Oral Answers to Questions

Clive Betts Excerpts

Monday 15th January 2024 Commons Chamber

[Tom Pursglove]

The right hon. Lady will recognise that it is of course important for there to be a buffer, to make sure that operationally we have the bed spaces required in a contingency situation to be able to respond to any surges and particular challenges. That is a difficult area but one that we are looking at carefully. Within the hotel estate, we are of course maximising the use of bed spaces wherever possible, which again helps us to get on and close the hotels, in a way that I think she would like to see.

[Mr Clive Betts (Sheffield South East) (Lab)]

The downside of the volume of asylum applications being granted is the pressure that that is putting on the local authority homeless sections. Will the Minister have another look at the time given to asylum seekers from the date on which their application is accepted to the date on which they have to move out of Home Office accommodation? Will he consider the issue of 28 days versus 56 days, which is the recognised limit under the Homelessness Reduction Act 2017? Otherwise, all we are going to do is transfer people from Home Office-funded hotels to local authority-funded ones, with all the extra pressure of financial problems that that creates for local authorities.

[Tom Pursglove]

On the dates, we are working with local authorities to give them as early visibility as possible about the anticipated number of people with decisions that have been granted that they should expect to see. That helps to forward-plan and we are mindful of those points. As things stand, there is no intention to change that 28-day period. Clearly, planning and working with local authorities is critical, but in many cases people have more than 28 days within which to vacate.

UK-Rwanda Partnership

Clive Betts Excerpts

Wednesday 6th December 2023 Commons Chamber

[James Cleverly]

The Bill will go through the House, and although we are seeking to do this at pace, it will go through the processes. I have no doubt that hon. and right hon. Members will want to put forward amendments and of course the Government will listen to all ideas that seek to improve the efficiency of the Bill.

[Mr Clive Betts (Sheffield South East) (Lab)]

Does the Home Secretary agree that our constituents would expect that, before we vote on any measure in this House, we thoroughly understand what it is going to cost? In the end, it is not our money we are spending; it is their money. Coming back to a question that he did not answer before, will he give a figure for how much it will cost this Government—our constituents—for each asylum seeker sent to Rwanda for the whole five years they are there? If he will not give us a figure now, will he agree to give a figure before we are asked to vote on the Bill?

Net Migration Figures

Clive Betts Excerpts

Tuesday 28th November 2023 Commons Chamber

[Robert Jenrick]

My right hon. Friend and I are at one on this issue. He is right to say that there are two challenges: the sheer number of people coming in, and the types of people coming into our country. It is right that we make careful judgments about who will benefit our citizens and who will add to our country’s economy and skills base, and not simply allow very large numbers of people with low or, at best, mid skills. They are unlikely to add to our economy and, in many cases, will be net costs to the Exchequer. Those are the choices that we need to make to establish a more discerning migration system. I have already answered the dependants question, and we are carefully considering it.

[Mr Clive Betts (Sheffield South East) (Lab)]

The Government had a commitment in 2019 to deal with immigration. I have a simple question: why has it taken four years for them to recognise that they need a plan? Social care relies on workers from abroad, because there is no strategy in place for workforce, training or funding. So before the Minister agrees to increase the salary at which people can come from abroad to work as social care workers, will he agree to do a full impact assessment on what that would mean for the social care sector? What measures will be put in place to provide better salary and training for UK residents to take those jobs?

Illegal Migration Update

Clive Betts Excerpts

Wednesday 29th March 2023 Commons Chamber

[Robert Jenrick]

My hon. Friend raises an important—indeed, fundamental—point: of course we want the United Kingdom to be a generous and compassionate country that is renowned around the world for how we treat those seeking sanctuary, but we also have to appreciate the finite resources we have and deploy them in the most effective manner. I feel profoundly that we are sent here not to grandstand or virtue signal but to put the wellbeing and interests of our own constituents first.

[Mr Clive Betts (Sheffield South East) (Lab)]

The Minister has made vague statements about all asylum seekers being moved out of hotels, but he does not have a plan for how to do it, does he? [Interruption.] Well, let us see it. As the Minister for Security announced yesterday, the only fall-back is to pass responsibility back to local authorities. Did the Minister see the Local Government Association’s response to that plan yesterday? It said that most councils have no social housing to offer, and in most areas the local housing allowance is not sufficient to pay for the cost of accommodation. What does the Minister expect local authorities to do when thousands of asylum seekers are simply passed back to them from the hotels they are currently in?

[Robert Jenrick]

It is a pity that the hon. Gentleman always campaigns against the building of new homes. That might have been the easiest way to fix the housing crisis. We are going to work carefully and productively with local authorities to address this issue. That has always been my approach: when I was Local Government Secretary I engaged constantly—religiously—with local authority leaders, and we continue to do so. We are going to provide significantly enhanced resources to local authorities so that we better meet the true cost of handling this difficult challenge.

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[Robert Jenrick]

We want to ensure that human dignity is at the heart of the system we are creating, which is why the UK has a fantastic record in recent years for resettlement schemes of the kind I know the hon. Gentleman is a champion of, such as the schemes for those from Ukraine, Hong Kong, Syria and Afghanistan. By bringing an end to illegal migration across the channel or reducing it as far as one can, we can deploy our finite resources as a country to help those people who need it most—those people who are in conflict zones, the victims of religious persecution whom he cares passionately about—rather than those people, predominantly young men, who are fit, able and in a safe place such as France.

[Mr Betts]

On a point of order, Mr Deputy Speaker.

[Preet Kaur Gill (Birmingham, Edgbaston) (Lab/Co-op)]

rose—

Points of Order

Clive Betts Excerpts

Wednesday 29th March 2023 Commons Chamber

[Mr Clive Betts (Sheffield South East) (Lab)]

On a point of order, Mr Deputy Speaker. In the Minister’s response to the question I asked him, he said that I had always opposed house building. I think the Minister knows that in this House—as the Chair of the Levelling Up, Housing and Communities Committee, as well as individually—I have argued very strongly for more house building, including hitting the 300,000 target. Only this week, I have been working with officers in Sheffield to try to get a scheme to build 800 homes at Attercliffe Waterside in my constituency, which I have worked on for many years. In the past I have known the Minister to be a fair and reasonable man, even when I have disagreed with them. On reflection, would he not accept that what he said was unfair and inaccurate, and maybe he would like to correct the record?

[The Minister for Immigration (Robert Jenrick)]

Further to that point of order, Mr Deputy Speaker. I have worked alongside the hon. Gentleman for some time, and I know him to be an excellent Chair of the Select Committee, so I mean him no disrespect. He and I did disagree on reforms to the planning system, including about building more homes in Sheffield, but I know that he is a champion of good-quality housing and of increasing the quantity of it across the country.

Human Trafficking and Modern Slavery

Clive Betts Excerpts

Wednesday 29th March 2023 Westminster Hall

[Several hon. Members rose—]

[Mr Clive Betts (in the Chair)]

Four Members wish to speak, and we have 30 minutes, so if hon. Members could divide that into seven and a half minutes each, and stick to that, it would be really appreciated. I call Sarah Champion.

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[Priti Patel]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. If I may, Mr Betts, I would reflect on the fact that, when I was Home Secretary, we saw the most appalling act of people trafficking, in a lorry in my hon. Friend’s constituency; that was the Purfleet incident, and 39 individuals—victims—passed away. It was one of the most horrific incidents, but we have had strong criminal prosecutions, and other work has taken place. I will come to that in a minute.

On my hon. Friend’s point, cuckooing, children being exploited through drug gangs, and other vulnerable people have dominated much of my work over three and a half years. There is a fundamental link here: criminal gangs showing contempt and disregard for human life and dignity. This is a big tragedy, which we are all here discussing today.

The latest figures from the ILO estimate that in 2021, 28 million people worldwide were forced into labour and 22 million were forced into marriages. These issues are more prevalent than ever today, despite the fact that we think the world and society have moved on and there is greater awareness. That 50 million is more than the population of Spain, so we should just think about the scale of the challenge we face. The ILO also estimated that that number had increased by 10 million between 2016 and 2021. That demonstrates the nature of the criminality, which my hon. Friend touched on, and that is why we have to be relentless.

I recognise the Home Office footprint in this as well. We do need an anti-slavery commissioner; there are reasons why that was delayed last year, which are mainly down to the changes in Government that took place more than once. In reality, however, this should be a whole-of-Government effort. That is why my right hon. Friend the Member for Maidenhead (Mrs May), who deserves every credit and tribute for the work she led on securing the Modern Slavery Act 2015, was fundamental in this area because she recognised that. During my time in the Department for International Development, we worked internationally on this matter, and I had the privilege of working with my right hon. Friend when she was Prime Minister to develop that call to action to end forced labour, modern slavery and human trafficking. Under her leadership, that went straight to the United Nations General Assembly in 2017, and its impact was significant. It was a major moment for the United Kingdom and one we should be proud of. It brought together 37 countries to introduce commitments to strengthen law enforcement activity, galvanise international co-operation and support victims. We rightly funded that and put aid into that. That investment helped tackle modern-day slavery upstream in transit countries, tackling trafficking at the source. It absolutely shows how development assistance safeguards people and safeguards people’s lives. Over recent years, because this is no longer integrated in the way it once was, we have gone backwards and, with that, our international standing on this issue has also regressed. Sadly, I do think this is right.

There are many issues around illegal migration that rightly need to be tackled, and the Government have to find all the right ways to do that. That is why, through the Nationality and Borders Act last year, we brought in temporary protection measures because it is right that we give the care and support to genuine victims. This was down to hon. Friends who spent time with me as Home Secretary, including my right hon. Friend the Member for Chingford and Woodford Green (Sir Iain Duncan Smith), my hon. Friend the Member for Wellingborough and others, who made this case. I worked with the Centre for Social Justice on this matter, and the various commissioners obviously made this point clearly.

In the interests of time, I want to make two quick points. We must work comprehensively and thoroughly to bring offenders to justice, and our laws are too weak on this—they really are. On the level of prosecutions, there was a targeted measure in the Nationality and Borders Act last year to ensure that small boat pilots would be focused on for prosecution, obviously through the right way. Our National Crime Agency, which my hon. Friend mentioned, deserves great credit. Much of the work it does is based on securing intelligence information that can be disclosed only in court for prosecution purposes. The agency’s work in this country must be reinforced and bolstered at every single level.

My last point is about supporting the victims. They are victims of horrendous and heinous crimes. I am delighted that the Victims and Prisoners Bill will come forward today—I have been going on about it for over a decade. This is where we must work together to ensure that the victims of human trafficking and modern-day slavery are given support in the criminal justice system, and that the laws are strengthened to ensure the prosecutions take place. My hon. Friend highlighted the frankly derisory figures on sentences and prosecutions. We must change that, and this House can do that.

The other area to touch on for victims is statutory services. The care for adults is good, but we have institutional state failure on the approach for children where local authorities are allowing children to abscond. It then becomes a policing issue, and it should not just be about the police. Our statutory services must step up. Mental health services, housing services and trauma-informed approaches must be embedded.

I know the Minister has been working assiduously on this issue, but we must start to hear further details on what work is taking place across Government to ensure that victims are given support and to bring forward the reforms required to give them justice.

[Mr Clive Betts (in the Chair)]

It is seven minutes each for the remaining speakers, so that we start the wind-ups at 10.28 am.

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[Giles Watling (Clacton) (Con)]

It is an honour to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Betts. I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Wellingborough (Mr Bone) on bringing forward this important debate and speaking so powerfully. Since Kindertransport and before, right through to those coming from Afghanistan and Ukraine today, we are proud in this country to give people safe haven, and we must continue to do so.

I will focus on the boats. As a yachtsman, I am well aware of the dangers of crossing open waters. On 23 September last year, I was crossing the channel—quite legally—and I saw the French warship Athos behaving in the most extraordinary fashion. I looked on the navigation device and saw that it was circling, and it kept circling as it left the French coast towards the UK coast. It was circling around a very small boat crowded with people. When we got closer, we could see those people; they were in a desperate condition. What horrified me about that particular incident was that the French warship was just circling them. I am a yachtsman; I am a seaman. That is what I do. What we do is take desperate people off those boats and make sure they are safe. I have the evidence on my phone right here.

We must stop that sort of thing happening. Stopping illegal boats is a matter of common humanity. As my right hon. Friend the Member for Witham (Priti Patel) said, 39 people lost their lives in the back of a trailer, so it is not just the boats in south Essex. That is because of our weak borders. The cost to the taxpayer is enormous because of this Home Office malfunction, as I see it. It is not acceptable. I believe something like £7 million per day is spent on hotel fees, which is outrageous, but we are looking to address this. We have to show humanity about it.

Locally, at a party conference last year I was contacted by the chief executive of my local council. He told me that he had been given 24 hours’ notice, at a weekend, that we were going to have a migrant hotel suddenly opened upon us. The council did not have time to get services in line. Those people would need help. It was a question of putting desperate people in a deprived place. This was not nimbyism; the local council had identified other, more suitable sites, but the company that the Home Office had employed had decided to open that site within 24 hours.

Fortunately, by working with officials and asking an urgent question in the Chamber, I was able to get that particular incident stopped. We are dealing with this with a scattergun approach. We are being reactive as the incidents happen. We cannot go on like this. We cannot keep fighting a rearguard action. For the sake of humanity, and for the sake of the taxpayers of Clacton and elsewhere, we must stop the boats. That means backing the new Government measures, which have been laid out here today, and making the Home Office more logistically competent. In my view, and I have said this several times before, that means liaising with our French counterparts and getting British boots on the ground in France. We can do this. I am sure our French counterparts would like to see it. That would stop the boats leaving those beaches, and prevent the horror that so many people go through. We saw a child on a beach in Kent, and we never want to see that again.

[Mr Clive Betts (in the Chair)]

I thank all hon. Members for keeping to time. We will move on to the wind-ups now. Each Front-Bench speaker has 10 minutes, or effectively 11, given that we have a bit of extra time.

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[Holly Lynch (Halifax) (Lab)]

It is always a pleasure to follow the hon. Member for Cumbernauld, Kilsyth and Kirkintilloch East (Stuart C. McDonald). I will start, as others have, by paying tribute to and thanking the hon. Member for Wellingborough (Mr Bone) for securing the debate. In addition, I thank him for all the campaigning work that he has done in this policy area. He shared powerful examples of where the failures in the system have further compounded the risk, particularly for children, of being re-trafficked. I also join him from the outset in paying tribute to the incredible work of Justice and Care, which has had a transformative effect. I have had the opportunity to see their victim navigators in West Yorkshire and the tremendous impact that they have had in supporting victims and securing prosecutions.

 We know that the number of victims of these heinous crimes is increasing. My hon. Friend the Member for Rotherham (Sarah Champion), like almost every Member who has contributed to the debate, made the point that we were once so proud of our modern slavery laws, but, as we have just heard, we seem to be taking backward steps in identifying victims and supporting them through to the prosecution of their abusers. Nearly 17,000 potential victims were referred to the NRM in 2022—a 33% increase on the previous year—but charities have predicted, using police data, that there could be at least 100,000 victims in the UK.

I want to share the story of Sanu, who was tricked into living and working in slave-like conditions in the UK. For seven years, he was beaten, threatened and given no wages for the constant work he did in his trafficker’s shop. He had had to beg for money and food. Now he is living in a Salvation Army safe house where the support he is receiving is helping him to overcome his ordeal.

Sanu told the Salvation Army:

“I came to the UK to study. That was my goal…I worked at least 50 to 60 hours a week and sometimes 90 to 100. I would start at 8 o’clock and have to carry on until he said I could leave. I wasn’t allowed to go anywhere; no mobile phone. I couldn’t go to the GP. He said if you talk to anyone then the police will come and get you…My trafficker knew I had nowhere to stay and no other friends. He knew how to control me. He controlled me like in a video game with a remote controller…Every minute every second he took from me. Even now I can still be scared. What happened to me is all wrong. I still have trauma and nightmares…I try to sleep but I still see his face, it is like he’s still chasing me.”

I do not need to tell the Members who are here in Westminster Hall that when we talk about victims, we are not solely talking about foreign nationals. The reporting of British victims to the NRM is rising, and 2022 saw the highest number of British possible victims identified since the NRM began. Most of those, as we have heard, were children. In 2022, one NRM referral in five was for a British child, and many more British children are thought to be vulnerable. Research suggests that there is a failure to refer many British victims to the NRM because they are not identified as victims of modern slavery or because of missed opportunities to safeguard them.

In the face of such a crisis, we need a system that finds victims, protects them, supports them and helps them to rebuild their lives, but as things stand that is not happening. Many victims never access the NRM support system, and if they do, there are huge delays in decision making. That means that many are stuck in the system, receiving wildly varying quality of care and unable to move through. Once people are confirmed as victims, there are few meaningful support mechanisms to help them rebuild their lives, and the impact of that on their mental health must not be understated.

How do we ensure that those vulnerable victims are reached and receive help once they have been identified? We desperately need to improve the first responder role. Effective, informed training and safeguarding procedures are needed to ensure that victims do not slip through the net. Training and policies need to include increasing understanding of the specific needs, circumstances and entitlements of British national victims, improving the transition from child to adult services, and the development of professional modern slavery risk assessment tools for British nationals.

Let me look at how we can improve the decision-making process. Decision makers must have modern slavery understanding, expertise and experience. Evidence from pilot schemes that have devolved the decision making away from the Home Office shows that the pilots look to have generated impressive results. The processing is speeded up, and any conflict of interest for the Home Office is removed. A multi-agency approach, and the broad knowledge and wisdom that come with it, could improve decision making for victims—certainly those with complex needs.

The key to truly ending these terrible crimes is to lock up the traffickers—a point about which the former Home Secretary, the right hon. Member for Witham (Priti Patel), spoke powerfully. We know that the number of victims is increasing, but prosecution rates are shamefully low. Ministry of Justice statistics show that in 2021 there were only 93 prosecutions and 33 convictions in cases in which modern slavery was the principal offence.

Proper support enables modern slavery victims to engage in securing the prosecution of traffickers. Support for victims, including victim navigators, whose incredible work I have had the opportunity to see, is central to successful convictions.

I want to talk about a case study that was shared in The Guardian this week by investigative reporter Annie Kelly. Julia is a Ukrainian survivor of human trafficking and sexual exploitation. She was tricked into coming to the UK under the false promise of legitimate hotel work. For five years, she was controlled by criminal gangs who had seized her passport and forced her to engage in prostitution. She had no control over who she saw or what she was expected to do. Desperate to support her child back in Ukraine and unable to speak English, Julia says she felt trapped by her immigration status and her debt. When she was rescued by the police, she began to build a relationship with a victim navigator, who supported her. Julia, with the victim navigator’s support, worked with the police, and her bravery has resulted in the establishment of an international taskforce, the identification of 120 other female victims and the conviction of five exploiters. Julia is now recovering and rebuilding her life.

Julia’s story and research from charities on the frontline make it clear that consistent support means that victims engage with police investigations. That support needs to come first, to create stability and confidence, and the evidence backs this up. The final evaluation of Justice and Care’s victim navigator pilot scheme found that between September 2018 and June 2022, 92% of survivors who were supported engaged with police, compared with just 44% of survivors without a victim navigator. Twenty exploiters were convicted, 38 prosecutions of accused exploiters were supported and the total sentences for convicted offenders amounted to 178 years and eight months. Between 2018 and 2020, all 62 adult survivors receiving long-term support through one of the Home Office local authority pathways pilot schemes supported a police investigation.

The public are very much ahead of the Government on this; they recognise the connection between supporting victims and bringing offenders to justice. Recent polling for the CSJ and Justice and Care revealed that 82% of the people asked agreed that more Government support for victims of modern slavery is needed to bring more criminal gangs to justice. All of this goes to show that if Government were serious about convicting traffickers, they would be serious about support for victims, but as others have said over the past two days, the Government’s legislation will make it much worse.

The Illegal Migration Bill will have a devastating impact on victims of modern slavery. This is a quote from a letter by the CEOs of organisations that support people through the modern slavery victim care contract:

“Were this bill to come into effect, we fear that many of these survivors would be denied the opportunities to rebuild their lives and reclaim their autonomy.

This bill will do nothing to break cycles of exploitation or help people break free of modern slavery. Instead, it will feed the criminal networks who profit from the lives of vulnerable people. It is essential that genuine victims of modern slavery are afforded the right to seek support.

Furthermore, by closing the route to safety and support, the Illegal Migration Bill risks strengthening the hands of trafficking networks. Traffickers keep people under their control with threats that they will not receive help if they reach out to the authorities. This bill will substantiate this claim and further dissuade survivors from coming forward…Failure to support survivors will result in an undermining of criminal investigations and prosecutions.”

Modern slavery referrals are only a small proportion of overall illegal migration and asylum claims. As the Centre for Social Justice states, only 7% of small boat arrivals since 2018 have been referred to the modern slavery national referral mechanism.

I join the hon. Member for Wellingborough in stressing how disappointed we are that Dame Sara Thornton, who was incredibly effective as the Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner, left the post in April last year and it has been vacant for nearly a year. That is unacceptable, and I urge the Minister to update the House on why it has not been a priority for this Government and how they intend to correct that.

We agree with the hon. Member for Thurrock (Jackie Doyle-Price) that cuckooing is an abhorrent crime. We welcome the Government’s commitment this week to engage with stakeholders on a new offence, but I urge them to move forward as a matter of urgency to protect people who might be subject to such a degree of abuse.

It is right that we try to stop the dangerous crossings—the human cost is so great—but brutal and cruel targeting of vulnerable victims is not the right path, and I hope the Minister has understood that.

[Mr Clive Betts (in the Chair)]

Could the Minister finish by 10.58 am to allow Peter Bone to do a short wind-up at the end?

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[Miss Dines]

The hon. Lady makes an important point. It is exactly about the pull factor, and not necessarily just because of gender-specific professions or exploitation, such as cannabis farms or the sexual arena. We must be careful about the pull factor; when he was giving evidence yesterday, the Prime Minister said that the pull factor is a big factor and we must be careful. When concerns are expressed about changing the present regime, as has been elucidated over the past two days in the main Chamber, we must be cautious because, as the Prime Minister said, we do not want to create a pull factor, whether it is for children or a particular class or group of individuals who may be running the criminal activities or being exploited in the way that the hon. Lady said. That is really important.

I know that cuckooing is close to the hearts of several Members who have spoken today, particularly my hon. Friend the Member for Thurrock (Jackie Doyle-Price). The Government fully recognise the exploitation and degradation associated with that pernicious practice and are determined to tackle it. The Home Office-funded National County Lines Co-ordination Centre has identified all national law enforcement initiatives designed to tackle cuckooing, and the Government are actively considering whether new legislation is needed. It is an important item under consideration, because it is a most dreadful crime. We really need to protect the most vulnerable in our society. The Government’s recently issued antisocial behaviour action plan will engage stakeholders, and I am hopeful that there will be a new criminal offence in this area.

I know that hon. Members also feel keenly about victim support. The United Kingdom continues to meet its obligations to support victims of modern slavery as a signatory of the Council of Europe convention on action against trafficking in human beings, or ECAT. The support given by this Government is unparalleled, and indeed a world leader, valued at over £300 million over a five-year period. As we all know, the Home Office funds the modern slavery victim care contract, which supports victims in England and Wales to give them access to vital support they need to assist with their recovery. That includes, as has been mentioned today, access to safehouse accommodation, financial support and a dedicated support worker.

The Government are committed to ensuring that the national referral mechanism effectively supports both victims to recover and the prosecution of their exploiters. Statistics show that the better someone is supported, the more likely they are to give evidence and bring their exploiter to justice through the Crown. We made it clear in the Nationality and Borders Act 2022—as a former Home Secretary, my right hon. Friend the Member for Witham, is keenly aware of this—that where a public authority, such as the police, is pursuing an investigation or criminal proceedings, confirmed victims who co-operate and need to remain in the UK in order to do so will be granted temporary permission to stay for as long as they are required to be in the UK to support the investigation.

I will turn briefly—I have only three minutes left—to child victims. Concern has been voiced that adults get better care, and there appears to be some evidence of that and of care being patchy across the country. That must be addressed by local authorities, other stakeholders and mental health services. As the safeguarding Minister, I am concerned if young people are less effectively protected when they are in the care of the state. Sometimes children are less protected than adults and that cannot be allowed to continue. The Government are working very hard and other options are being considered.

The Government have, to their credit, rolled out independent child trafficking guardians to two thirds of local authorities in England and Wales, but more needs to be done. Those guardians are an effective and additional source of advice for trafficked children, and they can advocate on the children’s behalf. We know from the debate that that approach has been successful. A staggered approach to roll-out has been adopted, with robust built-in evaluations along the way to make sure the service meets the demands of vulnerable children. That must evolve to do better.

We will continue to review how the needs of individual children are best met through the programme. We must not allow children to be taken away from a place of safety—a children’s home or a foster placement—to be abused and then brought back in. That simply cannot be tolerated. Local authorities must work harder and in close co-operation with the police. Across the country, there must be no area—ethnic or geographical—where standards are not good. We will work harder to protect child victims.

In the debate, right hon. and hon. Members said clearly that a commissioner must be appointed. The Home Secretary recognises the importance of the role of the Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner and has launched a new open competition to recruit for the role. The advert for the role went live last month and the advertising has just concluded. The process is going as quickly as possible. It is hoped that all necessary steps will be taken in a short period and that the best person for the role will be recruited. There will be news very soon. The position has improved from a few months ago when there was not even a competition. I can reassure the House that there is movement in that area.

In our modern slavery strategy, we are still regarded as a world leader. The Illegal Migration Bill is essential to make sure that our borders are properly protected and that criminal gangs do not bring people into exploitation. There is a need for reform. I need to wind up, so I cannot say as much as I wanted to, but I will say that there will be protection, and vulnerable people will not be removed unless the disqualifications under the Nationality and Borders Act apply. I am able to commit to a meeting, as hon. Members asked.

The points raised by my right hon. Friends the Members for Maidenhead and for Chingford and Woodford Green (Sir Iain Duncan Smith) were addressed in yesterday’s debate by the Minister for Immigration, who stated that there is evidence that, unfortunately, the Modern Slavery Act has enabled some false applications. The 3,500 referrals envisaged on the passing of the Act have risen to 17,000 referrals and there is evidence of abuse of the system. In 2021, 73% of people who arrived on small boats and were detained for removal made modern slavery claims, so more needs to be done, but I can commit to ensure that genuine victims are discussed in a meeting with the Immigration Minister and interested parties.

[Mr Clive Betts (in the Chair)]

Peter Bone has less than one minute to wind up.

Hillsborough Families Report: National Police Response

Clive Betts Excerpts

Wednesday 1st February 2023 Commons Chamber

[Chris Philp]

The Home Secretary did of course reference this issue during her speech in yesterday’s debate—I think it was in response to an intervention. To be fair to the Home Secretary, she addressed the issue in the House as recently as yesterday, but I can assure the hon. Gentleman that it is already the subject of urgent discussions. I want to see action on this as quickly as he and others do, and I am committed to making sure that happens.

[Mr Clive Betts (Sheffield South East) (Lab)]

As someone who was present at Hillsborough on that terrible day and who was the leader of the council, I echo comments made by Conservative Members—first, about the incredibly generosity and warmth of Sheffield residents around the ground, who welcomed very distraught people into their homes and gave them whatever help they could.

Secondly, the hon. Member for Harrow East (Bob Blackman) is right; the South Yorkshire police are accountable for what they have done. They probably have not been accountable enough, given their enormous failings. But there was also a failing to recognise that circumstances had changed, with cages being put around grounds. As Lord Justice Taylor recommended in his report, those cages had to be taken down because they were making so many grounds in this country unsafe. Essentially, they were put there to treat every football fan as a hooligan, without any thought for spectator safety, and we ought to learn some lessons from that as well.

When the Government eventually produce their report, rather than merely giving us warm words and commitments, will they say how they will ensure that every single police force in the country abides by the recommendations in the report and implements them in full?

[Chris Philp]

First, I thank the hon. Gentleman for his question. Like so many in the Chamber today and across the country, he was personally affected—indeed, he was actually present. I completely agree with his point about caging; as a football fan myself—I take my son to Crystal Palace—the idea of people being caged is completely wrong. In answer to his direct question: yes, when there is a response to the report, which will be soon, it is important to make sure that it has teeth and is not just warm words; that it has biting and binding effect. I am confident it will, in the way that he asked.

Hotel Asylum Accommodation: Local Authority Consultation

Clive Betts Excerpts

Wednesday 23rd November 2022 Commons Chamber

[Robert Jenrick]

My hon. Friend makes an important point. I have met and spoken to her on a number of occasions as she has voiced the serious concerns of her residents as well as those of Medway Council about at least one potential accommodation site in her constituency. She felt strongly that it was unsuitable, and there were serious concerns with it when I looked into it. We want to get to a point where there is proper, long-term interaction between the Home Office, our outsource partners and local authorities so that these choices are made together on sensible criteria and not imposed on local communities at short notice. The situation at Manston a few weeks ago was so serious, and concerns about its legality so severe, that it was right that we acted swiftly. There may be occasions like that in the future, but that cannot be the sensible, business-as-usual approach of the Home Office.

[Mr Clive Betts (Sheffield South East) (Lab)]

Sheffield welcomes asylum seekers, and we have 1,500 in the city. I have had a note today from the council leader, which echoes the points made by the Chair of the Home Affairs Committee, my right hon. Friend the Member for Kingston upon Hull North (Dame Diana Johnson). Asylum seekers are almost totally housed in the poorest, most disadvantaged parts of the city, with the reason being that the Home Office’s sole criterion is how cheaply it can house them. Council leader, Terry Fox, says that the council has

“offered to work with the Home Office regarding opening up areas of the city which are traditionally not used for procurement”.

The Home Office has not even replied to the offer. Will the Minister turn his words into deeds and have his officials get back to the city council today and work with it as requested?

[Robert Jenrick]

I have a great deal of respect for the hon. Gentleman—he and I have worked together on local government matters for many years—and I will certainly ask my officials to speak to the city council and see if we can resolve that issue. It is true that, in some areas—even within a particular local authority—the local authority itself creates red lines as to where it wants to have contingency accommodation by saying that there are postcodes where they do not want to see such hotels. That may not be the case in Sheffield, but it is in other areas. The outsource partners raised that with me earlier in the week. We may be able to work together on that to ensure a better distribution, even within local authority areas.

It is, of course, important that we take into account value for money for the taxpayer when we choose hotels. I think it is outrageous that the taxpayer is paying £6 million a day for these hotels. I could not have been clearer to my officials or the outsource partners that I do not want to see the four-star hotels, the stately homes, the luxury barn conversions and the many outrageous examples brought to my attention in the last few weeks persist.

Refugees from Ukraine

Clive Betts Excerpts

Thursday 10th March 2022 Commons Chamber

[Priti Patel]

If I may, I will come back to my right hon. Friend and discuss that with him, because there will be ways.

[Mr Clive Betts (Sheffield South East) (Lab)]

Last week, I asked the Home Secretary about the arrangements for refugees when they come here. Many of them will need places for their children in schools and mental health support, and, under both schemes, many will want accommodation. She said that the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities is responsible for these arrangements through the community sponsorship scheme, but is the Home Office then responsible for people under the family scheme? In the Select Committee on Monday, we asked the DLUHC permanent secretary, who confirmed that currently there are no arrangements in place, none have been agreed, and he could not give a timetable for when they would be agreed. Will the Home Secretary update the House on what the arrangements are under both schemes, or will the DLUHC Secretary come to this House in the near future to update us?

[Priti Patel]

The hon. Gentleman is absolutely right: the sponsorship route is led by DLUHC. As we discussed in the House last week, accommodation will be a vital part of sponsorship, as will the engagement with local authorities. I cannot pre-empt the work of DLUHC. Further statements will be made on this. He also spoke about the family scheme. The community and family members are absolutely working together on that. There is no doubt—we should be very clear about this—that access to public funds and public services is absolutely guaranteed within the family route. That is why we are working on this collectively across Government. It is a Government effort; it is not about one Department versus another, although some will lead on various details. We are working with DLUHC but also with the devolved Administrations, in particular, to give them the support they need when more members of the Ukrainian community come over to be reunited with their families.

Ukraine

Clive Betts Excerpts

Tuesday 1st March 2022 Commons Chamber

[Priti Patel]

Of course. I say to all Members of the House who have cases coming to them that, as I have said, we will have staff in Portcullis House from tomorrow. We will write to all Members this afternoon with basic information about where to go with their cases. Of course, I am more than happy to pick up cases directly from colleagues, as I have been doing.

[Mr Clive Betts (Sheffield South East) (Lab)]

Receiving refugees here is the first step; how we treat them once they get here is just as important. I appreciate that the Home Secretary has said that that becomes a responsibility for the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities. Will she ensure that in that role he is now having urgent discussions with local authorities, which will be key to providing accommodation, education for children, social services support and mental health support? It is crucial that local authorities get the resources to do that. Indeed, it might be good if the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities could come to the House and make a statement on those matters.