EU Settlement Scheme

Lord Hannay of Chiswick Excerpts

Thursday 24th October 2024 Lords Chamber

[Lord Deben (Con)]

My Lords—

[Lord Hannay of Chiswick (CB)]

My Lords—

[Lord Kennedy of Southwark (Lab Co-op)]

We have plenty of time. We will have the noble Baroness first and then the noble Lord.

--- Later in debate ---

[Lord Hanson of Flint (Lab)]

I do not believe I have given the noble Lord, Lord Deben, that impression—I certainly hope not. Some 5.7 million people have been accepted under the scheme, and they are very welcome. They work among us in this city and in my area where I live, they live among us and their contribution is welcome. But we have to monitor the scheme to ensure its integrity, for the reasons that the noble Lord’s Opposition Front Bench indicated.

[Lord Hannay of Chiswick (CB)]

My Lords, when the Minister conducts the inquiry into the digital aspects of settled status and the aspects of possibly having either a plastic or hard copy, will he take account of the large amount of work done by your Lordships’ European Affairs Committee, which three times recommended that it should be possible for a plastic or hard copy to be made available, particularly given the problems of very elderly and infirm people?

[Lord Hanson of Flint (Lab)]

I am grateful to the noble Lord for that contribution. I hope I have indicated that we are examining those issues, and he has certainly given me some weekend reading for the future.