2 Business and IT systems
10. The Department took direct control of immigration
operations around 18 months ago.[21]
The Department's priority had been to stabilise the system and
performance, then transform the business to improve efficiency
and effectiveness. Both new directorates have started analysing
their business models and processes in order to identify efficiencies,
increase productivity, and determine the IT needed. However, their
plans are far from properly developed and ready.[22]
11. In 2010 the Agency unveiled plans for a new Immigration
Case Work (ICW) system, which would replace the older Casework
Information Database and 20 other legacy IT systems. ICW was intended
to allow all interactions between a caseworker and applicant to
be stored in a single place, rather than spread over multiple
systems, promoting efficiency and making it much easier to produce
information. However the programme delivered significantly less
than expected and it was cancelled in August 2013 at a cost of
£347 million.[23]
Similarly, the e-Borders IT programme, which would have provided
exit checks on all people leaving the UK, has also been cancelled.
The Department had spent £260 million on e-Borders before
it was cancelled and has now been ordered to pay a further £224
million in costs (£186 million direct cost plus £38
million in interest) to the supplier for unlawful termination
of the contract.[24]
Taking all the costs of the ICW and e-Borders projects together
(including legal costs) the Department is likely to spend close
to £1 billion on IT projects for little return.[25]
12. The Department told us it had learned lessons
from these failures and was moving away from large IT programmes
managed by a single supplier, towards smaller, more manageable
packages of work. In theory this should prevent IT delivery being
hostage to a single supplier's performance. This new approach
was being followed by the new Immigration Platform Technology
(IPT) programme intended to deliver the capabilities that ICW
could not.[26] This is
being done at the same time as the Department is developing its
business models to improve productivity and efficiency.[27]
13. The Department's failure to deliver IT programmes
effectively has undermined its ability to track individuals who
have been refused permission to stay in the UK.[28]
The cases of people whose application to stay, work or study in
the UK has been rejected by UK Visas and Immigration are put into
a Migration Refusal Pool to await removal. While nearly 80,000
people left the Migration Refusal Pool in 2013-14 this was largely
offset by new rejected cases entering the pool. In 2013-14 the
number of cases in the pool reduced by only 8,000, with just over
175,000 people awaiting removal.[29]
The Department told us that it had limited resources to remove
people with no legal right to remain in the UK.[30]
14. The Migration Refusal Pool includes people who
may have secured leave to remain through a different route, or
left the UK voluntarily. In 2012 the Department contracted Capita
to determine how many people in the pool had left and how many
needed to be removed. By the end of December 2013 Capita had examined
nearly 250,000 cases and found that 50,000 people in the Migration
Refusal Pool simply could not be contacted.[31]
The Department told us that they did not know whether these people
had left the country or, if not, where they were currently living.[32]
The Department told us that a system to identify people leaving
the UK would be in place by March 2015. However this would only
identify whether people entering the pool after March 2015 have
left the country, it would not be able to check whether any of
the 50,000 people already in the Migration Refusal Pool whose
location is unknown have left.[33]
15. These 50,000 people are not entitled to benefits
and the Department told us that the new Immigration Act includes
measures to make it more difficult for people to access benefits
to which there are not entitled.[34]
In a subsequent note the Department outlined how it shares data
with the Department for Work and Pensions in order to identify
those claiming benefits they were not entitled to—benefit
payments had been cancelled in 0.02% of cases checked. The Department
also takes part in the National Fraud Initiative to share data
across public bodies.[35]
For example, after the Department shared information on people
in the country illegally with the DVLA it revoked driving licenses
of over 3,600 people. The Department also carries out a range
of enforcement activities with other agencies in order to identify
people in the country illegally—500 people were recently
arrested after a series of joint raids with HM Revenue and Customs,
the Department for Work and Pensions and Trading Standards. But
the Department does not have a plan in place to track down and
remove the 50,000 people in the Migration Refusal Pool whose location
is not known.[36]
21 C&AG's Report, para 1.4 Back
22
Qq 162, 166, C&AG's Report, para 3.11 Back
23
C&AG's Report, paras 4.10-4.11 Back
24
Letter from the Home Office to the Home Affairs Select Committee
Chair, 18 August 2014, p2 Back
25
Qq 134-139 Back
26
Qq 135-137 Back
27
Qq 162-171 Back
28
Qq 60, 64, 177 Back
29
C&AG's Report, para 2.18 Back
30
Q 73 Back
31
Qq 61-64, C&AG's Report, para 2.19 Back
32
Qq 70-73 Back
33
Qq 65-66 Back
34
Qq 74-80 Back
35
Written evidence from the Home Office to PAC, 12 September 2014,
p3 Back
36
Qq 60, 76, 86 Back
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