European Union Settlement Scheme

Debate between Lord Clark of Windermere and Baroness Williams of Trafford

Tuesday 16th July 2019 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Williams of Trafford]

In answer to the noble Lord’s first point—that we have a long way to go—given the number of citizens we are talking about, it sounds to me as though we are almost a third of the way there. In answer to his point about pre-settled status, interestingly enough, just before we came into the Chamber, I had a conversation with his noble friend, the noble Baroness, Lady Ludford, about a question she had raised with me previously on a reminder system for people coming to the end of their pre-settled status. That is certainly being worked on. He also asked me about the app. I am aware of the problem and we intend that from the end of July, it will be possible for people with pre-settled status to apply online to convert it to settled status as soon as they become eligible.

[Lord Clark of Windermere (Lab)]

My Lords, I understand that there are 2.5 million people of European Union descent working in the UK who have still to apply for settled status. What happens to those people in just over two and a half months when we have Brexit?

[Baroness Williams of Trafford]

I hope the noble Lord will be comforted to hear that people will have at least until 31 December 2020 to apply, which is a significant way off. It is pleasing to note that, three months into the scheme, the number of people who have applied is significant—as I said, nearly a third of the total.

EU Settlement Scheme

Debate between Lord Clark of Windermere and Baroness Williams of Trafford

Thursday 14th February 2019 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Williams of Trafford]

My noble friend is right to point that out. The UK has given that comfort to any EU citizen and I hope that, through the negotiations, our citizens living in the EU will have similar comfort.

[Lord Clark of Windermere (Lab)]

My Lords, the Minister has been supportive of this approach and I applaud her for that. However, are the Government not being a tad complacent when they go on about the fact that 100,000 people have already applied? That is about 2% of those eligible to stay. Bearing in mind that the Government keep saying that D-day is 30 March, is there not a long way to go yet, and should we not step up the campaigns?

Westminster: Security

Debate between Lord Clark of Windermere and Baroness Williams of Trafford

Tuesday 5th February 2019 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Williams of Trafford]

I have got mine too. There should be none of this, “Do you not know who I am?”; I have never heard people say that in this House. The only reason we are ever asked is in order to protect us.

[Lord Clark of Windermere (Lab)]

My Lords, it used to be a cardinal democratic principle that elected representatives of our people had the right to attend Parliament and voice opinions on behalf of those constituents. Is that still the case?

[Baroness Williams of Trafford]

It absolutely is, and it is the central plank of our parliamentary democracy.

Brexit: EU Citizens in the UK

Debate between Lord Clark of Windermere and Baroness Williams of Trafford

Wednesday 16th January 2019 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Williams of Trafford]

My Lords, I thank the noble Lord for advance notice of his concern about this. Like any EEA nationals who settled in the UK before 1973, the Italians in Bradford already have indefinite leave to remain and do not need to apply to the EU settlement scheme. They can if they want make a free application to the Windrush scheme for documentation to confirm that status. In any event, the Windrush scheme is open to a person of any nationality who arrived in the UK before 31 December 1988 and believes that they have settled status in the UK.

[Lord Clark of Windermere (Lab)]

My Lords, is the noble Baroness saying that the Italians in Bradford have nothing to worry about?

[Baroness Williams of Trafford]

Yes, my Lords, I am.

EU Settlement Scheme

Debate between Lord Clark of Windermere and Baroness Williams of Trafford

Thursday 21st June 2018 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Williams of Trafford]

My noble friend will have heard in the Statement that we will start to roll out the process in the summer and towards the end of the year. I would not call it a trial run, but the “private beta” phase—which I had never heard of before—is apparently a dry run, using real people who will get real documents. That is a good way to test how the system is working.

I also mentioned earlier the delivery of the settlement scheme and the Treasury’s allocation of £170 million for the further development and delivery of the settlement scheme. As my noble friend alluded to, we do not underestimate the scale of the challenge and we want to get it right. Every year, we process millions of visa and passport applications, but that does not undermine our wish to get it right. Our passport service has a good customer service record and I can tell my noble friend that, over the past year, the average turnaround time for passport applications was approximately seven days. I might add that the Institute of Customer Service ranks HMPO in the top 50 high-scoring organisations across the public and private sector.

[Lord Clark of Windermere (Lab)]

My Lords, the Minister knows that we have discussed this matter across the Floor on a number of occasions, and I am very grateful for her lucidity today. I have been arguing that, for those European Union citizens who have been successfully granted permanent right of residency, the right should be continued. As I understand it, that is what the Minister, in a rather roundabout way, has announced today. But, in view of the pressure in the Home Office, what is the logic of requiring European Union citizens who have acquired the right of permanent residency in this country to reapply—adding to the burden—for settlement? Why do we not simply grant that without them having to go through the process, as it has already been cleared by the Home Office?

I come to my last point. As the Minister knows, my main driver in this has been the National Health Service. If I am right in saying that most of those who have five years’ residency can stay in this country, will the Minister write to National Health Service trusts to point that out and to ask them to communicate it to all European Union residents who are working in the health service and are still very confused about their status?

[Baroness Williams of Trafford]

I thank the noble Lord for making that point. Permanent residency status was afforded to EU citizens when we were—as we still are—in the European Union. That will change, but their settled status will not change once we leave the EU. They will move from the status we had when we were in the EU to one that we will have when we are outside the EU—settled status—and they will not be charged for it. I know that it is not ideal and that they should automatically have it. However, that is the reason for the change.

Home Office: Data Breaches

Debate between Lord Clark of Windermere and Baroness Williams of Trafford

Tuesday 5th June 2018 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Williams of Trafford]

I do not know whether my noble friend means lost documents or data protection, but I am sure that other departments have similar procedures for lost documents.

[Lord Clark of Windermere (Lab)]

My Lords, the noble Baroness correctly referred only to the Home Office, but a lost document from any government department could be critical. Will the Minister assure us that she will draw to the attention of other departments the need to ensure the safety of documents submitted to them?