I want to write to Lord Green of Deddington
Lord Green of Deddington: To ask His Majesty's Government how many arrivals by (1) Ukrainians and their dependants, (2) Hong Kong BNOs and their dependants, and (3) Afghan citizens and their dependants, are included in the latest Office for National Statistics net migration figures, published on 24 November.
Lord Green of Deddington: To ask His Majesty's Government when the International Passenger Survey (IPS) stopped being used as a significant element in calculating net migration; and what has taken its place.
Lord Green of Deddington: My Lords, I congratulate the most reverend Primate the Archbishop of Canterbury on a very powerful speech. He reminded us of our duty to receive, indeed to welcome, refugees. As many noble Lords have remarked, that cannot be challenged. The challenge is to distinguish between those who are genuine refugees and those who are economic migrants, and it is not an easy thing to do. The present...
Lord Green of Deddington: My Lords, can the Minister elaborate on the immigration aspects of this problem?
Lord Green of Deddington: To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to withdraw from (1) the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees, and (2) the 1966 Protocol relating to the Status of Refugees; and if they have any such plans, what assessment they have made of the need for parliament to have a role in such withdrawals.
Lord Green of Deddington: To ask His Majesty’s Government how they intend to meet their commitment to reduce net migration, given the estimate by the Office for National Statistics, published on 24 November, that net international migration to the United Kingdom was 504,000 for the year ending June 2022.
Lord Green of Deddington: My Lords, half a million immigrants in one year is truly extraordinary: more than the population of Manchester or Edinburgh. Admittedly, that includes 200,000 refugees from Ukraine, Hong Kong and Afghanistan. Even if you allow for that, it is now clear that the Government’s points-based system has opened up nearly half of all full-time jobs to immigrant workers. Will the Government now...
Lord Green of Deddington: To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to withdraw from (1) the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees, and (2) the 1966 Protocol relating to the Status of Refugees; and if they have any such plans, what assessment they have made of the need for replacement legislation.
Lord Green of Deddington: To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Sharpe of Epsom on 24 October (HL2526), why they do not routinely publish any data on numbers of individuals that have overstayed their visa expiry in the UK; and whether they will publish the numbers for India in each of the past five years.
Lord Green of Deddington: To ask His Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the impact on the trend rate of economic growth of a 50,000 increase in the number of work permits issued per year.
Lord Green of Deddington: To ask His Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the increase in GDP per head resulting from a 50,000 increase in the number of work permits if, on average, 90 per cent of applicants continue to be accompanied by one dependant.
Lord Green of Deddington: To ask His Majesty's Government whether they have a target for increasing the trend rate of economic growth; and if so, what it is.
Lord Green of Deddington: To ask His Majesty's Government how many entry clearance visas grants they provided to main applicants under the (1) Skilled Worker, and (2) Skilled Worker - Health & Care, routes for each quarter of the year up to June; and for each route, how many were issued for jobs at (a) RQF Level 6, (b) RQF Levels 3 to 5, and (c) RQF Level 3.
Lord Green of Deddington: To ask His Majesty's Government how many work permits have been issued to Indian nationals in each of the past five years; and how many Indian nationals have overstayed their visas in each of the past five years.
Lord Green of Deddington: My Lords, this is obviously a hugely important issue and the statistics are very difficult to make sense of, so it is a remarkably good Question. Does the Minister realise that the importation of workers on a scale that is likely to have any significant effect on the economy would be huge in terms of immigration? Will she therefore make sure that the Government fulfil their promises to the...
Lord Green of Deddington: To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to section 16 of the Memorandum of Understanding between the UK and the government of Rwanda for the provision of an asylum partnership arrangement, how many refugees from Rwanda will be resettled in the UK; and over what time period they will be resettled.
Lord Green of Deddington: My Lords, it was suggested earlier that Cross-Benchers are a bunch of left-wing intellectuals. I do not think I have ever been accused of being left-wing and certainly not an intellectual. That may explain why I intend to strike a very different note. I intend to tackle a subject that many of your Lordships love to hate. You have guessed it: immigration and, in particular, its impact on and...
Lord Green of Deddington: Does the Minister agree that the wonderful response of the British public to the Ukraine crisis illustrates their willingness to help when they are sure that those concerned are genuine? Secondly, in the wider context of the review that he mentioned, will the Government include another look at the refugee convention, now many years old and facing entirely different circumstances?
Lord Green of Deddington: I shall be extremely brief, noble Lords will be glad to hear. I should just like to draw attention to the state of public opinion, which is amazed by people arriving on our beaches in their tens of thousands. It was 30,000 last year; it could be double that this year. The public do not like it and they are right. It is very bad for the Government’s reputation. It is not so good for the...