Clause 4 - Entry clearance
Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Bill
2:30 pm
Tony McNulty (Minister of State (Immigration, Citizenship and Nationality), Home Office; Harrow East, Labour)
The amendment is fairly important which is why, for change, I am reading what I am told to read rather than doing things in my own way. I shall finish what I am reading and then I will happily give way.
The amendment of section 88 is designed in part to tie in with the Government's implementation—not roll-out—of the programme of targeted tuberculosis screening for entry clearance applications. The Government announced in our five-year asylum and immigration strategy to control our borders that we are implementing our existing powers by targeting health screening for tuberculosis in high-risk areas at the entry clearance stage. Those who are diagnosed will then need to seek treatment at home before being allowed to enter the UK.
The first phase of the programme, which covers four countries, has already begun. Immigration rules already provide for entry-clearance applicants or arriving passengers to be refused entry clearance or leave to enter for failure to produce a requested document or medical report. Despite what has already been implemented and what has happened under immigration rules, the new clause is required to complete the legislation.
Although, given that it is a matter of statute, the measure refers universally in the first instance, as immigration rules do, we are focusing the proposals on four countries—high-risk areas is part of the definition—and we seek fully to assess and evaluate that before we move beyond the four countries.