§ LORD GARDINERasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether a demand to see a coloured applicant's passport made by the Department of Health and Social Security with a view to passing information to the Home Office is not contrary to the Civii Service Code.
§ LORD ABERDAREWhen a person arrives in this country from overseas and applies for a national insurance card, he can be asked to show his passport in order to confirm the accuracy of personal particulars required for national insurance purposes. There is no reason to except coloured persons arriving in this country from such a general procedure. There is no question of a general demand unrelated to such applications. It is certainly not the case that the Department of Health and Social Security ask for passports with a view to passing information to the Home Office. Nevertheless, it is clearly reasonable to draw the attention of the appropriate authority to apparent serious breaches of the law. It is not in any case proposed to divulge information relating to specifically national insurance matters.
House adjourned at eighteen minutes before ten-o'clock.