HC Deb 21 January 1976 vol 903 cc463-4W
Mr. Lawson

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department from when to when the 18-month period of double counting of embarkation statistics, referred to by him in his Written Answer to the hon. Member for Dagenham (Mr. Parker) on 14th January—[Official Report, column 168]—actually occurred.

Mr. Roy Jenkins

From 1st January 1973 until 31st July 1974.

Mr. Biggs-Davison

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he is aware that a report of the Joint Committee for the Welfare of Immigrants indicates that in the London catering trade 84 per cent. of immigrant workers were over-stayers or illegal immigrants; and whether his Department will carry out an investigation.

Mr. Alexander W. Lyon

I would refer the hon. Member to the reply which I gave yesterday to a Question by my hon. Friend the Member for Ealing, North (Mr. Molloy)—[Vol. 903, c.379.]

Mr. Biggs-Davison

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will publish in the Official Report a table showing the country of origin of all workers resident in the United Kingdom who do not hold a British passport.

Mr. Alexander W. Lyon

I regret that this information is not available.

Miss Richardson

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether it is the policy of his Department to allow quota vouchers for settlement in Great Britain to male United Kingdom citizens and their families but to deny them to female United Kingdom citizens and their families; and, if so, what are the reasons.

Mr. Alexander W. Lyon

Special vouchers have always been available only to United Kingdom passport holders who are heads of households. Widows and single women qualify on this basis, as do wives who have had to take on the responsibilities of the household because their husbands suffer from some long-term medical incapacity. In 1974 about 21 per cent. of the voucher-holders arriving in the United Kingdom were women.

The voucher scheme was introduced to permit the controlled admission of United Kingdom passport holders who were obliged to leave their countries of residence and had nowhere else to go. Wives with United Kingdom passports who are married to citizens of other countries are in general at liberty to settle or remain in those countries with their husbands.