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Immigration Controls: Airports

Willie Rennie: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what process is used to admit UK service personnel who are nationals of Commonwealth countries through UK airport immigration; and what representations she has received on difficulties experienced by those personnel. [201360]

Mr. Byrne [holding answer 24 April 2008]: The Immigration Act 1971 exempts from immigration control a member of the United Kingdom's armed forces subject to service law. A person is regarded as exempt from control (except for the provisions relating to deportation) so long as he or she is a member of those forces.

Members of the United Kingdom's armed forces are required to produce to an immigration officer documentary evidence of their exemption from control. They may hold a national passport which has already been endorsed with an exemption from control stamp or, alternatively, they may hold a personal identity card issued by the military authority to which they belong. Both are normally sufficient to demonstrate their entitlement to be treated as exempt.

Data relating to representations made by HM forces personnel about difficulties experienced by them when passing through the immigration control are not collated and are therefore unavailable.

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Willie Rennie: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if she will introduce an expedited immigration service for UK service personnel who are nationals of Commonwealth countries entering the UK at airports. [201361]

Mr. Byrne [holding answer 24 April 2008]: The Immigration Act 1971 exempts from immigration control a member of the United Kingdom’s armed forces subject to service law. A person is regarded as exempt from control (except for the provisions relating to deportation) so long as he or she is a member of those forces.

Members of the United Kingdom’s armed forces are required to produce to an Immigration Officer documentary evidence of their exemption from control. They may hold a national passport which has already been endorsed with an exemption from control stamp or, alternatively, they may hold a personal identity card issued by the military authority to which they belong. Both are normally sufficient to demonstrate their entitlement to be treated as exempt.

Given their exempt status and the need to provide evidence of that status to an Immigration Officer, there are no plans to alter the processes in place for members of the United Kingdom’s armed forces who arrive at airports in the United Kingdom.

Immigration Controls: Tuberculosis

Mr. Spellar: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what steps her Department is taking to prevent the entry to the UK of those with (a) tuberculosis and (b) extreme drug resistant tuberculosis. [200679]

Mr. Byrne: Those seeking leave to enter the UK for more than six months, who are subject to immigration control and who come from countries with a high prevalence of tuberculosis of all types (over 40 cases of TB per 100,000 population) as well as or those who claim asylum at port are routinely referred to the port
28 Apr 2008 : Column 90W
medical inspector (PMI) for medical examination, which includes TB screening. In addition, immigration officers are required to refer for medical examination anyone who appears ill, or who mentions health or illness as a reason for coming to the UK.

In addition visa applicants from countries with a particularly high prevalence of TB are required to undergo TB screening before seeking a visa. Anyone found to have active infectious TB must complete a course of treatment in their home country before being granted entry clearance. The countries specified include Bangladesh, Kenya (which also covers Eritrean and Somali nationals who travel there to apply for visas), Ghana (which also takes applications from Burkina Faso, Cote d'Ivoire, Togo and Niger) and Pakistan, Sudan, Tanzania and Thailand (which also processes visa applications for residents of Cambodia and Laos).

Decisions on any further development of the programme will be taken in the light of an evaluation of the scheme which is expected to take place later this year.

Immigration Officers: Powers

David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the offences are for which an immigration officer can (a) detain and (b) arrest an individual at a UK port. [199145]

Jacqui Smith: There are 50 offences for which an immigration officer may arrest and detain an individual at a United Kingdom port. A full list of offences is contained in Annex A.

Under section 2 of the UK Borders Act 2007 a designated immigration officer at a port in England, Wales or Northern Ireland may also detain (for a maximum of three hours) any individual who the officer thinks is subject to a warrant for arrest or may be liable to arrest by a constable for any offence, pending arrival of a constable.

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Powers of arrest under section 28A Immigration Act 1971
	Offence
S.24(1)(a)	Entry without leave/in breach of Deportation Order (or attempting)
S.24(l)(d)	Failure to submit to medical examination
S.24(1)(e)	Failure to comply with Temporary Admission
S.24(l)(f)	Disembarks after being placed on board for Removal Directions
S.24(l)(g)	Breach of condition of restriction order under S.3(7)
S.24A(l)(a)	Deception to seek/gain Leave To Enter/Remain
S.25(l)	Act which knowingly facilitates breach of immigration law by non EU citizen
S.25A(1)	Knowingly, for gain, facilitates entry into UK of asylum seeker
S.25B(1)	Assisting entry in breach of Deportation Order
S.25B(3)	Facilitating the arrival of an excluded person
S.26(1)(g)	Obstruction of an Immigration Officer
S.26A(3)(a)	Makes false registration card
S.26A(3)(b)	Alters card with intent deceive/for another to deceive
S.26A(3)(c)	Possession false/altered card without reasonable excuse
S.26A(3)(d)	Uses/attempts use false card for purpose which a card is issued
S.26A(3)(e)	Uses/attempts use altered card with intent to deceive
S.26A(3)(f)	Makes article to be used in making false card
S.26A(3)(g)	Makes article to alter card with intent to deceive/enable another to deceive
S.26A(3)(h)	Possession (f) or (g) article without reasonable excuse
S.26B(1)	Possession immigration stamp without reasonable excuse
S.26B(2)	Possession replica immigration stamp without reasonable excuse

Asylum and Immigration (Treatment of Claimants etc) Act 2004
	Offence
S.2(l)	Offence of not having at leave or asylum interview an immigration document which is in force and satisfactorily establishes identity and nationality/citizenship. (Power of arrest under s.2 (10))
S.2(2)	Offence of not having at leave or asylum interview, in respect of a dependant child, an immigration document which is in force and satisfactorily establishes the child's identity and nationality/citizenship. (Power of arrest under s.2 (10))
S.4(l)	Arranging or facilitating the arrival in the UK of a person, where the accused intends to exploit that person or believes that another person is likely to do so. (Power of arrest under s.14(1))
S.4(2)	Arranging or facilitating travel within the UK by a person, where the accused intends to exploit that person or believes that another person is likely to do so
S.4(3)	Arranging or facilitating the departure from the UK of a person, where the accused intends to exploit that person outside the UK or believes that another person is likely to do so

S.14 Power of arrest under s. 14(1) for offences listed
	Offence
Common Law	Conspiracy to Defraud
s.57 Offences v Person Act 1861	Bigamy (offences against person act 1861)
s.3(1)(a) Perjury Act 1911	Making a false statement to procure marriage
s.3(1)(b) Perjury Act 1911	Make false statement for entry in marriage register
s.4 Perjury Act 1911	False statement relating to birth and death
s.7 Perjury Act 1911 (for ss 3 and 4)	Aiding and abetting offences under ss 3 and 4 of the Perjury Act 1911
s.1 Theft Act 1968	Theft
s.15 Theft Act 1968	Obtaining property by deception
s.16 Theft Act 1968	Obtaining pecuniary advantage by deception
s.17 Theft Act 1968	False accounting
s.22 Theft Act 1968	Handling stolen goods
s.1 Theft Act 1978	Obtaining services by deception
s.2 Theft Act 1978	Evading liability by deception
s.1 Forgery and Counterfeiting Act 1981	Forgery
s.2 Forgery and Counterfeiting Act 1981	Copying false instrument
s.3 Forgery and Counterfeiting Act 1981	Using false instrument
s.4 Forgery and Counterfeiting Act 1981	Using copy of false instrument
s.25(l) Identity Cards Act 2006	Possession of a false identity document with intent
s.25(3) Identity Cards Act 2006	Possession of article designed to make false identity document
s.25(5) Identity Cards Act 2006	Possession of false identity document
s.57 Sexual Offences Act 2003	Trafficking into UK for sexual exploitation
s.58 Sexual Offences Act 2003	Trafficking within UK for sexual exploitation
s.59 Sexual Offences Act 2003	Trafficking out of UK for sexual exploitation
S.35(3)	Failing to comply with a requirement of the S of S under section 35(1), without reasonable excuse (i.e. failure to comply with re-documentation process)

Immigration Officers: Sick Leave

Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many self-certified days of sick leave were taken per head by (a) immigration officers, (b) other Border and Immigration Agency staff, (c) police and (d) staff in her core Department in each of the last five years. [193120]

Mr. Byrne: The number of self-certified sick days of leave taken per head by immigration officers and other border and immigration staff in each of the last three years are shown in the following table.

	Number
Immigration officers
2005	1.70
2006	1.80
2007	2.04
BIA staff
2005	1.63
2006	1.47
2007	1.51

The periods are calendar years—2005, 2006 and 2007. Data previous to 2005 are unavailable due to lack of central recording. All data are obtained from the Home Office personnel system—Adelphi.

Police

The number of self-certified sick days of leave taken by police staff in each of the last three years are shown in the following table.

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	Days	Hours
2002-03	10.4	—
2003-04	9.6	—
2004-05	—	70.9
2005-06	—	69.3
2006-07	—	69.7

Data on police officer self-certified absence are not available. Data are collected for all sick absences and since 2004-05 is collated and published as part of the Policing Performance Assessment Framework (PPAF). Those data are the form of working hours lost to sickness and are published on the Home Office website. Data for and prior to 2003-04, are not on the same basis as those available for 2004-05 onwards. Those earlier data are the form of working days lost.

Core Home Office

The number of self-certified sick days of leave taken by core Home Office staff in each of the last three years are shown in the following table.

Core staff
Calendar year	Days
2005	0.68
2006	0.83
2007	0.89

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