Select Committee on European Scrutiny Twenty-Third Report


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 baseArticle 63(3)(a) EC; consultation; unanimity
DepartmentHome Office
Basis of considerationMinister's letter of 24 May 2007
Previous Committee ReportsHC 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 Council8-9 June 2007
Committee's assessmentPolitically important
Committee's decisionCleared

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


 
previous page contents next page

House of Commons home page Parliament home page House of Lords home page search page enquiries index

© Parliamentary copyright 2007
Prepared 15 June 2007