20 Uniform format for residence permits
for third-country nationals
| (27408)
7298/06
COM(06) 110
| Modified draft Council Regulation amending Regulation (EC) 1030/2002 laying down a uniform format for residence permits for third-country nationals
|
| Legal base | Article 63(3)(a) EC; consultation; unanimity
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| Department | Home Office |
| Basis of consideration | Minister's letter of 24 May 2007
|
| Previous Committee Reports | HC 34-xxvi (2005-06), para 13 (26 April 2006); HC 34-xxx (2005-06), para 5 (24 May 2006); and HC 34-xxxv (2005-06), para 5 (12 July 2006)
|
| To be discussed in Council | 8-9 June 2007
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| Committee's assessment | Politically important
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| Committee's decision | Cleared
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Previous scrutiny
20.1 In 2002, the Government opted into the Council Regulation
which lays down a uniform format for residence permits for third-country
nationals.[56]
20.2 In 2003, the Commission presented the draft
of an amending Regulation to integrate biometric identifiers into
the residence permits. The Government told the previous Committee
that it strongly supported the inclusion of biometrics and that
it had decided to opt into the amending Regulation. Our predecessors
cleared the proposal from scrutiny.[57]
20.3 The draft Regulation provided for biometric
identifiers to be incorporated into both residence permits and
residence stickers. After the previous Committee cleared the document,
an expert committee advised the Commission that, at present, it
is not technically feasible to integrate biometric identifiers
into stickers.
20.4 In the light of this advice, the Commission
presented a modified draft of the Regulation. When we considered
it in April 2006, we asked the Government, among other things,
whether the cost to the UK of implementing the modified draft
would be similar to the estimates the Government had given the
previous Committee of the cost of implementing the first draft
of the Regulation.[58]
20.5 We considered the Government's reply in May
2006 and concluded that we needed further information about the
expected costs and benefits of incorporating biometrics into British
residence permits.[59]
We decided to keep the document under scrutiny pending the Minister's
reply.
20.6 On 5 July 2006, the Minister of State at the
Home Office (Mr Liam Byrne) replied. The information he provided
did not, in our view, satisfactorily answer our questions and
so we asked him to give us oral evidence on the costs and benefits
of the proposal.[60]
20.7 Because of his other official commitments, the
Minister was unable to appear before us until 6 December 2006.
During his evidence to us, he explained that the proposal for
the inclusion of biometrics in residence permits for third country
nationals was being considered alongside the Government's plans
for identity cards for British citizens.[61]
He also explained that much further work was required on the estimated
costs and benefits; the figures were likely to be available in
April or May 2007.[62]
20.8 We decided to keep the draft Regulation under
scrutiny until the Minister was able to provide the information
for which we had asked.
The Minister's letter of 24 May 2007
20.9 The Minister tells us that the Government now
estimates that the cost of setting up the biometric residence
permit (BRP) would be £21.7 million, with annual running
costs of £25 million. In 2003, the estimated setting-up cost
was put at £24 million; and in 2006, it was estimated to
be £62.6 million. The Minister explains that:
"The £21.7 million set-up costs will
provide a system which does more than the minimum required by
the [proposed] EU Regulation. The cost of the minimum implementation
is £16 million. We believe the additional £5.7 million
will provide benefits, as described below, which are otherwise
unachievable.
"The BRP will form part of our improvements
to security and border control, it will link-in to the national
identity scheme and will enable other government departments to
realise benefits. These benefits include increased document security,
by making forgery and counterfeiting more difficult, therefore
reducing the number of fraudulent immigration applications and
simplifying, for employers and other government agencies, the
process of establishing whether a person is eligible for employment
or state benefits.
"By recording and storing biometric details
and providing a verification service to employers we expect to
significantly reduce the scope for illegal working. The card will
contain fingerprints within a security protected chip, which will
be far more secure than the current arrangements. This will substantially
reduce fraud through the use of multiple identities and fraudulently
obtaining a national insurance number and is a clear benefit for
the Department of Work and Pensions.
"We have researched methods of quantifying
these benefits. Following examination by Home Office economists
of a range of formulae, officials have concluded that there are
too many variables for the results to be considered robust. My
view is that whilst it is not possible to quantify these benefits
in financial terms, I judge that they outweigh the additional
£5.7 million on top of the minimum implementation solution."
Conclusion
20.10 We are grateful to the Minister for providing
an explanation in plain words of the expected costs and benefits
of the Government's plans for implementing the draft Regulation.
We regret that it took so long and required so much effort from
us to obtain this information. But we believe our persistence
was essential in order to provide the House with comprehensible
estimates of what this proposal will cost the taxpayer and what
the benefits are likely to be.
20.11 There are no further questions that we need
put to the Minister and we are now content to clear the draft
Regulation from scrutiny.
56 Council Regulation (EC) No. 1030/2002: OJ No. L
157, 15.6.02, p.1. Back
57
See (24918) 13044/03: HC 42-xi (2003-04), para 22 (25 February
2004). Back
58
See HC 34-xxvi (2005-06), para 13 (26 April 2006). Back
59
See HC 34-xxx (2005-06), para 5 (24 May 2006). Back
60
See HC 34-xxxv (2005-06), para 5 (12 July 2006). Back
61
HC 141-i, Q6. Back
62
HC 141-i, Q19. Back
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