§ Mr. ChaytorTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on the role of the Immigration Services Commissioner. [124768]
§ Mrs. RocheThe role and responsibilities of the Immigration Services Commissioner are set out in Part V of, and in Part I of Schedule 5 and Schedule 6 to, the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999. The Act prohibits any person or organisation from providing immigration advice or services unless that person or organisation is registered with the Immigration Services Commissioner, authorised to practise by a designated professional body, or is exempt under the terms of the scheme.
The Immigration Services Commissioner will publish the criteria for registration, will receive applications for registration and will determine whether individuals and organisations are competent and otherwise fit to provide immigration advice and services. The Commissioner will also consider cases for exemption. Exemption is likely to be sought by organisations from the voluntary, health and education sectors and the Commissioner will ensure that these organisations meet satisfactory standards.
The Commissioner will establish a complaints scheme and may investigate and determine complaints made against immigration advisers, including members of the designated professional bodies. Remedies available to the Commissioner on finding a complaint proven include powers to require a registered person to re-apply for registration without delay, to withdraw an exemption or to refer a disciplinary charge to the Immigration Services Tribunal. The power to discipline members of a designated professional body remains with the relevant professional body, but the Commissioner has power to refer his findings to the relevant professional body and to impose a timetable for that body to consider the complaint and, where appropriate, to take disciplinary action.
The Commissioner also has a duty to promote good practice by those who provide immigration advice or services.
The Government believe that the activities of the Commissioner, together with other initiatives such as the establishment of the Community Legal Service, will provide a comprehensive and coherent strategy for rooting out unscrupulous and incompetent immigration advisers and service providers, while supporting those providing a quality service. In this way standards in the immigration advice sector will be improved. The Commissioner is in the process of consulting widely within the advice sector in order to formulate the rules and standards, which will govern the regulatory scheme.