Electronic Travel Authorisation: Dual Nationals

Debate between Lord Hanson of Flint and Lord Spellar

Thursday 26th February 2026 Lords Chamber

[Lord Hanson of Flint (Lab)]

The scheme has been introduced this week, as the noble Lord will know. The friction that may occur on occasions now is because people do not understand or are unaware of the results. But we have made a strong effort to make sure that carriers know that they can accept expired passports. Again, I advise individuals who wish to travel to the United Kingdom to contact the carrier to see whether their documentation is in order in this period when the scheme has been introduced. There are a number of measures, even at the point of refusal, whereby an individual who has been refused at a gate can contact a number of things, which I do not wish to outline because of time. The noble Lord will know, and be able to read in Hansard, about those that I have just mentioned, which are available. The feedback we have had so far is that there is a limited number of concerns in the initial introduction, and I will obviously monitor that over the coming weeks.

[Lord Spellar (Lab)]

My Lords, I declare an interest as the UK Government’s trade envoy for Australia. This issue is causing considerable consternation in Australia, a country with which we are developing our defence, security and other relationships, to the benefit of the wider world. It seems slightly extraordinary that an Australian who is not a British national can much more easily gain entry to the UK than one who is, even if it is a residual matter and they do not have a passport. Should we not be looking at ways to facilitate this? The Passport Office, when we had difficulties two or three years ago, moved at pace and had people here to deal with the cases. Should we not be doing that in Australia and encouraging movement between our countries rather than creating an incident?

[Lord Hanson of Flint (Lab)]

Any Australian dual national who wishes to prove their British nationality can do one of two things. They can apply for a British passport, which is usually a nine or eight-day wait at the moment, or they can even get one speedily if they need to: that can be done. They can also apply for a certificate of exemption, which is a lifetime exemption that can be attached to their Australian passport and will allow them to travel to the United Kingdom without the need for an ETA. That is a reasonably sensible approach to make. It is a short-term thing. Now that the system has been introduced, any Australian citizen who wishes to travel to the UK can either get a certificate, get a British passport or travel here, and if they travel here and are refused, in the meantime there are a number of mechanisms—I outlined them to the noble Baroness, Lady Ludford—that they can adopt. However, in the long term, this ETA scheme is a sensible thing to do and I commend it to the House.

Government Website: Registering a Death

Debate between Lord Hanson of Flint and Lord Spellar

Tuesday 10th February 2026 Lords Chamber

[Lord Hanson of Flint (Lab)]

I am sympathetic to what the noble Lord has said. My colleague and noble friend Lady Merron has said that the Department of Health, particularly in an English context, is working sympathetically with the communities that the noble Lord has mentioned. I will reflect on what he has said. It is a strange situation whereby the Home Office has responsibility for some of the issues that the noble Baroness, Lady Brinton, has raised—and I am seeking to address those and will change the system—but the issues that the noble Lord is raising are with a different department. However, my noble friend Lady Merron has heard these points and we will look at the question sympathetically.

[Lord Spellar (Lab)]

My Lords, following exactly on from that question, is not the most sensible approach to look at those areas where coroners are operating efficiently and at speed, to learn from those best practices, and then to extend it to the rest of the country? It is a straightforward business proposition. Is that not that what the Government should be doing?

[Lord Hanson of Flint (Lab)]

The answer to that question is yes. The bit that the Home Office is responsible for has a five-day target, which is being met. There are challenges in the medical examination aspect for a range of reasons, which are not just administrative but related to how, when, where and in what circumstances people have died. There may be issues that we can look at. My noble friend makes some important points and after Question Time I will discuss with my noble friend Lady Merron how best we can address those.

Computer-generated Child Sexual Abuse Material

Debate between Lord Hanson of Flint and Lord Spellar

Wednesday 7th January 2026 Lords Chamber

[Lord Hanson of Flint (Lab)]

The position is that Ofcom is the regulator for this area and that all child sexual abuse images et cetera are currently illegal. The question is about the use of powers to take them down and hold tech companies to account. That is what the consultation will be completed on and by April 2026 we will have, as a Government, the full response from Ofcom. We will act on that response when we receive it.

[Lord Spellar (Lab)]

My Lords, what possible confidence can we have in Ofcom to take action effectively, given its lamentable failure to stand up for customers against the mobile phone companies?

[Lord Hanson of Flint (Lab)]

Ofcom has the confidence of the legislation that both Houses of Parliament passed, was commenced under the previous Government and is to be implemented in full by this Government. It has cross-party support to take action to ensure that illegal content online is taken down and if companies do not do so, there is a mechanism to ensure that significant fines are potentially levied on those companies that do not take action.