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
|
