Whereas—

(1) in pursuance of section 8A of the Asylum and Immigration Act 1996( 1 ) (“the 1996 Act”), the Secretary of State is required to issue a code of practice as to the measures which an employer is to be expected to take, or not to take, with a view to securing that, while avoiding the commission of an offence under section 8 of the 1996 Act, he also avoids unlawful discrimination;

(2) in preparing a draft of the code of practice, the Secretary of State has consulted the Commission for Racial Equality, the Equality Commission for Northern Ireland and such organisations and bodies (including organisations or associations of organisations representative of employers or of workers) as he considers appropriate, in satisfaction of the requirements of section 8A(4) of the 1996 Act;

(3) the Secretary of State has prepared and published a draft of the code of practice and has considered representations about it which were made to him, in satisfaction of the requirements of section 8A(3) of the 1996 Act;

(4) in pursuance of section 8A(5) of the 1996 Act, the Secretary of State has laid a draft of the code of practice before each House of Parliament;

(5) in pursuance of section 8A(6) of the 1996 Act, the draft code of practice laid before each House of Parliament contains modifications to the original proposals made in the light of representations to the Secretary of State;