I have to confess that I am still surprised that this is proving such a contentious part of the Bill. For the record, the centre has had 1,602 inquiries—I rang it this morning and it was very helpful, answering the phone within minutes and telling me exactly what to do about what I was asking.
I thank the noble Lords, Lord Foulkes and Lord Fox, and the noble Baroness, Lady Garden of Frognal, for their amendments, which address wide-ranging issues around the operation of the assistance centre, in particular extending the scope of advice provided, readjusting how information-sharing interacts with data protection, and the definition of “corresponding profession”.
Amendment 39 from the noble Lord, Lord Foulkes, seeks to place an additional duty on the Secretary of State to make arrangements for the assistance centre to publish advice and information about immigration requirements for entry to the UK for the purposes of practising a regulated profession. I clarify that, under the current arrangements, the assistance centre is part of the UK ENIC, which I had not realised until the noble Lord brought that up. The UK ENIC focuses more broadly on academic qualifications, whereas the assistance centre focuses on professional qualifications.
Placing an additional duty on the assistance centre to publish advice and information about immigration requirements would go beyond the scope of the Bill. Furthermore, under the provisions of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999, immigration advice and services can be provided only by qualified persons. To include these additional requirements would increase the asks on the remit of the assistance centre and the qualifications of the staff required to deliver it. It would also increase the costs associated with doing so. I know that others in the Committee, including my noble friend Lady Noakes, wish any service to be as economical and targeted as possible.
The Home Office already provides guides and tools to the public to help them understand immigration requirements and eligibility, including a dedicated visa-checking tool. Adding this to the assistance centre contract would therefore duplicate Home Office services.
Amendment 43 tabled by the noble Lord, Lord Fox, would remove Clause 7(4), which clarifies that the disclosure of the information required under Clause 7 does not breach disclosure restrictions, such as any obligations of confidence. The subsection as drafted is both consistent with existing legislation and required to give clarity about the intersection of this clause with data protection legislation. Without it, no direction would be given on which takes precedence.
The noble Lord, Lord Fox, also asked about the information that the Government are asking regulators to provide to the assistance centre. This is very limited in nature and not onerous: it is to ensure that the assistance centre has the necessary information to support the delivery of its functions. It also facilitates
transparency on the recognition of professional qualifications in the UK. Regulators are already required to provide this information to the current assistance centre, and, in our engagement, no regulators have raised concerns about continuing to do so. The objective of the service provided by the assistance centre is and always has been to complement and support regulators, not to replace them.
Amendments 44 and 50 tabled by the noble Lord, Lord Foulkes, relate to data protection in Clauses 7 and 10. Similarly to another tabled by him last week, they seek to create a defence if a disclosure made under the duties in either clause contravenes data protection legislation. As my noble friend Lord Lansley reflected on the first day of Committee, the approach in the Bill is consistent with existing legislation such as the Trade (Disclosure of Information) Act 2020 and the European Union (Future Relationship) Act 2020. I return to my earlier point that Clauses 7 and 10 require disclosure only when it does not contravene data protection legislation. Therefore, a defence is not needed.
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I now turn to Clause 7 more broadly, which provides for the continued delivery of the assistance centre. The assistance centre provides advice and assistance to overseas professionals seeking to practise in the UK and to UK professionals seeking to practise overseas. I understand that the noble Baroness, Lady Hayter of Kentish Town, my noble friend Lady Noakes and others seek to oppose this clause. I hope that I can address their concerns.
Many noble Lords questioned during Second Reading and Committee debates whether the assistance centre is necessary. I reassure them that the assistance centre is a small but useful signposting service. It has a small staff and offers support primarily through its website and a telephone advice service. This streamlined service supports professionals and is working well. It provides valuable assistance to overseas professionals in the UK and UK professionals seeking to practise overseas. The assistance centre receives an average of around 130 queries per month, which are likely to be from professionals seeking information on qualification recognition requirements in the UK or on regulators overseas. Its website received about 2,200 hits in May 2021. The assistance centre also issues certificates of experience for UK professionals who work in a profession which is not regulated in the UK but who want to work in a country where it is regulated. It completes an average of four to five of these per month.
In answer to my noble friend Lady Noakes, who asked whether it just duplicates services provided by the regulators, the assistance centre supports professionals with overseas qualifications and its website provides a portal to help professionals identify the right regulators, which may not always be clear, depending on the profession. The service’s objective is and always has been to complement and support regulators, not to replace them, and it does this by signposting. Regulators are negotiating recognition arrangements with EU counterparts, and we are agreeing new trade deals. The assistance centre will be useful to overseas professionals from countries with which we are entering into new trade deals.
This is a service which benefits the whole of the UK. When service requirements for the assistance centre are considered, the Government will engage on them with the devolved Administrations and regulators. The provision of an assistance centre is in keeping with international best practice. Many countries, including the United States, Australia, and New Zealand provide similar support services. The UK would be an international outlier if it did not provide such an assistance centre. This is not an overengineered service or, as some people have suggested, a solution seeking a question. It is already a valued service.
Amendments 48 and 51, tabled by the noble Baroness, Lady Garden of Frognal, probe the use of the word “substantially” in Clauses 9 and 10 and are similar to amendments debated and withdrawn on the first day in Committee. As I set out in that debate, the use of the word “substantially” reflects the reality that professions do not exactly align across different jurisdictions’ regulatory systems and standards. For example, some countries do not make the same distinctions as others in how they define professions. As I have previously cited in your Lordships’ House, for example, England and Wales distinguish between barristers and solicitors, but this is not the case in other countries. These amendments would, therefore, require absolute parity between professions in different jurisdictions, which could impinge on regulators’ flexibility in exercising their discretion on this point, as well as opening them up to the potential for legal challenge. I therefore ask the noble Lord to withdraw his amendment, and I commend that Clause 7 continues to stand part of the Bill.