My Lords, my noble friend Lord Paddick and I have added our names to the objections to Clause 37 and Schedule 8 standing part, and we have a number of specific amendments in this group.
I will deal with what I have noted as minor amendments —although one of them is not that minor—before coming to the more general point. My Amendment 229ZD deals with “further qualifying submissions”. The provision requires them to fall to be considered by the Secretary of State under the Immigration Rules, which I saw, when I was looking for various things on the GOV.UK website, are described as legislation. But, as noble Lords will be very well aware, they are not subject to parliamentary scrutiny. The purpose of the amendment is to ask about the process for scrutiny, if any, of current and future amended rules and the application of these to the schedule.
The provision that is the subject of my probing Amendment 229ZE merely changes “claim for asylum” to “protection claim”. My amendment would omit “as may be prescribed”, which applied to the claim for asylum under the previous legislation. I found that slightly odd in the context, but I wonder whether there has been any experience of a prescription claim under the legislation. Perhaps the Minister can flesh that out a bit.
The last of these three specific amendments, Amendment 230ZB, is much more material. Schedule 8 provides for support not to be in the form of cash. The experience of the Azure card is not a happy one. I can just about see that vouchers for certain services might be defensible. Vouchers for goods require the recipient, in effect, to shop in places which are not convenient, do not provide what may be sought within a particular culture and are not the cheapest. In particular, they cannot be used in a market. They may mean travelling to a place where vouchers can be used but vouchers are not available for travel. Getting to essential appointments, such as medical and legal appointments, becomes a huge problem. Children are affected not only through hunger but because the card does not cover things such as school trips or, as I say, travel fares. We have had evidence that the payment system affects people’s mental health—I am sure that this is not news at all to the Minister. It affects their ability to maintain relationships and to participate in social, cultural and religious life. Not every cashier in shops where the card can be used is properly trained, so embarrassment can be caused. The card can generally be a source of stigma because it singles out the recipients.
On Clause 37 and Schedule 8, reference has been made to the current Section 95 regulations. When I was preparing for my Motion to Annul those regulations in October, I was shocked to read how minimal was the provision for essential living needs. One of my noble friends commented to me afterwards that it was obvious from the expressions on several faces opposite, where a number of the Minister’s colleagues were sitting, that they were shocked by what they had heard. The Official Report does not record facial expressions but on that occasion I felt, as I have sometimes felt on others, that the Minister may not be a particularly good poker player.
I was very critical on that occasion of the methodology used to assess essential living needs, which in the case of a child could hardly be called an assessment. It does not include nappies, formula milk and other items specifically for babies. There was a very blunt tool
for applying the approach of economies of scale. By just using that rough and ready term, without any disaggregation or analysis, the adult rate was applied. Of course I did not win when I then put the matter to the vote—the regulations have been in force since August—but one outcome was some discussion both privately with the Minister and during the debate about consultation with the NGOs and others who work in the field on periodic reviews of the support rates. The Minister said:
“We would certainly welcome evidence and data”.—[Official Report, 27/10/15; col. 1160.]
That is not of course in the context of the new Section 95A, but it is relevant, and I hope that the Minister can give the Committee an assurance about the process of arriving at the rates.
5.30 pm
I do not want to take the time of the Committee by repeating points which have been made by the noble Lord and the right reverend Prelate, but they can take it that I agree with the detail as well as the spirit of everything that they have said. However, I will pick out, perhaps in a slightly disjointed way, one or two points. One important point is that the opportunity to engage with and receive assistance from the Home Office must not be lost, as it would be with a short grace period. Engaging with the authorities is important if people are not to be lost in the system—or rather fall out of it. That links in with the importance of a good returns process, which I will come back to in a moment.
Comments have also been made about the scope for dispute between the Home Office and local authorities. I am not suggesting that either sets out to be argumentative, but the strain on local authorities means that inevitably, under new paragraph 10A, there will be a focus on whether the responsibility should be that of a local authority. It was suggested that these could be resolved much more simply, quickly and cheaply by a specialist asylum support tribunal rather than through judicial review.
My Amendment 233 is about support for voluntary returns. I have already referred to forced destitution making it more difficult for families to leave the UK, because with ineffective support, families will disappear. The noble Lord, Lord Ramsbotham, the noble Baroness, Lady Lister, and I were all members of the all-party committee which looked at immigration detention. During our work, we heard about the effectiveness of different forms of support for voluntary return in other countries. The International Detention Coalition found that,
“asylum seekers and irregular migrants are more likely to accept and comply with a negative visa or status decision if they believe they have been through a fair refugee status or visa determination process; they have been informed and supported through the process; and they have explored all options to remain in the country legally. In contrast, those individuals who believe their case has never been heard properly”—
I think this comes within the same category as the support that may be given under the provisions we are talking about—
“are more likely to appeal a negative decision or find another avenue”—
that is put very delicately—
“to remain in the country”.
Our report mentioned the case management models in Sweden and Australia. I do not think we would be surprised to hear of the practice from Sweden, but Australia is not normally held up as a model in the migration area. I had better not take the time of the Committee by reading all this out now. I hear some support for that notion from my side—one can go off people. However, the underlying point is that maintaining contact and providing helpful support is not only humane but effective in gently persuading the people concerned that the best course for them is to accept that they should go back to their country of origin.