12 CONCLUSIONS
604. In our report we have identified a number
of structural and operational failures, ranging from the local
to the systemic, in the Government's overall response to the challenges
posed by the worldwide phenomenon of increased migration, both
legal and illegal. In our view it is a failure of successive Governments
that these flaws have been allowed to persist, and their continued
existence has exacerbated the problems the Government now faces.
But we have also identified measures which the Government should
take to address these failures. If the Government adopts these
suggestions and builds on some undoubted areas of good practice
and innovations—and uses properly the skills and experience
of dedicated staff throughout the existing immigration system—many
of the problems may be overcome.
605. There is little doubt that the great majority
of those who are in employed in the immigration system are working
hard and diligently, often under trying circumstances. But the
biggest single management challenge for the immigration authorities
is to create clear lines of responsibility and accountability
and to establish a culture at each level where staff are required
to feel a responsibility for the overall performance of the system
as well as for their own tasks. Without such a profound cultural
change, individual measures are unlikely to produce the required
results.
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