Oral Answers to Questions Debate

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Department: Home Office

Oral Answers to Questions

Barry Gardiner Excerpts
Monday 28th April 2014

(10 years, 7 months ago)

Commons Chamber
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Norman Baker Portrait Norman Baker
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I welcome the steps being taken in Milton Keynes by Thames Valley police. I know that they raided the central Milton Keynes market and seized various chemical high products when young people were spotted using pills and powders that they thought had been bought from market stalls. That is a good example of what can be done with existing legislation. We have also banned hundreds of these substances as we have found them, but there is more to do, which is why I have set up this expert review panel.

Barry Gardiner Portrait Barry Gardiner (Brent North) (Lab)
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It has been found that 86% of people on tied visas have had their employers keep their passport, and that 62% of them have received no salary at all. This Government changed the visas arrangement to ensure that domestic workers were tied to a single employer and could not change. Will this Government now reverse that?

Karen Bradley Portrait Karen Bradley
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We are aware of no evidence to suggest that someone’s having a tie to an employer with whom they have an existing relationship is a problem. This Government are determined to deal with the lack of enforcement on the part of Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs and others, in order to ensure that people on a domestic worker visa are treated appropriately within the law.