Conclusions and recommendations
1. Normally,
we would have published the Government's response on e-Borders,
the transcript of the oral evidence from UKBA and the written
evidence without comment, not least as we have no time to launch
any further inquiries owing to the imminence of the general election.
However, we were struck by the fact that, despite the assurances
given by the Government in their responses to our original reports,
the subsequent evidence we have received reinforces and, in some
areas, increases the concerns we felt at the end of last year.
None of these issues will be resolved within the next few months,
and all will have a serious impact on thousands of people. We
believe it appropriate that we should briefly draw them to the
attention of our successor Committee in the next Parliament, and
we urge our successors to seek an update on them as early as possible.
(Paragraph 3)
2. The Chief Inspector
of UKBA has confirmed our fears that the historic caseload of
asylum applications will not be cleared by the deadline and that
a new backlog of cases is growing up. We look forward to the UKBA
presenting our successors with clear, realistic proposals for
dealing with both these problems, even if that means an acknowledgement
that current targets cannot be met. (Paragraph 6)
3. Given the slow
progress so far in discussions with the maritime and rail sectors
on the e-borders project, and the number of practical problems
(some technical, others to do with a physical inability to send
data) experienced by the aviation industry even during and after
roll-out, we remain sceptical about whether UKBA will be able
to solve the remaining problems swiftly. We note that there is
still, in Mr Clark's words, the need for "a conversation
with the Commission" to clarify what is required in order
to make the programme compatible with freedom of movement; and,
despite the continuing negotiations, UKBA was unable to inform
us of any specific progress on the national data protection issues
with individual Member States. We remain of the view that the
current timetable will be impossible to achieve, and it is still
not clear whether all or some intra-EU travel will have to be
omitted from the programme, either on freedom of movement or on
national data protection grounds. (Paragraph 14)
4. We note that UKBA
has recently provided the Chamber of Shipping with the information
we had previously asked it to supply about the UK's discussions
with the European Commission. This is helpful, but we consider
it would be still more helpful to involve the carriers in the
imminent meeting between UKBA and the European Commission so that
they have a much clearer idea of what the Commission believes
EU law actually requires in practical terms. (Paragraph 15)
5. We note the Government's
strongly-held view that the e-Borders project is vital to the
security of the UK's borders, in terms of combating illegal immigration,
serious crime and terrorism. This being so, the fact that so many
major difficulties with the programme remain to be resolved causes
us serious concern. We recommend our successors to keep a close
watching brief on this programme. (Paragraph 16)
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