383
1
Railways Bill
[15 JULY 1993]
should be the property of all Members of this Chamber, it might even be helpful to place the substance of the letters in the Library.
The Earl of Caithness: I am grateful to the noble Lord, Lord Clinton-Davis. I wish to reassure him. It has always been my habit to put copies in the Library because, although I write to a specific Member of the Committee, it is difficult to cover every Member of the Committee. That is why I make sure a copy is put in the Library.
Lord Clinton-Davis: That is extremely helpful. The Minister has clarified the whole position, and I am sure that he has fully answered the anxieties of the noble Lord, Lord Boyd-Carpenter. Clearly, these are matters that are the property of the whole Chamber. I do not know whether I should now approach this issue, in the light of what the Minister has said, with the measure of serenity which was implied in his observations. However, I shall certainly consider carefully what he said. The noble Lord, Lord Tordoff, summed up our concerns and the Minister has addressed that point. It is helpful that that should be on the record. If for no other reason than that, the debate is valuable.
There is substance in what the noble Lord, Lord Wade, said and in what the Minister said in accepting those observations. There was no intention ever on our part to push the issue to a vote. We merely wished to extract the assertions that the Minister has made which are extremely helpful. In those circumstances I beg leave to withdraw the amendment.
Amendment, by leave, withdrawn. Clause 87 agreed to.
[Amendments Nos. 125AC and 125AD not moved.] Clauses 88 to 90 agreed to.
[Amendment No. 125AE not moved.]
Viscount Goschen: I beg to move that the House do
now resume.
Moved accordingly, and, on Question, Motion agreed to.
House resumed.
6.8 p.m.
Sexual Offences Bill
Read a third time, and passed.
Viscount Goschen: My Lords, I beg to move that the House do adjourn during pleasure until 6.20 p.m. Moved accordingly, and, on Question, Motion agreed to.
[The Sitting was suspended from 6.9 to 6.20 p.m.]
British Nationality (Hong Kong) (Selection Scheme) (Amendment) Order
1993
The Minister of State, Home Office (Earl Ferrers) rose to move, That the draft order laid before the House on 10th June be approved [34th Report from the Joint Committee].
201 LD44/25 Job 4-2
HILD 340/6.
British Nationality Order 1993
384
The noble Earl said: My Lords, I beg to move that the draft British Nationality (Hong Kong) (Selection Scheme) (Amendment) Order 1993 be approved. In moving the order I shall also speak to the draft Hong Kong (British Nationality) (Amendment) Order 1993. In addition to the two orders which are in my name on the Order Paper we have an amendment in the name of the noble Lord, Lord McIntosh of Haringey, and a Motion in the name of the noble Lord, Lord Bonham-Carter. I thought that it might be for the convenience of your Lordships if I said how, as a matter of procedure, I thought that we might deal with these matters.
I suggest that after I have made my speech and moved these orders the noble Lord, Lord McIntosh, should then move his amendment and after that the noble Lord, Lord Bonham-Carter, should speak to his Motion. Then we can have a general debate on the whole subject.
After I have made my concluding speech at the end of the debate, in which I shall try to answer some of the points which have been raised, I shall move the first order. Before that is put to the House the noble Lord, Lord McIntosh, will move his amendment. When that amendment has been decided on the original order, as amended or unamended, will be put and decided on. Then the second order will be put and decided on. The Motion in the name of the noble Lord, Lord Bonham-Carter, will then be put and decided on.
I hope that this advice on how we might proceed will meet with the approval of your Lordships.
To return to the orders which are in my name on the Order Paper, subject to the approval of your Lordships, the selection scheme order will come into force on 3rd January 1994 and the Hong Kong (British Nationality) (Amendment) Order will come into force on 21st July 1993.
Detailed arrangements governing the selection scheme were introduced by the British Nationality (Hong Kong) (Selection Scheme) Order 1990. These allowed applications for British citizenship to be made in tranches. Perhaps I may remind your Lordships that quotas were set for four classes of applicant. They were: the general occupational class, the disciplined services class, the sensitive service class, and the entrepreneurs class. The British Nationality (Hong Kong) Act 1990 provided for up to 50,000 places to be made available to British nationals in those four classes and the various groups of which they were comprised.
The selection scheme allows for points to be given for various attributes such as age, education, experience and so forth. Citizenship is given to those who score the most points.
Of the 50,000 places, 38,000 were assigned for distribution under the first tranche, which started in December 1990 and finishes on 1st January 1994. We are well on target to complete the first tranche by the end of the year. As at 3rd July, we had registered 31,568 principal beneficiaries together with 52,876 dependants.
The next phase of the scheme will be the last. Nearly four-fifths of the places will have been
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