Borders, Citizenship and Immigration Bill [HL]

Let us discuss the missing paper first. I can give noble Lords an assurance that it was placed in the Library. Indeed, I was rather surprised, not to say perturbed, when I heard that the noble Baroness, Lady Howe, had not been able to get a copy of it during the dinner break. I asked my colleagues in the office to check that it is indeed in the Library. It may have taken a little finding, but it is there, and I can assure the noble Baroness that it is available as we speak. As I said earlier, it gives a lot of answers that show at least how far we have got in relation to our discussions at great length before dinner. Hopefully enhanced by our communications twixt now and Report, it will form the basis of our discussions at that stage. The noble Baroness asked how long the volunteering should last. It will be on the initiative of the applicant who can state on the form applying for probationary service that active voluntary service has been, is being or will be undertaken, so it will be driven by what the applicant seeks to do. If they can say that they have been volunteering for a number of years before they get to active citizenship, and the claim can be refereed and proved, they will have demonstrated their commitment. It may be that the referee feels that more evidence is needed to justify the applicant having met the criteria for sustained volunteering, particularly from the voluntary organisation that the applicant has been assisting, but this should be seen not in terms of having to complete a course of action but as a proper act of volunteering. I turn to the point made by the noble Lord. Questions of migration policy, the UK Border Agency and everything that goes with them are national rather than regional policy issues. We have already said that the organisations monitoring and therefore tick-boxing the applicants will, in many cases, come from the 87 local authorities that have already formed a body for dealing with this. They will come from the larger charities and organisations that have banded together to provide the monitoring service. In that sense, the scheme will be local in nature. I cannot see a role for the Assembly and the Scottish Parliament in this, given that a unit is to be formed to assist in migration policy, which, as I have said, is a national area. I assure noble Lords that we will respond with further information as soon as we can. Indeed, I am strongly reminded by the comments of the noble Baroness—if I was not by our one-and-a-half hour debate before dinner—that this is not seen by noble Lords to be developed sufficiently to the point at which they would sign off on it, as they say. I have also given an assurance that, when the design group has completed its work and the Government seek to put the details into regulations, it will be necessary for them to be affirmed by a resolution of the House. I hope, therefore, that the amendment can be withdrawn at this stage so that we can return to the debate on Report, by which time, I hope, we will have a much more comprehensive picture available to us. Again, I apologise for the fact that there may have been some confusion about the availability of the paper, which I can confirm was placed in the Library in the latter part of last week. It should have been available to Members because it would have been helpful to our debate before dinner.