Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Bill

My Lords, in speaking to Amendment No. 10 in this group, I declare an interest as chief executive of Universities UK. I cannot hide my disappointment that the Government have not proved willing on this occasion to listen to our concerns about Clause 4, which will abolish the right of appeal in entry clearance cases. No substantial improvement has been made so far to this aspect of the Bill. As the noble Baroness, Lady Anelay, said, there is a manifesto commitment in play which of course ties the hands of this House. But it does not remove the possibility of making real improvements to the Bill. As we know, the quality of initial decision-making is currently poor. With respect to students, about 34 per cent of applications are initially refused. Of those who appeal, one in four is successful. In plain English, entry clearance officers get decisions wrong with alarming frequency. The Government have argued that the new points-based immigration system will solve the problem. It appears, however, that Ministers are confident that this will happen overnight because it is clear that the Government intend to remove the right of appeal as soon as the points-based system is in place. The noble Lord, Lord Dholakia, has tabled Amendments Nos. 76 and 77 in this group, which would create an opportunity for the system to be tested before appeals are abolished. I wholeheartedly support that approach. Under the current scheme, there will be no opportunity to test the Government’s assertion that the new points-based system will work and will improve the quality of decision-making. Although we all hope that that will be the case, there are reasons to doubt that it will, which I have set out in a detailed letter to the Minister this week. As the noble Lord, Lord Dholakia, said, the details of the scheme are yet to be published. I hope that we will see it before Third Reading. But from what we know, it is clear that there will remain an element of subjectivity in the process. As Tony McNulty, the Minister, has said in another place,"““100 per cent objectivity is a fool’s errand . . . It is not about simply ticking boxes and adding points up, although that is a large part of the measure. We do not know how points will be allocated and what weighting will be given to different criteria””.—[Official Report, Commons Standing Committee E, 20/10/05; col. 116.]" There remains the fact that errors frequently occur under the current system, as a result of entry clearance officers failing to follow the existing rules. How can the Minister be confident that that will not happen under the new system? I hope that better training and resources will improve things, but I remain unconvinced that the new points-based system will be a magic-wand solution. If the Government are wrong and errors still occur, or it simply takes some time to get the system working well and train the people who are to operate it, those who lose out will have no opportunity for independent redress. That is particularly disappointing because the Minister’s own department, the Department for Constitutional Affairs, has made it clear that the Government are committed to providing independent adjudication where decisions taken by government officials affect people’s lives. The July 2004 DCA White Paper, Transforming Public Services: Complaints, Redress and Tribunals, stated:"““in a democracy ruled by law, and under a government committed to high quality and responsive public services, simply appealing to a department’s sense of fairness is not, and never has been, enough””." I hope my noble friend at the Dispatch Box will make it clear on the record that she agrees with the statement; I do. If she does agree, can she explain how it is consistent with the Government’s intentions on entry clearance? There is still time for the Government to achieve consistency between that statement and the entry clearance system. Amendment No. 10 would create an opportunity to do just that. It provides for the Government to appoint a person or body independent of the decision maker with power to review decisions in individual cases. Given the DCA’s commitment to independent adjudication, I have suggested that this scheme should have the endorsement of the Lord Chancellor. I have not sought to bind the Government’s hands on who should take responsibility for such an independent review and, no doubt, the Government can improve on the drafting. But in the five-year plan the Government have already committed themselves to producing a scheme for administrative review. All I ask is for that system to be given a statutory basis, for the principles to be set out in secondary legislation, and for it to include some element of final independent arbitration. I know that my noble friend has been thinking about the scheme and I am most grateful for our conversations about it. But I would appreciate it if she could confirm several points: that administrative review will be available to all those refused visas; that entry clearance officers will provide written reasons for refusing visas and invite both applicants and their sponsors to make representations; that the review should allow for the clarification of existing evidence; that responsibility for conducting the review will rest with the regional tier of entry clearance staff; and, finally, that the independent monitor will sample review cases and monitor procedure in relation to students. The reason I ask for these specific commitments is that so far we do not have any concrete proposals for the review, which was promised as part of the five-year plan and we know that the administrative review process that exists under the current system does not deliver results. I believe the record will show that this House is well aware of the problems with the scheme the Government have set out. The Minister still has an opportunity to listen to those arguments and to make appropriate changes. At this point I should like to thank the noble Baroness, Lady Anelay, and the noble Lords, Lord Dholakia and Lord Avebury, for their determination, tenacity and continuing support for this approach. The Minister has a reputation in this House for listening and delivering real improvements to legislation. In speaking to Clause 1, all those who intervened complimented her on the fact that she was so willing to listen. Notwithstanding all of the constraints this House is under in view of the manifesto commitment, I hope she will take the opportunity now before us and bring back some concrete proposals before Third Reading.