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7.45 pm
As my hon. Friend the Member for Hayes and Harlington (Mr. McDonnell) said far more eloquently than I can, we have already returned to the days when poor children are branded as such at school by having to wait in a separate queue to receive their free school meal.
Such an outcome is blatantly contrary to the Government's policy of social inclusion and cannot be justified by any explanations based on so-called deterrents to fraudulent applications.
I am sure that Ministers will understand that those of us with a recent experience of dealing with the Immigration and Nationality Directorate are highly sceptical about its ability to meet the extremely ambitious targets set for dealing for applications. An initial decision at eight weeks, followed by an appeal timetable of a further 16 weeks, is simply not consistent with the IND's recent record. To meet such targets will require a truly spectacular improvement in service delivery. There is a danger that the attempt to meet the targets will result in a deterioration in the quality of the decision making involved.
I was disturbed to learn from a written answer received from the Minister of State on 22 January that, in some cases, a decision to refuse an asylum application would be taken by an officer at administrative officer grade. Administrative officer grade might mean that a full-time member of staff earns about £9,000 a year; such staff are almost certainly inexperienced, with little or no specialist training. What measures do the Government intend to introduce to ensure that there is proper supervision of decision making by appropriately senior trained and experienced staff? If the Government are confident and determined to stand by the targets that they have set for the IND, I refuse to accept that we should continue to insist that families with children have to endure such a humiliating daily experience, even for only a short period of time. That is why I strongly believe that they must be exempted from the package.
My next reason for supporting the amendment relates to the issue of dispersal. As a London Member of Parliament, I am acutely conscious of the huge pressure on temporary accommodation in London and other areas of the south-east, and I recognise that there is a need to relieve that pressure. I am gravely worried that the Government's current support package is doomed to failure, despite their good intentions. I am well aware that the support mechanisms for refugees--especially those with children--in my borough are among the best, if not the best, provided in the United Kingdom. They have emerged slowly, but coherently, over many years as a direct consequence of the commitment of a range of different agencies, including the local authority, the Churches and the voluntary sector.
Those support mechanisms include an accessible and affordable translation service and a first-class free legal aid service. There is also an education service that is ready and able to cope with children from many different backgrounds: one school in my borough has children speaking 146 different languages. There are at least two experienced family projects, which provide a safe place for refugees and their children to meet, to prepare food and to eat together. There are separate Somali refugee, Iraqi refugee and Iranian refugee projects run by dedicated members of those communities who are accountable to and funded by the local authority.
Such support mechanisms are crucial to vulnerable people, especially families with children, many of whom have already been deeply traumatised. However, even if we strip all that away, Hammersmith and Fulham would
still have friends, families and support provided by members of the different ethnic groups who have already settled well in the local community. I know that the Government intend to manage the dispersal process sympathetically and with due regard to such concerns, but I fear that for understandable reasons, the necessary mechanisms, have not yet been put in place. The academic research into the necessary support mechanisms--real research, carried out on the ground--has not been done.
The danger is that, without support, families will not stay in the location where they have been allocated accommodation, and that some will return to London with no money to feed their children and no access to any sort of benefit whatsoever. We know the terrible consequences of such a scenario. Desperate people will be left with little or no option but to consider begging, crime or prostitution to fund their essential needs. I urge the Government to ensure that they have put in place the necessary support mechanisms before the process of dispersal begins so that we avoid the nightmare scenario of large numbers of refugee children begging in our capital city.
The families with dependent children covered by amendment No. 1 account for less than 15 per cent. of asylum seekers. The cost of removing them from the system is not insignificant, but it is certainly not prohibitive for a country of our size and wealth. I urge the Government to reconsider their decision not to support the amendment.
Mr. Jonathan Shaw (Chatham and Aylesford):
I had not intended to speak and I shall make only a few comments, but, like many others, I have been moved by the passionate and eloquent speeches of some of my hon. Friends.
I join other hon. Friends in thanking my right hon. Friend the Home Secretary for being prepared to give some concessions and provide a more flexible system for those seeking asylum. I pay particular tribute to my hon. Friend the Member for Walthamstow (Mr. Gerrard), who has presented his arguments with reason and statesmanship over many weeks. We are grateful to him for that.
My hon. Friend the Member for Dover (Mr. Prosser), who is not in his place at the moment, discussed the considerable strain that his community has experienced. Hon. Members may not be aware of the pressure that he has been under and the dignity with which he has tried to find solutions to the current appalling system that has been imposed on Dover. The situation has placed a great strain on the community, which is not used to large influxes of refugees and has had to cope with any number of racist thugs and marches. I pay tribute to my hon. Friend for his attempts to find solutions rather than behaving like a previous Member of Parliament for the area, who had a similar name to mine. When I arrived in Parliament a couple of years ago and said, "Hello, I'm Shaw from Kent" I was greeted with considerable shock.
I welcome the Government's measures to speed up the system, but I am still very concerned. The jury is still out on the IND. My hon. Friend the Member for Nottingham, South (Mr. Simpson) said that it did not reply to his letters. I doubt whether letters from asylum seekers are even opened.
The main issues are income support and vouchers. Kent social services did not give a ringing endorsement to the voucher system in its evidence to the Special Standing
Committee. As a former social worker in Kent, and having talked to colleagues, I can tell the House that vouchers are a nightmare. We have to think seriously about whether they are a practical solution. More importantly, as some of my hon. Friends have said eloquently, vouchers will do nothing to foster community relations. They separate people and there will be more of the voucher children whom we have heard about. It does not take a great deal to imagine a mother with two children standing in a shopping queue handing over vouchers with two racist thugs standing next to her. How is she going to use the 24-hour hotline, particularly without any cash to make the call? The system will increase the racial tension in our communities that my hon. Friend the Member for Dover has done so much to try to dispel in his area.
Income support is to be reduced to 70 per cent. for families with children. I have spent years working with families on low incomes. Even those in supportive communities often find it very difficult to make ends meet. They have the flexibility to find the cheapest goods, perhaps by buying second hand or from a boot fair. The voucher system removes that flexibility. Reducing income support payments increases the risk of more begging, more crime and more of the resentment and racism that my hon. Friend the Member for Dover has tried to address.
The amendment is very modest. It affects very few people, but the consequences of not accepting it would be huge. I hope that my right hon. Friend will think again.
Mr. Hilton Dawson (Lancaster and Wyre):
In any consideration of the issue, we have to understand the appalling mess and shameful disgrace that the Government have been bequeathed. It is worse than the legacy of incompetence that they have faced so often. The previous Government had a venal approach to asylum seekers. It was a stupid and ignorant approach to human beings and a wicked disgrace which has demeaned this country. That is the context in which the Government have had to try to put together something embodying humanity, fairness and efficiency.
My constituency has nothing like the scale of distress from asylum seekers that we have heard recounted eloquently by some of my hon. Friends this afternoon, but I have seen families that have fled from another country in fear of their lives and are desperately anxious about the possibility of having to go back to a country in utter turmoil. They have been faced with destitution and incomprehension in this country. Mr. Lukiden Kenyi, who is a gentleman in the full meaning of the word and who is watching this debate, has waited seven years for his asylum application to be dealt with. His life is on hold and he is unable to use his manifold talents. That is part of the appalling legacy that the Government face.
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