Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Bill

moved Amendment No. 48:"Page 10, line 24, at end insert ““and””" The noble Baroness said: There are a number of government amendments in this group. We hope that they will improve parliamentary scrutiny of the implementation of the civil penalty arrangements, which we discussed in great detail during our last sitting. They also reflect the measures we are taking in the Equality Bill to provide for a single statutory body responsible for equality matters. Amendments Nos. 48 and 49 would make the order-making power under Clause 15(2) subject to the affirmative resolution procedure instead of the negative resolution procedure. Under Clause 15(2), the Secretary of State may prescribe by order the maximum level of penalty that can be imposed on an employer under the civil penalty arrangements. As we have said previously, our intention is to set the maximum possible penalty at £2,000 per illegal worker. Clause 20, a technical provision, currently sets out that the order-making powers under Clauses 15, 16 and 19 are subject to the negative resolution procedure, which includes the Clause 15(2) order-making power. The amendment reflects a recommendation made by the Delegated Powers and Regulatory Reform Committee in its recent tenth report. The committee recommended that, in view of the absence from the Bill of an implied maximum penalty, orders to prescribe a maximum penalty should be subject to the affirmative resolution procedure, thereby ensuring that they are subject to debate and approval by each House. We accept the committee’s recommendation to provide that orders made under Clause 15(2) will be subject to the heightened level of parliamentary scrutiny required by the affirmative resolution procedure. I hope that noble Lords will agree that we have fulfilled our obligation in that regard. Amendments Nos. 50 and 51 make a consequential change to a reference to the Commission for Racial Equality in Clause 23 to reflect the provisions of the Equality Bill. Noble Lords will be very familiar, as am I, with the provisions of the Equality Bill, which has been debated extensively here and in another place. The Equality Bill provides for the dissolution of the Commission for Racial Equality, the Equal Opportunities Commission and the Disability Rights Commission, and their replacement with the new Commission for Equality and Human Rights. The Equality Bill provides that the Secretary of State must use his or her order-making power to dissolve the former equality commissions by a statutory deadline of 31 March 2009. It is right that Clause 23 of the Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Bill should reflect that important provision in the Equality Bill. Clause 23 currently places a duty on the Secretary of State to consult the CRE and the Equality Commission for Northern Ireland before issuing a code of practice to employers on avoiding unlawful racial discrimination while avoiding liability to a penalty and avoiding committing an offence under Clause 21. In amending Clause 23, we intend that the reference to the CRE should be replaced with a reference to the Commission for Equality and Human Rights. Until the CRE is dissolved by virtue of the exercise of the order-making power in Clause 37 of the Equality Bill, the Secretary of State will continue to have a legal duty to consult the CRE before issuing a code of practice to employers. Thereafter, the duty would be to consult the new commission. The amendments do not affect the position of the Equality Commission for Northern Ireland. On the basis of the way in which I have outlined the provisions, I hope that noble Lords will feel able to accept the amendments. I beg to move.