| UK Border Agency | |
| Logo of the UK Border Agency. | |
| Agency overview | |
|---|---|
| Formed | 1 April, 2008 |
| Preceding agencies | |
| Employees | 23,000 |
| Legal personality | Governmental: Government agency |
| Jurisdictional structure | |
| National agency (Operations jurisdiction) |
UK |
| Legal jurisdiction | UK |
| General nature |
|
| Specialist jurisdictions |
|
| Operational structure | |
| Headquarters | 2 Marsham Street, London, SW1P 4DF |
| Sworn members | 10,000 |
| Unsworn members | 10,000 |
| Minister responsible | Damian Green, Minister of State for Immigration |
| Agency executive | Rob Whiteman, Chief Executive |
| Parent agency | Home Office |
| Facilities | |
| UKBA 42m Customs Cutters | Five |
| Planes | Yes |
| Detection dogs | Over 100 |
| Website | |
| http://ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/ | |
The UK Border Agency (UKBA) is the border control body of the United Kingdom (UK) government and an Executive Agency of the Home Office.[1] It was formed on 1 April 2008 by a merger of the Border and Immigration Agency (BIA), UKvisas and the Detection functions of HM Revenue and Customs. The decision to create a single border control organisation was taken following a Cabinet Office report.[2] The agency is divided into three broad command structures, each under the management of a senior director:
Its head office is 2 Marsham Street, London. In 2011, the Chief Executive is Rob Whiteman.
The agency has come under formal criticism from the Parliamentary Ombudsman for consistently poor service, a backlog of hundreds of thousands of cases, and a large and increasing number of complaints.[3] In the first nine months of 2009-10, 97% of investigations reported by the Ombudsman resulted in a complaint against the agency being upheld.[4] The complainants were asylum, residence, or other immigration applicants.[4]
Contents |
The UK Border Agency has a staff of 23,000 people located in over 130 countries. The agency plans to reduce this by around 5,200 between 2011 and 2015. Overseas staff vet visa applications and operate an intelligence and liaison network, acting as the first layer of border control for the UK.
The organisation operates as the single force at the border for the UK. In August 2009 HM Revenue and Customs transferred several thousand customs detection officers to the agency, following Parliament agreeing to give it customs control powers. The agency now investigates smuggling. The agency is developing a single primary border control line at the UK border combining controls of people and goods entering the country.
The agencies e-Borders programme checks travellers to and from the UK. They are checked in advance of travel using data provided by passengers via their airline or ferry operators. The organisation uses automatic clearance gates at main international airports.
The agency is managing the UK Government's limit on non-European economic migration to the UK. It is responsible for in-country enforcement operations, investigating organised immigration crime and to detecting immigration offenders including illegal entrants and overstayers. The body is also responsible for the deportation of foreign national criminals at the end of sentences.
UK Border Agency has a £2.5 billion pound annual budget and is under pressure to cut costs and resources. Under the spending review the agency will cut costs by up to 20%. At its peak the agency employed around 25,000 staff, but 5200 posts are being cut by 2015.[5]
Founding Chief Executive Lin Homer left the agency in January 2011 to become the Permanent Secretary at the Department of Transport. Deputy Chief Executive Jonathan Sedgwick was acting chief until the new CEO, Rob Whiteman, took over on 26 September 2011. Jonathan Sedwick has now taken command of the International Group within the agency.
The former strategic immigration policy functions of the agency moved to the Home Office in July 2011.
The agency is divided into several commands[6]:
Both the Immigration group and Border Force operate regional command structures. Within the regions there are Local Immigration Teams (LITs).[7]
The Government is planning to introduce a border policing command as part of a new National Crime Agency. UK Border Agency tasking will be informed by the intelligence and threat asessments produced by the command. It is likely that the new command will also be able to call on agency assets for operations against cross-border organised crime gangs.
It is monitored by the The Independent Chief Inspector of the UK Border Agency John Vine.
At the moment, staff hold a mixture of powers granted to them by their status as immigration officers and customs officers.
Immigration officers have the power of arrest and detention conferred on them by the Immigration Act 1971, when both at ports and inland. In practice, border force officers exercise powers under Schedule 2 of the Immigration Act 1971 and inland immigration officers under S28A-H of the Immigration Act 1971 and paragraph 17 of Schedule 2. This has led to separate training for border and inland officers.
This act is applicable in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. "Designated Immigration Officers" are port immigration officers who have been trained in detention under PACE. UK Border Agency immigration officers wear a uniform with rank insignia. Enforcement immigration officers wear body armour and carry handcuffs and ASP batons.
Customs officers have wide-ranging powers of entry, search and detention. The main power is to detain anyone who has committed, or who the officer has reasonable grounds to suspect has committed, any offence under the Customs and Excise Acts.[9]
The agency attained full agency status on 1 April 2009. Immigration Officers and Customs Officers retained their own powers for the enforcement and administration of the UK's borders, although management of the new organisation is integrated and progressively officers are cross trained and empowered to deal with customs and immigration matters at the border.The Borders, Citizenship and Immigration Act 2009 received Royal Assent on 21 July 2009. This allows the concurrent exercise of customs powers by HMRC Commissioners and the Director of Border Revenue; it is the first step in overhauling immigration and customs legislation.
The UK Border Agency removes foreign national criminals at the end of their prison terms Over 5000 foreign national prisoners are deported each year. The agency also removes failed asylum seekers and others illegally in the UK. A 2009 report by the National Audit Office cited lack of detention space to support the asylum process. The agency has over 3000 detention spaces in removal centres run by private contractors or the Prison Service.[10]
There have also been difficulties with the management of student visas under Tier 4 of the Points-Based System. The assessment of the Independent Chief Inspector was summarized by one news report as "Good at making cash, crap at making decisions".[11]
In November 2011, the Home Affairs Select Committee issued a report that found that 124,000 deportation cases had been shelved by the UKBA. The report said the cases had been dumped in a "controlled archive", a term used to try to hide the fact from authorities and auditors that it was a list of lost applicants.[12]
Previously, Boulogne-sur-Mer. No checkpoint since its port closed in August 2010.
Following allegations that staff were told to relax some identity checks, in November 2011 the UK Home Office suspended: Brodie Clark, the Head of UK border force;[13] Carole Upshall, director of the Border Force South and European Operation;[14] Graham Kyle, director of operations at Heathrow Airport.[13] The Home Office is presently investigating allegations that Clark had agreed to "open up the borders" at certain times in ways ministers would "not have agreed with".[13] It is alleged that between July and the end of October 2011, queues at passport control were "managed" so as not to annoy holiday makers.[14] The BBC reported that staff may have been told not to scan biometric passports at certain times, which contain a digital image of the holder's face, which can be used to compare with the printed version and check the passport has not been forged.[13] It is also believed that "warning index checks" at Heathrow and Calais were also suspended, which would have applied strict security checks against official watchlists of terrorists, criminals, and deported illegal immigrants.[15]
After Clark refused the offer to take early retirement, he was suspended and the investigation begun. Two investigations are being undertaken:[13]
It was then announced on 5 November by Home Secretary Theresa May, that an independent inquiry would also be undertaken, led by the Chief Inspector of the UK Border Agency, John Vine.[16]
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