Clause 11 - Penalty
Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Bill
3:15 pm
Andy Burnham (Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Home Office; Leigh, Labour)
It is a relief to move to a new aspect of the Bill. I thank the hon. Member for Woking for his comments. The Conservative Administration introduced the section 8 provisions, which are along the lines of these provisions, so there is some agreement between us. I will address his specific points, but before doing so let me say that I am conscious of his wish to have a clause stand part debate. I, too, would welcome such a debate.
The section 8 offence of employing someone without the relevant immigration status was introduced in 1995. Since it came into force, in January 1997, there have been 17 successful prosecutions, so although we could support the provision, the section 8 offence has not been widely used. There have been only a handful of prosecutions in each year since the provision came into force. That is some of the background to the clauses dealing with illegal working. I believe that it will help members of the Committee if I refer them to the codes of practice that we have published alongside the clauses, to provide the detail of how they will work.
I shall now deal with amendments Nos. 7 and 8 and, following on from those, amendments Nos. 1 and 2, which, as the hon. Member for Woking said, relate to clause 17. Amendment No. 7 would leave out the words ''an adult'' and insert ''a person''. I believe that the hon. Gentleman's concern is that the provision may leave out children or young adults—those aged 16 or younger. May I refer him to clause 21? For the purposes of the Bill, it defines an ''adult'' as
''a person who has attained the age of 16''.