Oral Answers to Questions

Karen Bradley Excerpts

Monday 10th March 2014 Commons Chamber

[Meg Hillier (Hackney South and Shoreditch) (Lab/Co-op)]

13. What assessment she has made of the potential effect of the Immigration Bill on red tape for businesses.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department (Karen Bradley)]

The Government have published a number of impact assessments in relation to the provisions in the Immigration Bill, setting out the costs and benefits of the proposals. These include an assessment of the impacts on businesses.

[Meg Hillier]

I welcome the Minister to the Dispatch Box. It is good to see another woman on the Conservative Front Bench—one who is speaking this time.

During the Immigration Bill Committee, the former Immigration Minister, the hon. Member for Forest of Dean (Mr Harper), promised that there would be a mechanism to enable constituents who were extending their leave to remain to have the right documents in order to prove that to landlords and others, as required under the Bill. Can the Minister give me any update on how long that will take to come into place? If not, perhaps she could write to me.

[Karen Bradley]

I thank the hon. Lady for her question. I know that she worked very hard on the Immigration Bill Committee. We will look carefully at what she said and respond shortly.

[Christopher Pincher (Tamworth) (Con)]

I congratulate my hon. Friend on joining the Treasury Bench.

[Christopher Pincher]

Staffordshire for ever, indeed. The previous Labour Government were guilty of not imposing red tape on transition controls, which led to thousands of European migrants coming to this country. Does my hon. Friend agree with the former Home Secretary, the right hon. Member for Blackburn (Mr Straw), when he said that that was a spectacular mistake?

[Karen Bradley]

I thank my hon. Friend, a fellow Staffordshire MP, for his question. He is quite right. The Immigration Bill is a sensible measure that will help this country to protect against illegal immigration. It is a well-needed measure and something we should be bringing in sooner rather than later.

[Bridget Phillipson (Houghton and Sunderland South) (Lab)]

14. What recent steps she has taken to reduce antisocial behaviour.

--- Later in debate ---

[Mr Stewart Jackson (Peterborough) (Con)]

T5. One consequence of an unfettered free movement directive is that illegal gangmasters from the European Union operating in the fens are linked to antisocial behaviour and human trafficking. What action is the Minister taking to end that phenomenon?

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department (Karen Bradley)]

I thank my hon. Friend for his question and I know how hard he works locally on that issue. The Government are taking firm action to combat illegal gangmasters in his constituency and elsewhere. We have set up a cross-Government multi-agency taskforce to apply the full range of enforcement powers. We are doubling the penalties on employers for breaching the national minimum wage and for employing illegal migrant workers, and we will bring forward a modern slavery Bill next Session to deal with that heinous crime.

[Graham Jones (Hyndburn) (Lab)]

Is the Home Secretary aware of the numbers of UK nationals who are subject to an overseas arrest warrant for serious offences such as murder and child sex crimes?

--- Later in debate ---

[Margot James (Stourbridge) (Con)]

The Facewatch online crime reporting system makes it much quicker for businesses to report crime. Will my hon. Friend encourage more businesses and local authorities to follow the lead taken by the west midlands crime reduction team and introduce Facewatch elsewhere to reduce crime further?

[Karen Bradley]

I thank my hon. Friend, who is a doughty champion for businesses both large and small in her constituency. I am very interested by the Facewatch business, and I look forward to seeing it tomorrow in Farnborough at the security and policing exhibition, where I shall promote it and other UK businesses in selling these great services globally.

[Huw Irranca-Davies (Ogmore) (Lab)]

The Welsh Government have put their money where their mouth is and are funding 500 additional police community support officers. Will the Minister for Crime Prevention, the hon. Member for Lewes (Norman Baker), explain why his colleagues up and down the country are openly accusing Conservative councils of being hypocritical for not putting their money where their mouth is and supporting PCSOs?