Oral Answers to Questions

John Baron Excerpts

Monday 7th January 2013 Commons Chamber

[Oliver Colvile (Plymouth, Sutton and Devonport) (Con)]

4. What assessment her Department has made of the most recent statistics on net migration.

[Mr John Baron (Basildon and Billericay) (Con)]

7. What assessment her Department has made of the most recent statistics on net migration.

[Gavin Barwell (Croydon Central) (Con)]

12. What assessment her Department has made of the most recent statistics on net migration.

--- Later in debate ---

[Mrs May]

We have no plans to review the policy. At local level, those providing accommodation are contractually required to discuss the local impact with local authorities, education providers and others so that it can be assessed regularly. My hon. Friend the Minister for Immigration will be visiting my hon. Friend’s constituency in the coming weeks and will be able to see for himself the impact that this is having there and discuss the issue.

[Mr Baron]

Our public services are already overstretched, and there is concern that we will see a fresh wave of immigration from Romania and Bulgaria as the transitional agreements lapse at the end of this year. What lessons have the Government learnt from our experiences in 2004?

[Mrs May]

The very clear lesson we learned was that we should ensure that transitional controls are placed on any future accession countries, and that is indeed what we will do in relation to Croatia’s accession. As my hon. Friend the Immigration Minister has indicated, we are also taking a number of steps to look at the abuse of free movement and how free movement operates across the European Union.