Borders, Citizenship and Immigration Bill [HL]

We are very grateful to the noble Lord for taking part in this debate and to the noble and learned Baroness, Lady Butler-Sloss, the noble Lord, Lord Hylton, and my noble friends Lady Miller and Lord Roberts. I think that they have put their finger on a number of really important issues which have not been fully resolved in the discussion. When the Minister stood up and started talking about a clearer journey and clear requirements, I wondered whether he had been listening to us. This is totally unclear. We have no idea what the rules will be for determining whether a person has been in continuous employment or of how the discretion in subsection (7) that the noble and learned Baroness, Lady Butler-Sloss, has drawn our attention to is to be exercised. The Minister has thrown no light whatever on the Government’s intentions. Before we get to Report, we must have more information about what is continuous employment within the meaning of the British Nationality Act 1981 and how the discretion to disregard it in subsection (7) is to be exercised. If the Minister really wants to be helpful, he ought to look at parallels such as the EEA regulations which contain definitions of continuous employment. The noble and learned Baroness, Lady Butler-Sloss, has referred to cases in the courts. If we had common definitions of what is meant by continuous employment throughout the legislation, that simplification would be of great help to the lawyers, to those involved in casework and to the workers themselves. However, I suppose that that is a little too much to hope for. The Minister referred to the private domestic workers issue and I am grateful to him for promising to come back to us on that. However, under the Bill the migrant domestic worker has to remain in domestic service. They cannot leave domestic service and go into some other type of employment. When they are unfortunate enough to have an abusive employer, therefore, and do not get a reference, it will become virtually impossible for them to get another job in the same domestic sector. That is a fact of life. I hope, therefore, that we can find some means of allowing them to escape from this dilemma. With regard to long periods of inactivity mentioned by the Minister, I need to know what he means. "Long" could mean 30 days, as in the EEA regulations, or it could mean 60 days. We do not have the faintest idea. No light has been thrown on the subject this afternoon. We look forward to communications from the Minister later on, certainly before we get to Report. Meanwhile, I beg leave to withdraw the amendment. Amendment 51 withdrawn. Amendment 52 not moved.