Certificate of Sponsorship: Foreign Health and Care Workers

Debate between Lord Murray of Blidworth and Lord Kamall

Monday 13th November 2023 Lords Chamber

[Lord Murray of Blidworth (Con)]

It is not for the Home Office to regulate the profits made by private companies, and the noble Lord would not expect me to comment on that. I reassure him that the Department of Health and Social Care is sighted on what the appropriate standards should be for those working in the sector, and it works with the Home Office on the grant of sponsor licences for those coming to work in the sector.

[Lord Kamall (Con)]

Attracting social care staff to the social care sector, whether from the United Kingdom or from abroad, is important. Where there are cases of exploitation what advice can the Minister give to those individuals—especially those who come from other countries and may not know the system very well—about where they can turn if they feel they are being exploited?

[Lord Murray of Blidworth (Con)]

Information is certainly available on the GOV.UK website, which is signposted from the health and social care visa pages. There are also NGO bodies, including Care England and the gangmasters licensing authority, and, as the noble Baroness, Lady O’Grady, said, trade unions.

Passports: Strike Action and Voter ID

Debate between Lord Murray of Blidworth and Lord Kamall

Monday 20th March 2023 Lords Chamber

[Lord Murray of Blidworth (Con)]

Plainly, that was an issue that the noble Lord should have raised—and no doubt did raise—during the debate on the Elections Bill. It is quite a long way from the topic of this Question, which is about the strikes by the PCS.

[Lord Kamall (Con)]

Can my noble friend the Minister, having gone through that extensive list, say whether the department has made any estimate of how many people do not have any of the forms of documentation that he listed?

[Lord Murray of Blidworth (Con)]

Well, of course, elections fall within the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities rather than the Home Office, but I am delighted to make that inquiry and write to him, and deposit the answer in the Library of the House.

Asylum Seekers: Local Authority Accommodation

Debate between Lord Murray of Blidworth and Lord Kamall

Monday 16th January 2023 Lords Chamber

[Lord Murray of Blidworth (Con)]

Certainly, when a refugee is assigned to a local authority area, there is a payment to the local authority in relation to that person to defray the costs of the accommodation for that individual.

[Lord Kamall (Con)]

My Lords, the Question was about local authorities that do not take their fair share. Will my noble friend the Minister enlighten the House on whether he or his department are aware of any local authorities that have refused to take their fair share of asylum seekers?

[Lord Murray of Blidworth (Con)]

Since April 2022, when the policy was changed, the department has not noticed that any particular authorities have been backward in coming forward in relation to assisting the department in this regard.