7 ECONOMIC MIGRATION AND ILLEGAL
WORKING
238. The issues of asylum-seeking and economic migration
are heavily entangled. Without doubt a proportion of asylum seekers
is motivated by desire of economic gain rather than being genuine
refugees from persecution, but it is not clear how high that proportion
is. The two categories may overlap: genuine refugees may well
also seek a better economic future for themselves and their
families. Equally, as we commented in our report on asylum removals,
"there is nothing dishonourable about being an economic migrant.
Many of our ancestors were."[252]
However, while the UK, quite rightly, has accepted a legal obligation
to accept genuine refugees in all circumstances, it is under no
similar obligation to accept economic migrants and has a right
to consult its own economic and social interests in deciding how
many to accept.
239. The problem is bedevilled by lack of accurate
information on the scale of illegal entry to the UK and the scale
of illegal working. As we state in paragraph 230 above, we continue
to believe that it would be desirable for embarkation controls
to be reinstated at UK borders. We repeat our call for the Government
to "explore the most appropriate method for building a complete
picture of net migration into the UK".[253]
240. We have explored some issues arising from the
problem of illegal working. Official statistics show that over
the past five years for which figures are available (1998-2002),
only 22 prosecutions were brought for "employing a person
subject to immigration control", contrary to Section 8 of
the Asylum and Immigration Act 1996, and only eight persons were
convicted of the offence.[254]
In oral evidence with the Minister of State in October 2003 we
asked about the particular case of recent action against illegal
working in King's-Lynn. The Minister confirmed that following
an operation there by the police and immigration officers, 63
Chinese nationals had been interviewed, of whom four were failed
asylum seekers who should not have been in the country, 16 were
asylum seekers who should not have been working, 10 had committed
other immigration offences, and 33 were working illegally and,
when served with illegal entry papers, had claimed asylum. At
the time the Minister gave evidence, only one of these people
had been removed from the UK. Their employers had not been prosecuted,
on the grounds that they had co-operated with the authorities.[255]
241. When it was put to the Minister that these statistics
did not suggest that very effective action was being taken against
illegal workers, she made a number of points in reply. First,
the King's-Lynn operation, which had involved co-operation between
the Immigration Service, the local authorities and other enforcement
agencies, had shown that illegal workers were being detected.
Second, the number of prosecutions under Section 8 of the 1996
Act did not give the full picture of prosecutions of employers
who might be employing someone illegally, because such employers
might be charged with even more serious offences such as fraud
rather than under Section 8. Third, Section 8 itself needed strengthening,
because "it is quite hard to enforce and easy to subvert",
especially if an employer co-operates with an operation and can
show in court that he has done so. Employer co-operation was often
useful, and about 30% of operations were prompted by an approach
from employers. The Government had been consulting with employers,
the TUC and the Commission for Racial Equality on how to strengthen
the provisions of Section 8 "to make it less easy for employers
to get round them", and hoped to be able to bring forward
secondary legislation to achieve this. Finally, the Minister told
us that although only one person among those interviewed at King's-Lynn
had hitherto been removed, "we will, of course, be seeking
to remove all these people". In the case of Chinese nationals
there had been redocumentation problems. Negotiations had been
taking place with the Chinese authorities on this, and the Minister
hoped to be able to make "significant progress … very
shortly".[256]
242. The Minister of State subsequently gave us overall
details of recent anti-illegal working operations in the UK. Between
April and June 2003, the Immigration Service reported carrying
out 79 illegal working operations, of which 27 were aimed at detecting
significant numbers of illegal workers. Between July and September,
the number of reported operations increased by over 50% to 129,
and those aimed at detecting a significant number of illegal workers
rose by over 60% to 44. The total number of immigration offenders
detected between July and September 2003 was 520, of whom 350
were reported to have been removed immediately after the operation
took place; further removals will have taken place since then
but figures for these are not available.[257]
243. In September 2003 the House of Commons Environment,
Food and Rural Affairs Committee published a report on illegal
working in the agricultural sector and the role of 'gangmasters'
in organising such working.[258]
The Committee concluded that—
"the dominant position of the supermarkets
in relation to their suppliers is a significant contributory factor
in creating an environment where illegal activity by gangmasters
can take root. Intense price competition and the short time-scales
between orders from the supermarkets and deliveries to them put
great pressure on suppliers who have little opportunity or incentive
to check the legality of the labour which helps them to meet these
orders. ... We ask the supermarkets to re-examine their policies
in this area bearing in mind their own stated policies on corporate
social responsibility."[259]
244. The Committee also commented that they were
"appalled by the lack of priority given to, and political
accountability for, what is supposed to be the Government's co-ordinated
response to illegal activity by gangmasters". They called
for greater cross-departmental working, and in particular recommended
that an official from IND should be seconded to work with Defra
"to help develop a good practice blueprint linked to a system
of independent verification of individuals' employment and immigration
status", and that the Government should set up an inter-departmental
working group.[260]
245. In its response, the Government accepted some
of the Committee's criticisms but maintained that its basic approach
was correct. It cited examples of Home Office liaison with Defra
over the issue of illegal working.[261]
246. Illegal working can have a particularly pernicious
effect on community relations and an unfair impact on the legally
employed workforce. It is important that the Government should
be seen to be vigorously tackling the problem. This will help
to create confidence in the operation of the asylum system. The
extremely low level of prosecutions for employment of illegal
workers under Section 8 of the Asylum and Immigration Act 1996
is a cause for concern. We appreciate that there are difficulties
in enforcing Section 8 in its current form. We therefore recommend
that the Government shortly bring before Parliament legislative
proposals to make it easier to proceed against employers of illegal
workers.
247. We believe that a significant factor
in the problem of illegal working is the deliberate decision by
some employers to break the law. We recommend that the Government
should target such employers, who are not only easier to identify
than those they employ but arguably more culpable. We refer below
to the Government's commitment to use the Proceeds of Crime Act
as a weapon against people traffickers. We recommend that the
Act should also be used to seize profits made from the employment
of illegal labour. The Home Office should be pro-active within
Government in seeking to ensure that other departments take action
against illegal working—for instance, by means of a concerted
attempt to prosecute employers of illegal labour for other related
breaches of employment legislation ( e.g. failure to pay the minimum
wage or to observe health and safety regulations). We note the
comments by the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee
on the collusion of employers with illegal rural labour through
the gangmaster system, and support their view that the Government
should treat this problem with greater seriousness.
248. One way of tackling illegal working, and thereby
reducing the incentive for illegal immigration, could be by means
of a national system of identity cards. As we mentioned in paragraph
153 above, this raises wider issues which we are addressing in
a separate inquiry.
249. The criminal organisers of illegal working are
often also involved in people smuggling. The National Criminal
Intelligence Service describes the processes involved:
"Large numbers of illegal immigrants entering
the UK will be looking to work but will not be entitled to work
legitimately. Serious and organised criminals exploit this by
controlling the recruitment and supply of illegal immigrants as
cheap, unskilled and casual labour within the manufacturing, food
processing, construction, catering and agricultural labour markets.
Sometimes a job, or documentation permitting someone to work,
is offered as part of the original facilitation service. Illegal
working and labour exploitation has been identified across the
UK, with migrants coming from many different countries, but especially
from Central and Eastern Europe. Some employers are aware that
they are employing illegal workers. While most of these workers
are willing accomplices, a minority is trafficked for use as bonded
labour. In many cases, whether individuals have been smuggled
or trafficked, migrants are required to work to pay off the debts
incurred on their journey."[262]
250. The Asylum and Immigration (Treatment of Claimants,
etc.) Bill, currently before Parliament, introduces a new offence
of trafficking for purposes other than sexual exploitation (which
is already illegal)—such as domestic slavery—with
a penalty of up to 14 years' imprisonment.
251. On 13 November 2003 the Government announced
extra funding (trebling to £60 million) for law enforcement
work to disrupt people smugglers and seize their profits. This
"will bolster the successful multi-agency
Reflex taskforce which in the last six months alone has resulted
in the prosecution of 16 facilitators and the disruption of 20
criminal gangs in the UK. It will establish a new Reflex financial
crime unit to seize the profits made by criminal immigration networks
under Proceeds of Crime legislation, expand the UK's network of
immigration officers in sources countries, and support further
overseas project work".[263]
252. Reflex was set up in May 2000 and involves joint
working by the National Crime Squad, the Immigration Service,
the Police Service, the National Criminal Intelligence Service,
the Crown Prosecution Service and other Government departments
and agencies. It focuses on combating immigration crime through
intelligence-led enforcement action and overseas co-operation.
Partnerships have been established with Romania, Serbia, Bosnia,
Montenegro and Bulgaria.
253. In a recent speech the Home Secretary said that
in tandem with measures to tackle illegal immigration, the Government
would work to build tolerance and enthusiasm for legal migration.
He stated that legal migrants made up 8% of the UK's population
but generated 10% of its GDP. He argued that "effectively
managed legal migration is vital to Britain's economic and social
interests".[264]
In a subsequent interview with the BBC, Mr Blunkett said that
he sees "no obvious limit" on managed migration to the
UK.
254. In The Times on 14 November, 2003 it
was reported that Mr Blunkett was considering
"ways of offering thousands of illegal immigrants
the chance to remain legally in Britain. The Home Secretary is
looking at the means by which migrants who work in the black economy
could openly admit their existence, become legal and be welcomed
into this country."[265]
When asked to comment on this newspaper report, the
Minister of State told us:
"there are absolutely no plans at all to
allow illegal workers to somehow regularise their position in
this country".[266]
She said that the Home Secretary's comments had been
referring to a situation in maybe 10 years' time when a system
of identity cards had been introduced, and a decision would then
have to be taken by the Government on what to do about people
illegally present in the UK who would not be entitled to apply
for an identity card.[267]
255. We agree with the Home Secretary that managed
inward migration is of potential value to the UK economy and society.
This raises issues which go beyond the remit of our present
inquiry, such as how such migration should be managed, what desirable
levels of immigration might be, what qualities and skills should
be sought in immigrants, how the public should be consulted over
immigration policy and how that policy should be policed. It is
healthy that a debate should take place on these topics. We recommend
that the Government should further clarify and open to wider debate
its policy towards economic migration.
252 HC (2002-03) 654-I, para 2 Back
253
HC (2002-03) 654-I, para 27 Back
254
Home Office, Control of Immigration: Statistics United Kingdom
2002 (Cm 6053), published November 2003, p 97 Back
255
Qq 743-49; letter to the Chairman from Beverley Hughes MP dated
16 October 2003 (published in The Work of the Home Office,
HC 1088, Session 2002-03, Ev 19) Back
256
Q 750 Back
257
Ev 178 Back
258
Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee, Fourteenth Report
of Session 2002-03, Gangmasters (HC 691), published on
18 September 2003 Back
259
Ibid., paras 25, 26 Back
260
Ibid., paras 45, 63, 78 Back
261
The Government's response was published on 17 December 2003 as
the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee's First Special
Report of Session 2003-04 (HC 122). Back
262
NCIS, United Kingdom Threat Assessment of Serious and Organised
Crime 2003 (2003), para 4.34 Back
263
Home Office press notice 310/2003, Funding trebled to fight
immigration crime bosses, dated 13 November 2003 Back
264
Home Office press notice 309/2003, Effectively managed migration
is good for Britain-Home Secretary, dated 12 November 2003 Back
265
The Times, 'Blunkett considers deal with illegal immigrants',
14 November 2003 Back
266
HC (2003-04) 109, Q 885 Back
267
Ibid., Q 886 Back
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