The work of the Immigration Directorates (January - June 2014) - Home Affairs Committee Contents


3  Reports of the Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration

23. The Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration is appointed by the Home Secretary to assess the efficiency and effectiveness of the UK's border and immigration functions. The Inspector carries out investigations, and produces reports which are placed before Parliament. Before 1 January 2014, the protocol for publication of his reports involved submitting the report to the Home Secretary and then for the Independent Chief Inspector to publish the report within thirty days. This agreement had worked for five years without difficulty. The Chief Inspector's reports are now submitted to the Home Secretary, then published at a time and date decided by the Home Office.

24. The Independent Chief Inspector was informed in September 2013 that the Home Office was seeking to change how his reports were published, to correct what had been a "misinterpretation" of section 50 of the UK Borders Act 2007.[35] The Independent Chief Inspector understood that section 50 applied to the annual report and to those pieces of work commissioned by the Home Secretary. From 1 January 2014, the Home Office would now interpret section 50 of the Border Act 2007 to apply to all the Independent Chief Inspector's reports. The Independent Chief Inspector has taken legal advice from Treasury Solicitors, who concluded that the Home Office's interpretation of section 50 was neither the obvious nor the only interpretation of the law.[36]

25. We raised this matter with John Vine, the current Independent Chief Inspector, in June 2014. He told us he was concerned because the time between his reports being submitted and being published was increasing, and the evidence he had gathered as part of his investigations was becoming dated and losing its relevance.[37] He had submitted one report in March that was eventually published nearly four months later, on 15 July.[38] In addition, the Home Office has started to publish the reports in batches, two on 19 June, three on 15 July and three on 23 October.

26. Mr Vine has supplied us with a table, included below, showing the date his reports have been submitted and the date of publication. Of all the reports submitted after 1 January, the number of days between submission and publication has exceeded 30 days, longer than when the Independent Chief Inspector published them himself. A report on Operation Nexus—an arrangement that facilitates closer working between immigration officials and police to identify foreign criminals—was finally published on 4 December, five months after it had been submitted to the Home Office.
Reports submitted to the Home Secretary and published since January 2014
Inspection
Date Submitted

to Home Sec
Date

Published
A Short Notice Inspection of Enforcement (Sham Marriage/Op Mellor)
17 December 2013
23 January 2014
An Inspection of Stansted Airport
20 December 2013
23 January 2014
A Short Notice Inspection of AD Letters
7 January 2014
27 March 2014
An Inspection of Travel Documentation
13 December 2013
27 March 2014
A Short Notice Inspection of Covert baggage searches
7 February 2014
3 April 2014
Unannounced Inspection of Glasgow PEO
17 February 2014
19 June 2014
An Inspection of Asylum Support
26 March 2014
15 July 2014
Unannounced Inspection of Cardiff ASU
14 April 2014
15 July 2014
An Inspection of European Casework
7 May 2014
19 June 2014
An Inspection of Non-Suspensive Appeals
26 May 2014
15 July 2014
An Inspection of the intelligence Management System
29 May 2014
23 October 2014
An Inspection of Op Nexus
26 June 2014
4 December 2014
Paris Visa Section
25 July 2014
23 October 2014
An Investigation of Asylum Claims Based on Sexual Orientation
31 July 2014
23 October 2014
An Inspection of Nationality
1 September 2014
11 December 2014
Short Notice Queen's Warehouse
30 September 2014
11 December 2014
An Inspection of Overstayers
16 October 2014
17 December 2014
An Inspection of Interviewing
17 October 2014
17 December 2014

27. When asked why this was happening, Mr Brokenshire said the Government had reasserted control of the publication process, to ensure compliance with the Borders Act 2007, and that:

    Thus far this year we have seen the publication of 14 reports to date, which is more than we had during the course of last year. We have had 10 at this stage during the course of this year and seven of those have been published in fewer than eight weeks, but I do accept your premise on the need to improve the process on this and that is precisely what we are doing with the inspector and also, because it is the laying of written ministerial statement, that obviously has to be agreed through the No. 10 machinery as well.[39]

The Minister also made the point that the reports were "detailed and thorough" and that it was necessary for the Home Office to carry out "proper consideration" before deciding the "right response and necessary operational activity".[40] The Home Office have, on occasion, redacted parts of the report, and we recognise that may require careful consideration.

28. However, for five years the Independent Chief Inspector submitted his reports to the Home Office and published them within a month without any problems. For five years, one month was sufficient for the Government to publish its responses to the Independent Chief Inspector's reports on the same day as the reports themselves. It may be that the Government does have good reason for delaying the publication of the Independent Chief Inspector's reports. If so, it should explain what those reasons are. It is unacceptable for the Home Office to withhold from public view reports produced by the Independent Chief Inspector of Immigration and Borders for longer than one month without providing a good reason. Parliament and the public have a right to have access to this information in a timely manner after its compilation. After all, the Chief Inspector is supposed to be independent of Government, not answerable to it.

29. We note that, following pressure from this Committee, the Government has now published all the outstanding reports from the Independent Chief Inspector before the end of December 2014. In future, we should return to the system where reports were given to Parliament as soon as they are completed. We also recommend that the Government sign a protocol with the incoming Independent Chief Inspector, restating their intention to publish all reports within one calendar month of receipt. These delays are inexcusable because the reports expose faults in the system which must be rectified immediately. The longer it takes to publish these reports, the longer these errors and failings are going to continue within the Home Office.

30. John Vine will be retiring from his position as Independent Chief Inspector at the end of 2014. We would like to place on record our thanks to Mr Vine for the thoroughness of his work, the speed and efficiency at which he has carried it out, and his ability to discover information from within the Home Office that seems to have bypassed the entire management structure including the board of the Visas and Immigration Department. The fact that one individual working in a small team has managed to find so many errors begs the question of why there is not proper internal oversight. Mr Vine has done much to help focus attention on areas of the immigration and borders system, and contributed in many important ways to the scrutiny of the work of the Home Office. We wish him well in the future.

31. Due to the nature of the Independent Chief Inspector's work, we consider that it is appropriate that this Committee conduct a pre-appointment hearing for his successor in the New Year, once the Home Secretary has identified a preferred candidate. This will ensure that Parliament is involved in the selection of a candidate who plays an important independent role and is not answerable to Government and would provide consistency with other Chief Inspectors, including those for Constabulary; the Crown Prosecution Service; Education, Children's Services and Skills; Prisons; and Probation.


35   http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2007/30/section/50  Back

36   Letter from John Vine to Margaret Hodge MP, 12 November 2014  Back

37   Q 123 Back

38   Home Affairs Committee, The work of the Immigration Directorates (October-December 2013), HC 237, Q 122, 24 June 2014 Back

39   Q 167 Back

40   Q 168 Back


 
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Prepared 19 December 2014