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3,654 recent contributions in Hansard
HANSARDDomestic Abuse BillMy Lords, I thank all noble Lords for taking part in this debate. I start by quoting the noble Lord, Lord Paddick, who said that this should be a “magnificent” Bill of which we…21 Apr 2021HANSARDImmigration: Skilled Migrants from Commonwealth CountriesMy Lords, I absolutely refute that this has anything to do with the Windrush generation. The noble Lord points out that a large proportion of the refusals were given to non-white…19 Apr 2021HANSARDImmigration: Skilled Migrants from Commonwealth CountriesI totally get the point that the noble Lord is making about some of the humanitarian considerations that we should give to people who grew up in this country, but this is a very…19 Apr 2021HANSARDImmigration: Skilled Migrants from Commonwealth CountriesAbsolutely—we have humanitarian routes, which are used. The noble Lord talked about BNOs, and he is absolutely right: the people of Hong Kong are coming here legally—we have…19 Apr 2021HANSARDImmigration: Skilled Migrants from Commonwealth CountriesMy Lords, as I explained to the noble Lord, Lord Woolley, the fact that these are people of colour probably reflects the countries the applications came from. There were some…19 Apr 2021HANSARDImmigration: Skilled Migrants from Commonwealth CountriesMy Lords, we do not believe that highly skilled migrants who came to the UK using the tier 1 general visa route have been incorrectly refused indefinite leave to remain. There…19 Apr 2021HANSARDImmigration: Skilled Migrants from Commonwealth CountriesMy Lords, I would share my noble friend’s concern if people were to fall through an imperfect net. We must not conflate them with the Windrush generation, who were genuinely and…19 Apr 2021HANSARDImmigration: Skilled Migrants from Commonwealth CountriesMy Lords, most applications for settlement were made around 2016. Some of them go back some years. The reason why they were uncovered was because of the sheer volume that HMRC was…19 Apr 2021HANSARDImmigration: Skilled Migrants from Commonwealth CountriesOf the nearly 1,700 refusals, 88% had differences of more than £10,000, and the average difference across all cases was £27,600, so they were not small differences. On people…19 Apr 2021HANSARDUndercover Policing InquiryIf the Home Office is asked for files that it has, it would most certainly have to provide them to the inquiry.14 Apr 2021HANSARDImmigrationI will answer two of those questions. Eighteen is the cut-off age because 18 is the age of an adult, and we do not want adults sharing classrooms with young children, for example.…14 Apr 2021HANSARDUndercover Policing InquiryMy noble friend makes a very pertinent point because, of course, some of the inquiry goes back to 1968, so timeliness is very important. As members of the sponsor department of a…14 Apr 2021HANSARDUndercover Policing InquiryHMICFRS published a report just last month on policing protests. It concluded that there was no use of undercover officers in protest policing, which appears proportionate to the…14 Apr 2021HANSARDUndercover Policing InquiryJust before Questions, I said to the noble Baroness that I would look into what I could and could not do because, of course, the inquiry is independent, and rightly so. Parliament…14 Apr 2021HANSARDUndercover Policing InquiryThe cost to date is £36.2 million. The report to the Home Secretary is due before the end of 2023.14 Apr 2021HANSARDImmigrationI thank both noble Lords for their questions. I found them quite interesting. I always find the questions of the noble Lord, Lord Paddick, interesting. However, in a funny way we…14 Apr 2021HANSARDUndercover Policing InquiryThe inquiry chair has already opined on the publication of a list, and the noble Baroness will know what his comment on that issue was. I understand her point about women being…14 Apr 2021HANSARDImmigrationMy noble friend makes two very important points. There is an assumption sometimes that asylum seekers are poor and without skills—that is absolutely not the case. Many are…14 Apr 2021HANSARDImmigrationI disagree that we have closed down routes. The Dubs scheme specified a number, which was subsequently increased to 480. It was based on the ability of local authorities to take…14 Apr 2021HANSARDImmigrationMy Lords, our new immigration system is skills-based. Free movement obviously ended under our leaving the EU. I empathise with my noble friend’s point, but the whole world is…14 Apr 2021