OVERSEAS DOMESTIC WORKERS

That this House notes with concern the continuing plight of some overseas domestic workers brought into the United Kingdom under a 1980 concession which ties them irrevocably to a single employer, thus creating a system of tied labour in this country; and, noting that the tightening of immigration procedures in 1991 has not resolved the problem, calls upon the Secretary of State for the Home Department to ensure that all domestic workers from overseas are provided with an immigration status which will enable them to change employers within the same category of work whilst in the United Kingdom and that those who have entered the United Kingdom under the existing concession and are still in this country also have their legal status regularised; and notes that this will help to end the maltreatment and abuse of overseas domestic workers by some employers in this country, of which 1,700 cases have been documented to date.