Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Damian Green and Jason McCartney

Monday 25th March 2013 Commons Chamber

[Damian Green]

The Government will shortly be announcing a review of the caution regime. I am as determined as the right hon. Gentleman is to ensure that cautions, which provide a useful part of the criminal justice system, are used only in appropriate circumstances. I should say that the number of cautions used in cases of serious sexual abuse is low, with such cautions tending to be used for young offenders, for reasons that are clear in each individual case. However, I rather share his concerns about the use of cautions in this field.

[Jason McCartney (Colne Valley) (Con)]

19. What assessment her Department has made of public support for reducing net migration.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Damian Green and Jason McCartney

Monday 21st May 2012 Commons Chamber

[Damian Green]

I have to say that that is complete nonsense. Our tourism industry is doing better than ever before. Somebody planning to fly here on holiday from India would have to pay £78 for a six-month visa, which would not be an even remotely significant part of the total cost of their holiday, so I have to say that the right hon. Gentleman has simply got it wrong.

[Jason McCartney (Colne Valley) (Con)]

3. What steps she is taking to tackle alcohol-related antisocial behaviour.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Damian Green and Jason McCartney

Monday 12th September 2011 Commons Chamber

[Damian Green]

Let me deal directly with the hon. Lady’s question about accreditation. The previous system failed. It was not rigorous enough, so we are moving to more rigorous inspections, carried out by bodies that have previously inspected the sector, including the Independent Schools Inspectorate. It is vital that we get the inspection of colleges right; otherwise, respectable institutions that deserve to be able to carry on get muddled up with the bogus colleges to which my right hon. Friend the Home Secretary has referred, and that does nobody any good—neither the respectable colleges nor genuine students seeking to come here. I hope that the hon. Lady would welcome the fact that we have introduced a better and more rigorous inspection system.

[Jason McCartney (Colne Valley) (Con)]

5. What steps she is taking to prevent abuse of the family migration route into the UK.

[Graham Evans (Weaver Vale) (Con)]

7. What steps she is taking to prevent abuse of the family migration route into the UK.

[The Minister for Immigration (Damian Green)]

The Government launched a consultation on family migration on 13 July. This sets out proposals for tackling abuse of the family route, including sham and forced marriages. It also contains proposals to promote integration and reduce burdens on the taxpayer.

[Jason McCartney]

Does the Minister agree that family migration must be based on a real and continuing relationship and not on a marriage of convenience or a forced marriage?

[Damian Green]

That is an important point, because sham marriages not only undermine our immigration system; they damage the institution of marriage. Forced marriage is, if anything, even worse. It represents a breach of human rights, and it is a form of violence against the victim. That is why we are proposing in our consultation to define more clearly what constitutes a genuine and continuing marriage for the purposes of the immigration rules, to help to identify sham and forced marriages. We are also exploring the case for making sham a lawful impediment to marriage in England and Wales.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Damian Green and Jason McCartney

Monday 9th May 2011 Commons Chamber

[Jason McCartney (Colne Valley) (Con)]

What consultation has taken place with universities, such as the university of Huddersfield, to assess the impact of changes to student visas and the number of students who stay on after their studies to take the post-study work route?

[Damian Green]

As my hon. Friend may have heard me say earlier, there was a full consultation. It obviously included the university of Huddersfield and was widely welcomed by universities. We now have a system whereby graduates can stay on so long as they have been offered a specific graduate-level job. To answer his precise question, we calculate that the effect on numbers will be that instead of 38,000 staying on as before, roughly 19,000 will stay on in future.

Temporary Immigration Cap

Debate between Damian Green and Jason McCartney

Monday 20th December 2010 Commons Chamber

[Damian Green]

I am grateful to the right hon. Gentleman for that question. He shows a wisdom on this issue that is not available to the shadow Home Secretary, and he is right about what the public are asking—in Conservative, Liberal Democrat and Labour constituencies—about our policy of introducing a limit. The shadow Home Secretary has said:

“as many of us found in the election, our arguments on immigration were not good enough”,

and I have to say that they are still not good enough.

[Jason McCartney (Colne Valley) (Con)]

How does the Minister think the voters of Oldham East and Saddleworth, which borders my constituency, will react when they hear that the shadow Home Secretary opposes limiting economic migration?

[Damian Green]

I imagine that the voters of Oldham East and Saddleworth—who have great knowledge of immigration, owing to the unfortunate activities of my predecessor in this job—will take the view that the Labour party is, as ever, attempting to mislead them completely on immigration, and that that is why it should not be trusted.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Damian Green and Jason McCartney

Monday 6th September 2010 Commons Chamber

[Damian Green]

The hon. Lady asks that question at regular intervals, and as she knows, we are in commercial negotiations with those companies. As soon as we have reached a conclusion, we will let her and the House know.

[Jason McCartney (Colne Valley) (Con)]

15. What progress her Department is making in processing the backlog of asylum applications made prior to 2010.

[The Minister for Immigration (Damian Green)]

In 2006 a backlog of approximately 450,000 older paper and electronic asylum cases were identified—widely known as the legacy caseload. I informed the House during oral questions in June 2010 that the case resolution directorate had concluded 277,000 legacy cases up to the end of May 2010. The chief executive of the UK Border Agency, Lin Homer, updates the Home Affairs Committee on a regular basis regarding the progress made in resolving these cases. She is, I believe, due to report again to the Committee this autumn.

[Jason McCartney]

During a busy summer of casework in my constituency, I was astounded to meet asylum seekers who have been waiting since 2002 and 2003 to have their cases decided. Does the Minister agree that the whole system that we have inherited is a complete shambles? What will we do to get a grip of it?

[Damian Green]

It is indeed a shambles, and my hon. Friend need not take my word for it. Famously, it was this particular disaster that caused the former Home Secretary, John Reid, to describe the whole Department as “not fit for purpose”—a judgment with which it was impossible to disagree at the time. The answer to my hon. Friend is that we are getting through the backlog as fast as possible, and I am confident that we will conclude it by summer 2011.