This briefing provides information in support of the House of Lords consideration of the Immigration Bill.
Immigration Bill 2015-16: Briefing for Lords Stages (398 KB , PDF)
This House of Lords Library briefing provides an overview of the Immigration Bill’s main provisions and a summary of the Bill’s report stage and third reading in the House of Commons.
The Immigration Bill seeks to implement a number of the Conservative Party’s manifesto commitments on immigration, including the introduction of a requirement for all customer-facing public sector workers to speak fluent English and the new offences of working illegally. The Bill was introduced in the House of Commons on 17 September 2015 and had its second reading on 13 October 2015, and passed by 323 votes to 274.
Four amendments by opposition parties were divided on during the Bill’s report stage. These were on the issues of illegal working; the extension of right to rent; the Bill’s changes to the availability of local authority support to migrants; and the Bill’s changes to the appeals process. None were successful. The Government made a number of technical amendments to the Bill and added new clauses on the transfer of unaccompanied migrant children between local authorities. The Immigration Bill passed third reading in the House of Commons by 307 votes to 245.
The Bill’s second reading in the House of Lords is scheduled for 22 December 2015.
Further details can be found in the Explanatory Notes to the Immigration Bill. Readers may also be interested in the following publications by the House of Commons Library for earlier stages of the Bill:
Immigration Bill 2015-16: Briefing for Lords Stages (398 KB , PDF)
This bill seeks to implement the government’s commitments to modernise the asylum and immigration systems, establish a border security command and introduce enhanced powers and offences to tackle immigration crime and people smuggling gangs. It has completed its passage in the House of Commons and is scheduled to have its second reading in the House of Lords on 2 June 2025.
The government has committed to reducing and reclaiming public money lost to fraud and error. The Public Authorities (Fraud, Error and Recovery) Bill contains provisions to extend Cabinet Office and Public Sector Fraud Authority powers to tackle fraud and error outside the tax and benefits system, and also expands powers to tackle fraud within the benefits system. The bill is due to have its second reading in the House of Lords on 15 May 2025.
The House of Lords is due to discuss NHS staff access to single-sex spaces on 1 May 2025. Following a recent Supreme Court judgment about the meaning of the term ‘sex’ in the Equality Act 2010, the Equality and Human Rights Commission issued an interim update on 25 April 2025 about the implications of this for workplaces and services provided to the public.
