches.

I will go through the Bills fairly sequentially, starting with the draft victims Bill. Under the Conservatives, the criminal justice system is failing too many victims and letting criminals off the hook. Chronic underfunding and broken promises mean that victims are denied justice and have lost faith in a system that was set up to protect them. Since 2019, crime is up by 18% but prosecutions down by 18%. The number of arrests has dropped by 35,000. Anti-social behaviour is rife and fraud is soaring. The victims Bill has been promised in four Queen’s Speeches and three manifestos but not delivered. Even now it is only a draft Bill because the Government are failing to find adequate time. Meanwhile, many thousands of victims drop out of the criminal justice system because they do not see a route to justice.

The Labour Party has a ready-made Bill ready to go to end violence against women and girls, clear the backlog by increasing Nightingale courts and fast-track rape and sexual violence cases. The Government have listened to the Labour Party on strengthening rights of victims elsewhere, including victims of anti-social behaviour, but rejected making misogyny a hate crime. It has taken six consecutive Justice Secretaries to bring the victims Bill forward to this draft stage. Victims are still waiting for the Bill but we in the Labour Party will work constructively to make it a reality.

I move on to the proposed reforms to the Human Rights Act, the so-called Bill of Rights. Many noble Lords spoke about this: the noble and learned Lords, Lord Judge and Lord Hope, the noble Lord, Lord Beith, my noble friends Lady Chakrabarti, Lady Kennedy of The Shaws and Lady Goudie, and my noble and learned friend Lord Falconer of Thoroton. They all spoke critically of the proposals in this Bill.

However, we in the Labour Party ultimately believe that this is a short, short-sighted and weak distraction technique which distracts from the fundamental problems currently besetting our criminal justice system, and that it should be viewed in this context. We cite the following three cases where ordinary people’s rights have been protected through the Human Rights Act: first, the quashing of the original Hillsborough inquest verdicts; secondly, the “Do not resuscitate” orders which were wrongly placed on Janet Tracey without discussing it with her first; and, thirdly, the black cab rapist case, where two women complainants won their case because the police failed to properly investigate their cases. This was mentioned by my noble friend Lady Thornton.

The noble and learned Lord, Lord Brown of Eaton-under-Heywood, spoke about the Root and Branch Review of the Parole System, which I presume will be in this Bill but am not actually sure. It is a very important review, and I take the point he makes about the potential effect on IPP prisoners. Nevertheless, if we want to keep more people out of prison, we need a Parole Board and parole service which are absolutely on top of this game—as they were before they were put through so many reorganisations over the last decade.

In this House, we have three principal legal eagles: the noble Lord, Lord Pannick, the noble and learned Lord, Lord Hope, and the noble and learned Lord, Lord Judge—Pannick, Hope and Judge. I sometimes think that that is some sort of commentary on the Government’s approach to human rights reform and constitutional issues. I pay tribute to my noble friend Lady Thornton for thinking up that joke.

I turn next to the Public Order Bill, which was introduced in the House of Commons yesterday, as we have heard. The Government could have legislated to protect women by requiring specialist rape and sexual offence units in every police force area and by creating a national register to monitor serial sex offenders. They could have backed Labour’s plans to make it easier for police to close drug dens and introduce a national register for those convicted of county lines drug offences. They could have consulted on options to increase arrests and deal with the record low charge rate. Instead, having already completed one Bill on protesters’ rights, they are now simply doing the same thing again by reintroducing measures which they tried to tack on to the Bill last year. We will look at the detail of all legislation in the Queen’s Speech, but we have been calling for the Government to work with the police to use their existing powers, such as injunctions, to deal with people who block access to motorways. This point was made by the noble Lord, Lord Paddick.

I now turn to the National Security Bill. The legislation has been promised since 2019. It was requested in the Russia report, but the Government have failed to bring it forward despite significant concerns about threats from states such as Russia and China, especially after the Salisbury poisoning. We believe, as I am sure all noble Lords do, that legislation must keep pace with the changing threats to the UK, and we welcome moves to update the law to keep us safe from state-backed sabotage. The Labour Party will scrutinise the Bill to ensure that the introduction of a foreign influence register scheme will be robust enough to deter and disrupt state threat activity in the UK.

I turn to the economic crime and corporate transparency Bill. This Bill must finally end Britain’s role as a global hub for dirty money and set a new standard for transparency and probity, while supporting honest businesses to trade and flourish. I might just point out that many Russians whom I know came here because they wanted an honest environment in which to work and a banking system and a legal system in which they could trust. The Labour Party’s amendments to the last economic crime Bill would have brought in reforms to Companies House and left oligarchs with nowhere to hide. We are relieved that the Government have finally taken action to increase enforcement powers over crypto assets and on information-sharing around economic crime. We welcome the efforts to broaden the Registrar of Companies’ powers.

On the modern slavery Bill, I agree with the points made by the noble Baroness, Lady Hamwee, who asked about the checking procedures to see whether the requirements of the Bill are actually being observed. We think that legislation is long overdue, since it could be argued that the UK is no longer a world leader in this type of legislation. We would certainly welcome moves to strengthen protection and support for victims. We in the Labour Party previously tabled amendments to the Nationality and Borders Bill to ensure that victims were given the protection they need. In my experience as a youth magistrate, where the provisions of the Modern Slavery Act are very commonly invoked, it is a massive source of delay in getting cases through the youth system so anything that could be done to speed up those procedures would be welcome.

I turn to the draft Protect duty Bill, sometimes called Martyn’s law. We would back this Bill. I think my noble friend Lady Henig spoke about this. We will seek to ensure that it is clear where responsibility lies. There are multiple groups and the host areas have a proper duty to ensure that people are protected from potential terrorist attack.

On the Online Safety Bill, which is a carry-over Bill, I agree with my noble friend Lady Merron when she described this area as the new front line. Any noble Lords who have teenagers or even children who are in their 20s or 30s will know that young people spend a huge proportion of their time online. The Bill was first mooted a decade ago and it is nearly four years since it was promised. We will support the Online Safety Bill and look at ways of improving it as it proceeds through our House.

In conclusion, we believe that the Government have the wrong priorities. They are focusing on the Human Rights Act while crime rises, victims lose faith in the justice system and rapists go free, and on Channel 4 privatisation instead of online harms, gambling and protecting people from fraud. We believe that the Government have turned up late on all the key issues. We have been waiting for years for action on victims, children’s safety online, football governance and dirty money being laundered in the UK. The Government have failed to keep up with a changing world, and this programme is them playing catch-up.

I am proud to be British for lots of reasons, not least because of the cultural sector, but I want to be proud of our criminal justice system as well. I spend a lot of my time working in that system, but I feel that we let people down. I know that is absolutely not the intention of anyone who works in the criminal justice system, but we really need to try to build up the rights of all those who find themselves in the criminal justice system. That should be the prime objective of this Government.

HM Passport Office: Backlogs

Lord Ponsonby of Shulbrede Excerpts

Thursday 12th May 2022 Lords Chamber

[Lord Ponsonby of Shulbrede (Lab)]

My Lords, I thank the Minister for repeating the Answer to the Question in the other place. I start with an anecdote: last Monday, a friend of mine showed me a picture of an 11 year-old Ukrainian boy in Wandsworth in his brand-new school uniform. He started at Southfields Academy, in Wandsworth, on Monday; I understand that so far it is going very well. He was standing there, proud as punch, in his new school uniform. My friend said that Wandsworth Borough Council has been very helpful in setting up all the various measures they had to put in place to host this family. I will not try to claim that as a Labour success, given that it happened only on Monday.

I thank the hard-working staff at the Home Office for trying to deal with this backlog. We believe that this is a problem of leadership and planning, not of the staff themselves. We also believe that the surge in applications for passports was wholly predictable. Too often, we have to come to this House to ask about delays—on passports, on Ukraine visas and on asylum claims, including those of Afghan interpreters, for example. The costs to the people involved in this application process are difficult to describe because of the extremity of the situation in which they find themselves. Does the Minister believe that the management and leadership process in the Home Office is fit to deal with the current shortcomings and future requirements that will be made of it?

[Baroness Williams of Trafford (Con)]

First, I join the noble Lord in being happy about his story of the Ukrainian schoolboy standing proudly in his school uniform on Monday. I praise the noble Lord for not trying to claim it as a Labour victory; whenever these things happen, we are all happy that they turned out well.

It might be helpful to outline the context in which we find ourselves. As I said, HMPO processes 7 million passport applications in a normal year. Due to Covid, only 4 million applied in 2020 and 5 million in 2021. That means that more than 5 million people delayed applying for a British passport throughout 2020 and 2021. Therefore, the unprecedented figure of 9.5 million applications is forecast for 2022.

As I said, some of the problems with phone lines are completely unacceptable, but I think HMPO staff have performed to their best. In this context, 90% of applications being issued within six weeks, between January and March this year, is an excellent figure. In fact, over 98% were processed within a 10-week timeframe, but I am not going to stand and deny that there have been snags in the system. As I outlined, we are working very hard to resolve them.

Emergency Services: Ministers of Religion

Lord Ponsonby of Shulbrede Excerpts

Tuesday 26th April 2022 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Williams of Trafford (Con)]

I will certainly take that suggestion back.

[Lord Ponsonby of Shulbrede (Lab)]

My Lords, last month, as the Minister said, the College of Policing updated its guidelines to allow for the attendance of ministers of religion at the scene of a crime where appropriate, following a collaborative effort led by the Metropolitan Police and the Archbishop of Southwark. What steps will the Government be taking to review this decision and ensure that there are no unintended consequences of this welcome step? I note that a number of other questions from noble Lords have been about reviewing this decision and monitoring it to ensure that it is properly implemented.

[Baroness Williams of Trafford (Con)]

The noble Lord and other Members of the House are absolutely right. We do not want any unintended consequences from this guidance—which has been developed very quickly, I might say—such as contamination of a scene, which might impede a criminal investigation. As with all things that we do, we will review this, and I am very happy to come back to the House in future months and see how it is working.

Licensing Act 2003 (Platinum Jubilee Licensing Hours) Order 2022

Lord Ponsonby of Shulbrede Excerpts

Monday 25th April 2022 Grand Committee

[Lord Paddick (LD)]

My concern is Section 11 of the Business and Planning Act 2020, which allowed on-licence premises to sell alcohol as an off-licence for a period of time, because of the Covid pandemic. That included sales in open containers and alcohol for delivery to residential or work premises. Effectively, on-licence premises could act as off-licences. The ability of on-licence premises to act as off-licences does not cease until 30 September. That is my understanding of the legislation.

As I said, of the 74 respondents, 58 agreed that the extension should apply only to on-sales, presumably because they were concerned about disorder in the streets if people were allowed to buy alcohol in off-licence premises and take it away, rather than consume alcohol in regulated on-licence premises. Therefore, there is a flaw in the instrument, in that the concern about increased alcohol-related crime and disorder as a result of the extension being applied to off-licence premises has not taken into account that all on-licence premises are, until 30 September this year, able to act as off-licence premises. What does the Minister have to say about that?

Other than that concern, I hope that people will celebrate in a manner fitting with the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee.

[Lord Ponsonby of Shulbrede (Lab)]

My Lords, we in the Labour Party also support this statutory instrument and wish the Queen a happy birthday. I hope that the country enjoys a weekend to celebrate this happy occasion.

This is a usual extension of licensing hours, if I can put it like that, for royal events and major sporting events. For example, we did this for the wedding of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, for that of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, and for the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee.

We have heard about the consultation. The noble Lord, Lord Paddick, was kind enough to mention his concern before today’s debate, and I will be interested to hear the Minister’s response to the point he raised. It is a fair question.

Finally, my question to the Minister is this: does she propose raising a glass until 1 am, as a fitting tribute to mark the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee?

Town and Country Planning (Napier Barracks) Special Development Order 2021

Lord Ponsonby of Shulbrede Excerpts

Thursday 7th April 2022 Lords Chamber

[Lord Ponsonby of Shulbrede (Lab)]

My Lords, I thank the noble Lord, Lord Paddick, for putting down this regret Motion. He introduced it very fully and, though I doubt he will, if he were to move it to a vote, we would support him. I have a number of questions, some of which have already been put by noble Lords who have spoken.

There was a major outbreak of Covid-19 at the barracks at the height of the pandemic. At that time, 28 people were sharing a dormitory with access to only two showers and two lavatories, and no ability to self-isolate. What are the current arrangements for Covid? What testing is available and are there now facilities for people to self-isolate?

Napier barracks is a symbol of the failures of the asylum system and this order shows that what was intended to be a short-term solution is now having to be relied on in the longer term, in spite of the poor reports we have heard about. Those concerns were raised by not only the Opposition but Conservative MPs and, crucially, the High Court and the Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration.

What has been done on overcrowding? We have heard that the numbers have gone down to about 12 to 14 in a barrack room. What has been done about the run-down buildings, the fire risks and the “filthy” conditions which the High Court referred to? People with serious medical conditions were housed in the dormitories at Napier, including those with diabetes, cancer and tuberculosis. What is the policy now on holding vulnerable asylum seekers in this type of accommodation? Is it still the case that Napier barracks is classed as contingency accommodation, rather than an accommodation centre, despite now being used over the longer term? What impact does this designation have on the Government’s duties in the operation of Napier barracks?

Turning to mental health concerns, major safeguarding concerns were raised with Napier barracks. A survey conducted by the inspectorate found that one in three people had felt suicidal during their time there.

The Government have included plans in the Nationality and Borders Bill to move to a model of large accommodation centres for asylum seekers. These plans will essentially replicate Napier barracks and this style of accommodation on a wider scale. After the track record we have seen, it is obvious why there is concern about this, as we have heard from other noble Lords. What other similar barracks-like accommodation is being used or considered for use to house asylum seekers? This question was also put by the noble Lord, Lord Paddick. How will safeguarding be approached in these accommodation centres, so that none of the same failures is repeated?

Members of both Houses and the Home Affairs Select Committee were repeatedly told that all public health guidance was being followed and that the site was safe and fit for purpose. Independent inspections showed that neither of these things was the case. What are the oversight arrangements now for Napier and what will be the oversight arrangements for accommodation centres that are to be set up?

I end by saying that I am particularly intrigued about the answer to the question raised by the noble Baroness, Lady Wheatcroft. I had not realised that there were adolescent boys in neighbouring hotels in that area. I thought her question was an important one, and I look forward to the Minister’s answer.

[The Minister of State, Home Office (Baroness Williams of Trafford) (Con)]

My Lords, I thank all noble Lords who spoke in this debate and particularly the noble Lord, Lord Paddick, who brought it forward. I just thought I would clarify that I do not think the right honourable Diane Abbott visited Napier under the previous Home Secretary—I am being told that it was not Napier.

A number of noble Lords have referred to Napier as a detention centre but it is not a detention centre—I will go into further detail on that. It is being used as contingency asylum accommodation, which enables the Home Office to continue to meet its statutory obligation to accommodate and support destitute asylum seekers. As noble Lords will be aware, the accommodation at Napier was set up in response to the enormous pressures that were placed on our asylum accommodation by the Covid pandemic. The pressure to accommodate individuals continues to grow, and it has been exacerbated by the rise in the number of dangerous and illegal small boat crossings of the channel.

The use of Napier barracks was against that backdrop. In September 2020, the Home Office approached the MoD regarding the use of Napier barracks. The Covid pandemic, coupled with pre-existing pressures on the asylum system, meant that this significant number of people had to be accommodated at considerable speed. The use of Napier barracks was intended to be of a temporary nature, and it was expected that the MoD would retake possession of the site in September of last year. The Home Office therefore originally took occupation of it for an initial six-month period under permitted development rights for Crown land in response to the pandemic. In December 2020, those rights were extended for a further six months.

My noble friend Lady Wheatcroft asked about the use of hotels. I will go on to give further details about the barracks, but on the use of hotels, if we did not put people in them, those children would be without somewhere to stay. Such were the pressures on the system at the time, but it is by no means an ideal situation.

Ukraine Refugee Visas

Lord Ponsonby of Shulbrede Excerpts

Thursday 31st March 2022 Lords Chamber

[Lord Ponsonby of Shulbrede (Lab)]

My Lords, I thank the Minister for repeating the Statement. I understand that it is remarkably similar to the second Statement that is going to be repeated—but nevertheless.

The British people have shown immense generosity in the support they want to provide to the Ukrainian people. The purpose of this is to look at Home Office bureaucracy and challenge the Government about whether the bureaucracy that has been put in place is inhibiting people in a desperate situation from coming to this country. The Minister repeated the statistic that 23,500 visas had been issued for family members, but the figure that has been repeatedly asked for, and which has not been given, so far as I am aware, is for how many have arrived. I do not know whether the Minister is able to answer that question now. When I asked him about it a couple of days ago, he did not have the figure.

The Statement made a point about the relaxation of the rules regarding biometric tests for those with valid passports. Another question which I also asked a couple of days ago was about the position of very young children who do not have a passport, and newborn babies and those soon to be born. How will their families be affected? Will the parents and wider family still be required to travel long distances to have the biometric tests done?

Another question is how many extra caseworkers has the Home Secretary appointed to help families fleeing war? Are there more to be recruited?

[Lord Harrington of Watford (Con)]

I thank the noble Lord, Lord Ponsonby, for his very valid questions. On his first question on the number of arrivals, I cannot give him that number, but I said that I would write to the House of Commons DLUHC Select Committee, so will of course write to him. I said Friday or Monday; I would like to keep to that and certainly will.

The noble Lord’s second question was to do with children. If I may paraphrase, he said, “Yes, everyone knows security is important, but what security risk can children pose? Do children with their mother have to have biometric tests, et cetera?” The answer is yes, but I should explain the reason, because I asked that question a lot myself, as the noble Lord may imagine. Unfortunately, people traffickers are alive and well and are prospering. We have been warned of this by the Ukrainian and Polish Governments, so we have to be sure that the children are in fact the children of the person claiming to be their mother and I am afraid that involves a visit to the visa centre. All I would say in mitigation is that 90% of applicants are now able to apply online without using the biometric tests. The visa centres are a much quicker way of doing it. The officials are briefed to do it as quickly as possible. If there is evidence that we can look at that those children are children of the mother that they say they are, we are flexible as we can be, but I make no excuse for doing that, because we do not know another way around it.

Finally, conscious that we have 10 minutes, as mentioned by my noble friend, I come to the bureaucracy and the extra caseworkers. This has been geared up a lot. In fact, I am going to Sheffield tomorrow to see the process right the way through the system. There are hundreds of extra caseworkers. We are doing evening shifts and weekend shifts to make sure that the current backlog is expedited as quickly as possible.