§ 7. Mr. Kenneth Lewisasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many grandparents of immigrant families have been given permission to settle in the United Kingdom in the years 1974–75 and to date in 1976; and how many of these grandparents are in receipt of supplementary benefit.
§ The Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department (Dr. Shirley Summerskill)I regret that this information is not available. Statistics of grandparents accepted for settlement on arrival are not maintained separately but are included in the published "Control of Immigration Statistics" as "others accepted for settlement on arrival (mainly dependants)". Such information as we have suggests that the number of grandparents so accepted is very small.
§ Mr. LewisIs the Under-Secretary aware that there is a general feeling that there are quite a large number of elderly people who have come in as immigrants—some are grandparents and some parents—and that they are unable to work here? The social security rule is supposed to be that the people who are already here and working are responsible for their keep, and that they should not be a call upon our social security system. Many of them are a call on the system, however. Will the Under-Secretary look into that?
§ Dr. SummerskillThe criteria for admission for settlement of grandparents or parents of people who are already settled here are set out in the Immigration Rules. They provide, among other things, that the sponsor must have the means to support a parent or grandparent and be able to provide accommodation. There is no evidence that anything but a very small minority of these people have to resort to supplementary benefit.
Dr. M. S. MillerDoes my hon. Friend agree that there is plenty of evidence that many of these parents and grandparents are employed in the most useful jobs in industry? Is she aware that if she visited 1639 Bradford she would find that we could not run some textile industries without them?
§ Dr. SummerskillThe people concerned in the Question are elderly and do not draw supplementary benefit. Under the rules of immigration, they are dependent on their children or grandchildren.
§ Mr. Ronald BellWhen extra-statutory categories of dependants are admitted by administrative announcement in future, will the hon. Lady bear in mind that it would be desirable to have statistics on the addition to total immigration which is thereby caused? Will she and her right hon. Friend also bear in mind that since the statistics became quarterly, the delay in their publication has become very bad?
§ Dr. SummerskillI shall look at the question of delay in the quarterly statistics. They are based on spouses, with separate figures for men and women. There is another section for others accepted for settlement, mainly dependants. In this case, separate figures are given for men, women and children.