Speeches by Mahmood.

“An application is assessed based on the rules that were in force at the point at which the application is made, not what the rules were when the person came to the country.”

“No, it is our ability to get people on a plane and get them back to France. We are having claims all the time. On our side, we have had practical and legal hurdles to overcome; on the French side, there are practical hurdles to overcome as well.”

“We are consulting on the precise nature of whether to look at changing the rules on settlement and recourse to public funds, which would of course require primary legislation, or whether to simply extend the qualifying period to beyond 10 years for particular cohorts of lower-skilled workers. That is an open question, …”

“I think it is right that we move to a system where refugee status is temporary, rather than permanent. At the moment, once you are deemed to be a refugee and you succeed in your claim, as you say—that’s it. At that point, you have full status here. In fact, until we changed the rules on family reunification, you were a…”

“I know that these contracts have caused quite some consternation among a number of different parliamentarians, and I know that they are of interest to this Committee. Obviously, I inherited these contracts and we are trying to make the best of them. I think that the actual contract management itself has improved, becau…”

“The question is about not just the contracts themselves but what the alternatives are, because we are, on any measure, dealing with a large housing need. I think we will have to progress very carefully, but I can assure you that I have ensured that the Department is sweating the contracts, as it were. The actual accomm…”

“Evidence has already been given to the Committee about what was said in front of me on 8 October—”

“The consultation asks a very open question about whether the way to manage this part of the problem is to change what is available to you once you get settled status, versus just extending the qualifying period. There are pros and cons to both. On that particular question, the consultation is, and I am personally, very…”

“Yes, it is when you apply.”

“Well, we should never have been in the position where we were in the contracts in the first place—”

“The reforms for settlement are precipitated by the issues in relation to the scale and pace of recent migration into the country. Between 2021 and 2024, net migration stood at 2.6 million people, which means that around one in every 30 people in this country today arrived in those four years. We have seen particular is…”

“I think that asking somebody with commercial experience to look at the actual contracts so that they are able to advise me on that is the right thing to do.”

“You are absolutely right. Obviously, what I want is for as much as you can physically do on site to be done there. As this part of the estate grows, and as we get out of hotels and into more large sites, there will be a rationalisation of what we are able to do. A lot of lessons have been learned, even since Wethersfie…”

“Generally speaking, we would want to avoid that.”

“Yes, and I understand that, but I repeat that under the previous Government there was an expected market shortage for social care workers of between 6,000 and 40,000. That is quite a big range, which tells you that there is unreliability in the understanding of exactly what the needs of that part of the workforce are. …”

“I am confident that we will have made progress on changing the law and clamping down on some of the ways in which the asylum system, as currently constructed, frustrates the removal of people from the country, and can deal with things like appeals more quickly. I am confident we will have made some progress, but I full…”

“In the consultation, we ask a specific question on transitional arrangements. Obviously, there are going to be knock-on impacts from any of these changes. On the mandatory economic contribution, we are looking at just the threshold for paying national insurance contributions: it is quite low, actually. One of the criti…”

“Are you saying it is a post-Brexit problem because of the returns?”

“Again, we have to set fees at a level that is appropriate. It is a privilege, not a right. It would be odd if we had a system of no fees for some people because we have to manage the system properly. There are costs attached to processing these applications. Again, people make choices themselves to come to another coun…”

“I would absolutely love to be able to return everybody immediately. The question is, would the French be able to do that?”