Mr Richard Sharples: We are considering alternative forms of registration and looking carefully into the question of the registration of aliens.
Mr Richard Sharples: The rules will be laid before Parliament and will be subject to the negative procedure.
Mr Richard Sharples: I would refer my hon. Friend to the reply given to a Question by my right hon. and learned Friend the Member for Huntingdonshire (Sir D. Renton) on 5th August. The further work my right hon. Friend then referred to is in hand. Some detailed proposals have been put to the local authority associations concerned.—[Vol. 822, c. 369–70.]
Mr Richard Sharples: Yes, Sir, I realise that, and I realise also the importance of an early decision in this matter.
Mr Richard Sharples: I think that the House should await the outcome of the consultations which are taking place. I cannot add anything to what my right hon. Friend said on the subject of volunteers in his reply on 5th August.
Mr Richard Sharples: A group of dermatologists have been investigating this matter on behalf of the Home Office's medical advisers. They have concluded that, although they have found some cases of dermatitis attributable to enzyme detergents, the problem is not great, and that the withdrawal of these powders on dermatological grounds would not be justified. But the group have recommended that, since previously...
Mr Richard Sharples: The report is short and I will send a copy to the hon. Lady, who, I know, has a great interest in the subject, and I will see that a copy is placed in the Library, too.
Mr Richard Sharples: We had full information from the United States on this subject, and I do not think that the findings of our committee of experts disagree with those reached in the United States.
Mr Richard Sharples: No. My right hon. and learned Friend gave a very full Answer on this question and I have nothing to add to that.
Mr Richard Sharples: Mr. Speaker, I suggest that it might be for the convenience of the House if with Lords Amendment No. 3, which is next on the Notice Paper, we take Lords Amendment No. 4, in page 2, line 22, after "or" insert: "(except as mentioned below)", Lords Amendment No. 6, in line 35, at end insert: (1A) A woman is under this Act also to have the right of abode in the United Kingdom if she is a...
Mr Richard Sharples: On a point of order, Mr. Speaker. The difficulty is that Lords Amendment No. 3 is only a paving Amendment. The substantive Amendment in the whole group is No. 6. It would be difficult to have a proper discussion without taking Lords Amendment No. 6 in this group. I suggest that I now move. "That this House doth agree with the Lords" in Amendment No. 3, that we discuss it with all the others,...
Mr Richard Sharples: I beg to move, That this House doth agree with the Lords in the said Amendment. This group of Amendments is fairly complex, and I apologise to the House for that. The group taken as a whole has two purposes. The purpose is to meet a point made by the hon. and learned Member for Dulwich (Mr. S. C. Silkin) in Standing Committee concerning the position of the wives of those who are patrial. In...
Mr Richard Sharples: By leave of the House, I will reply to the debate. The hon. Member for Leeds, South (Mr. Merlyn Rees) asked about the position of husbands of those women already here, who exploited the loophole. I cannot give him an answer on that. I do not know at this stage how many there are, but my right hon. Friend will look at any application very carefully and will take into account all exceptional...
Mr Richard Sharples: I understand the point the hon. Gentleman is making, but that would not justify keeping the loophole open. I accept that there were powerful reasons for people to seek to exploit any loophole.
Mr Richard Sharples: "Take advantage of"; I do not want to bandy words. It was only natural that people would take advantage of any legal loophole. But it is equally right that we should seek to close any loophole giving one person an advantage over another in these circumstances. My right hon. Friend the Member for Wolverhampton, South-West was right to say that these wives were not included in the statistics....
Mr Richard Sharples: As I said earlier, my information is that only a small number of children came in this way. As a child is exempt from control, he is not included in the statistics. One can only go on such information as one has and it is not possible to be accurate, but I do not believe that the gap has been used for many.
Mr Richard Sharples: I beg to move, That this House doth agree with the Lords in the said Amendment. This Amendment concerns a matter raised on Report by the hon. and learned Member for Dulwich (Mr. S. C. Silkin). Its purpose is to enable a citizen of the United Kingdom and Colonies who was originally admitted for a limited period, for instance, as a work permit holder, but who later applied for settlement to...
Mr Richard Sharples: The effect of the Amendment would be that if a man marries a woman who is a patrial here he would thereby acquire the full rights of a patrial. The Common Market point is not the position on my understanding of the situation. If a woman comes here and obtains work she is able in the same way as a man to bring her family here and her husband. That is not the same as the grant of patriality....
Mr Richard Sharples: She acquires the right to stay here, yes, but that is not the same as patrial rights. When she leaves the country I think I am right in saying those rights go. The patrial right is the right that we have and that is not the same.
Mr Richard Sharples: I think I am right in saying that she can be deported whereas the person with patrial rights cannot. That is a significant difference. The Amendment proposes that a man would acquire through marriage the rights we are giving under these other Amendments to a woman. If husbands were to benefit from these Amendments the effect would be that any male Commonwealth citizen could obtain exemption...