Business of the House

Kevin Brennan Excerpts

Thursday 13th October 2022 Commons Chamber

[Penny Mordaunt]

I am sorry to hear about that situation. My hon. Friend is a fierce campaigner for bringing economic benefit to her local area and is very focused on quality of life for her constituents. The Under-Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, my hon. Friend the Member for Bishop Auckland (Dehenna Davison) has that responsibility; I would be happy to facilitate a meeting between her and my hon. Friend. I ask my hon. Friend to keep me posted on progress in the matters she has raised.

[Kevin Brennan (Cardiff West) (Lab)]

May we have a debate about the creation of an Ofsted-style inspectorate for Government Departments? Having spoken to colleagues from throughout the House, I have no doubt that were the Home Office to be inspected in such a way it would be found to be failing. I have been dealing with the Home Office recently in respect of a student who is trying to come to this country to study. They have their visa, everything is fine with the application and all has been done in time, but Home Office incompetence means the student is now probably not going to be able to start their course. Cardiff Metropolitan University tells me that it is not an isolated incident. Instead of doing things for dog-whistle purposes, such as reclassifying modern slavery as illegal immigration, as the Home Office is doing today, why does it not just get on with the job of running a modern and efficient immigration and visa system?

[Penny Mordaunt]

The Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster is doing that work. He is looking at the performance of Departments on these very important basic functions as we come out of the covid pandemic and making sure that people are being trained properly. That work is in hand and I will let the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster know about the hon. Gentleman’s particular interests in that.

On the reclassification of modern slavery, this Government have done more than any other in history to tackle the scourge of modern slavery not just in the UK, but through the UN. The reason for that reclassification is that the systems that are in place are being abused. We need to ensure that the resource, as the hon. Gentleman points out, is targeted at those who need the help, not at those who are trying to abuse the system.