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Social Services: Illegal Immigrants

Volume 494: debated on Monday 15 June 2009

To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many reports of care providers employing illegal immigrants have been received by the (a) Commission for Social Care Inspection and (b) Care Quality Commission in each year since its establishment; how many such reports have been investigated; and how many illegal immigrants have been found to be working in the care sector by each commission as a result of such investigations to date. (279215)

We are informed by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) that it does not routinely collect information about the number of illegal workers in care services and that no estimates of the numbers of such workers have been made.

CQC is responsible for regulating and inspecting care services against statutory regulations and national minimum standards—as was its predecessor, the Commission for Social Care Inspection (CSCI), until 1 April 2009. If care services are not meeting these requirements, including those in relation to recruitment and staffing, CQC may take enforcement action against them.

However, CQC has no specific responsibilities regarding immigration and is not responsible for prosecuting employers in relation to immigration offences. This is the responsibility of the United Kingdom Border Agency (UKBA).

CSCI agreed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the UKBA in December 2008. The purpose of the MoU was to facilitate co-operation, communication and co-ordination between CSCI and UKBA, to help ensure regulated adult social care services comply with immigration law and best recruitment practice to safeguard the best interests of people who use care services.

Discussions to develop a MoU between the UKBA and CQC are ongoing. The working arrangements set out in the existing MoU will continue until this is agreed.