Clause 7 - Failed asylum seekers: withdrawal of support
Asylum and Immigration (Treatment of Claimants, etc.) Bill
5:00 pm
Mr Mark Oaten (Winchester, Liberal Democrat)
It is not my intention to speak at great length on these matters; I prefer to use this process to raise a number of points and to hear what the Minister has to say. These areas are controversial; there has been a lot of publicity about them, and she will know that the Liberal Democrats are opposed to the proposals related to the removal of benefits. However, this is not the time or place to rehearse the general arguments about that matter. If we are to make progress on those areas, I shall seek, through the amendments, to gain a greater understanding of how the removal of benefits would work.
The first point that I wish the Minister to clarify is who would be informed in the local authority, and who would have a duty to inform the local authority, when a decision was taken that benefit was to be removed. That is a critical point, on which I want reassurance. No one in the Committee would want a situation to arise in which the decision was taken to remove benefit, but none of the statutory authorities that should come in and give support was aware that the decision had been taken, and therefore the back-up systems to deal with the consequences of that hardship, including provision for any children, were delayed for several weeks.
The amendments make the point that we believe that the Bill should include a requirement on the Home Office to make contact with the local authorities to inform them that a decision has been taken on removal of benefit. We also believe that the Home Office has the responsibility for the consequences of its decision and should take a leading role in ensuring that back-up support is put in place. Although the Home Secretary gave me some assurances during the debate on the Queen's Speech, we believe that it is important to set out such requirements clearly in the Bill, with particular reference to the timing of the process. It is not acceptable to leave the onus for contacting the authority and getting the support on the individuals who have had their benefit removed. If the Home Office will not make that initial contact with social services, at the very least those who have had their benefits removed should, at the point at which they are informed of that decision, be told how to obtain support in clear and simple ways, and be given clear information about where they should go and the kind of support that they will receive.
Could the Minister also let me know what kind of discussions her Department has already had with local authorities to see how they plan to proceed on that issue? What kind of advice is the Department giving, and what feedback has she had from local authorities about some of the difficulties that they perceive in implementing the requirements that will be imposed by the Bill?
Could the Minister also explain to me under which section of the Children Act 1989 she envisages local authorities undertaking their responsibility for the children concerned? Will it be section 20 or section 31? I understand that there are different requirements, depending on which section is used. It would therefore be useful to hear from her which section of the 1989 Act she believes local authorities will have to use.
Finally, I hope that the Minister can give me some assurances about parents' access to children who have been taken into care as a consequence of hardship. We would all want some form of access for parents, so that there was not a very harsh regime. We understand that the Government are doing this as a deterrent, but there surely needs to be some ability for parents to have contact with children who have been taken into care.
I hope that the Minister will take me through the process from the point at which a decision is taken to remove benefits, explain how that will work with local authorities and what powers they will put in place, so that I can be reassured that something that I do not think should happen will be done in a way that avoids any further hardship.