Clause 105 - employer
Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Bill
3:15 pm

Ms Angela Eagle (Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Home Office; Wallasey, Labour)

I beg to move No. 296, in page 52, line 26, leave out 'the earnings of'.

Mr Alan Hurst (Braintree, Labour)

With this it will be convenient to take Government amendments Nos. 297 and 298.

Ms Angela Eagle (Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Home Office; Wallasey, Labour)

If the Secretary of State has reasonable suspicion that someone has committed an immigration offence, including an offence in relation to earnings under the national asylum support arrangements, the clause gives him the power to

require the employer to disclose information about that person's earnings, employment history and whereabouts.

Sitting suspended for a Division in the House.

On resuming—

Ms Angela Eagle (Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Home Office; Wallasey, Labour)

The provision also applies to employment agencies hiring out the services of staff, even if those staff are technically self-employed or employed by a third party. The purpose of the clause is twofold: first, to strengthen the immigration and nationality directorate's ability to detect and prevent fraud in the national asylum support arrangements by applicants who claim to be destitute but fail to declare or under-declare their true level of earnings, which costs the UK about £60 million each year; and, secondly, to strengthen the IND's ability to locate immigration offenders at large in the community with a view to effecting their removal. The clause makes it clear that even if the IND does not intend to prosecute the employees concerned, the employer has no lawful excuse for not providing the information specified.

The degree to which employers currently comply with legitimate requests for information from the immigration service varies widely. Provision for the power to be enforced is made in clauses 107, 108 and 109. An employer commits an offence if he fails to comply with a request for information without reasonable excuse, or makes a false declaration. If the employer does not have some or all of the information requested, all he has to do is to declare that that is the case.

The purpose of these technical amendments is to clarify the circumstance in which the Secretary of State may require employers to provide information. Consequently, the same information can be provided in respect of all classes of immigration offence, depending on the purpose for which the Secretary of State requires the information. The clause is an important part of our determination to fight illegal working, and to ensure that people cannot with impunity disappear into the system in the knowledge that we will not catch up with them. In order significantly to enhance our ability in that respect, we need to create certainty so that those employers who are approached know that they must comply with these modest and focused requirements for information.

Amendment agreed to.

Amendments made: No. 297, in page 52, line 27, at end insert—

'( ) section 24(1)(a), (b), (c), (e) or (f), 24A(1) or 26(1)(c) or (d) of the Immigration Act 1971 (c.77) (illegal entry, deception, &c.),'. 

No. 298, in page 52, line 32, leave out subsection (2) and insert—

'(2) The power under subsection (1) may be exercised to require information about an employee only if the information—

(a) is required for the purpose of establishing where the employee is, or

(b) relates to the employee's earnings or to the history of his employment.'.—[Angela Eagle.]

Clause 105, as amended, ordered to stand part of the Bill.

Clause 106 ordered to stand part of the Bill.