CITATION INTERPRETATION, ETC. (Hansard, 11 July 1973)

§ Mr. Lane
I beg to move Amendment No. 8, in page 3, line 32, at end insert: '(2) For the purposes of this Act an application for registration as a citizen of the United Kingdom and Colonies shall be treated as determined when it is granted, or written notice of its refusal is given to the applicant 1696 or another person on his behalf, or sent to him at his last-known address.'.

Mr. Deputy Speaker
With this we are to take Government amendments Nos. 18 and 22.

§ Mr. Lane
These are drafting amendments which we thought were desirable because of the decision, which the House has accepted, to extend the period of protection against loss of office by Amendments Nos. 1 and 2 to include the period until an application for registration is determined.
The words in Amendment No. 8 were formerly included separately in Schedules 2 and 3. Now that the date of determination of an application for registration is also to be relevant to Clause 3 we thought it best to bring these words into the main part of the Bill and to make them applicable generally, and they will still apply for the purposes of Schedules 2 and 3.

§ Mr. John Fraser
I accept that these are drafting amendments, but one point arises on Amendment No. 8.
An application is treated as determined when it is granted or when written notice of refusal is given to an application. Applications made under Section 5A of the British Nationality Act 1948 are decided at the discretion of the Home Secretary, although I doubt whether he will ever see an application and it will be an official who will deal with it. I should be surprised if by the time the Home Secretary has dealt with illegal immigrants and other discretionary matters he will have time to look at 90,000 application forms.
But this is a discretionery power, and I come back to the point that was made on the 1971 Act, namely, that there is no right of appeal. I hope the practice will be that if an officer at the Home Office who deals with an application has some doubt about whether he will grant or refuse it, or is considering refusing it, he will give a conditional refusal, or will raise with the applicant his reason for refusing it. He may tell the applicant that he is not satisfied that his knowledge of the English or Welsh language is adequate, or that he is not satisfied with his referees.
I hope that there will be a conditional refusal. I hope, too, that the reasons for 1697 an impending refusal will be given so that the applicant may counter them, and only then will there be a final refusal. It would be unfortunate if the refusal were given quickly or arbitrarily without the applicant having a chance to make representations if the Home Office official had some doubt about granting the application.
I hope, therefore, that the refusal will be in two stages. First, if there is doubt about the application, I hope that the doubt will be resolved one way or another. Secondly, that refusal will be final only after the doubt has been resolved and any further representations have been received from the applicant.

§ Mr. Lane
What the hon. Gentleman is asking for happens already, and will continue to happen. It is not a matter of a single quick-fire refusal or a second stage one. What happens in any case of doubt now, and will continue to happen, is that we have to get further information and make checks. There is already a to-ing and fro-ing with individuals, and the same process will be adopted under the new procedure.

§ Mr. Edward Lyons
Will the hon. Gentleman confirm that a refusal based on the fact that five years ordinary residence has not been completed will not be a final refusal in the sense of barring a subsequent application? Assuming that a man believes he has been here for five years, whereas the Home Office takes the view that because he was away for eight months in the middle of the period he has been ordinarily resident here for three years and has another two years to wait, will he be informed on the notice of refusal why he has been refused, so that there will be a subsequent opportunity to apply?

§ Mr. Lane
Yes. If what is at issue is how many years he has been ordinarily resident, and if the application has to be refused because he has not been here for five years, when he has completed five years he can apply again.

§ Mr. John Fraser
I beg to move Amendment No. 9, in page 3, line 32, at end insert: '() This Act shall come into force on such day as the Secretary of State may by order appoint'.

Mr. Deputy Speaker
With this we are to take Government Amendment No. 10, in page 3, line 36, leave out subsection (3) and insert: '(3) This Act shall come into operation on 1st September 1973.'.

§ Mr. Fraser
One is happy that the Government have chosen what was urged upon them, namely, to have an appointed day. We regard it as eminently sensible to choose the first of the month so that it is that much easier to calculate periods of time. I shall in due course ask the leave of the House to withdraw my amendment and give the Government a chance to move Amendment No. 10.

§ The Minister of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (Mr. Julian Amery)
My right hon. Friend the Member for Hertford (Lord Balniel) wished to be here but, as I think the House knows, he is in the Bahamas, where the photographs in the paper this morning gave convincing evidence that he was tied up in a tent. It might have delayed his appearance here. I hope that I shall be given indulgence if I am not as familiar as I should be with the peculiarities and the details of this very complicated measure.
I find myself once again debating with the hon. Member for Norwood (Mr. John Fraser) who faced me on many a night on the Housing Finance Bill. I am grateful to him for accepting the amendment which we have put forward, and in the circumstances I shall not delay the House beyond saying that I thank him for what he has said.

§ Mr. John Fraser
I beg to ask leave to withdraw the amendment.