By Richard Johnstone | 21 February 2012
The UK Border Agency is to be split in two after an inquiry revealed that border checks had been regularly suspended since 2007, Home Secretary Theresa May has announced.
The Border Force, which polices entry into the UK, will become a separate law enforcement entity on March 1 because the scale of the changes required are ‘too great for one organisation’, the home secretary said.
May told MPs yesterday that, until the suspension of checks was discovered, around 500,000 people from the European Economic Area are likely to have entered Britain without full examination against a Home Office Warnings Index.
When the lifting of some checks was revealed last November, May suspended the head of the Border Force Brodie Clark. He then resigned and is pursuing a case for constructive dismissal.
At May’s request, John Vine, independent chief inspector of the UKBA, conducted a report into the practice of check suspensions. His conclusions, published yesterday, expose ‘very significant problems’, May said.
Vine’s report concluded that the previous government agreed to a limited relaxation of checks against the index for reasons such as serious over-crowding. However, he found that they had then been suspended for other reasons ‘on many occasions’.
May said that the report showed that the force stopped checks in unauthorised circumstances, and abandoned them entirely for some passengers, without approval from ministers.
A trial, authorised by May last July, to lift checks on EEA national children in limited circumstances, was ‘entirely separate’, she added. However, due to the more widespread suspension of checks, it was impossible to know fully what effect the pilot had.
As part of the changes to the force, May announced that the chief constable of Wiltshire Police, Brian Moore, has been appointed interim head.
The new organisation will be separate from the operations of the UKBA, and will have ‘its own ethos of law enforcement’, May said.
She added that the changes will ‘ensure that not only will we have a stronger border in future, but that Border Force becomes the disciplined law enforcement organisation it was established to be’.
Senior civil service trade union the FDA, which is representing Clark, said that the report showed that he was not a ‘rogue civil servant’.
National officer Paul Whiteman said: ‘Despite attempts by the Home Office at the start of these events to lay the blame for perceived border control irregularities solely at Brodie Clark’s door, the Vine report is clear that blame is to be shared between officials and ministers. As a consequence, it is clear that the description that Brodie Clark was a “rogue civil servant” was disingenuous and wrong.
‘The report shows the lack of understanding between the Home Office, UKBA and the Border Force.’
Clark confirmed he would continue with his claim against the Home Office for constructive dismissal.
He added: ‘I welcome the recognition of the complexity of the business and hope that the recommendations contained within John Vine’s report will serve to remove some of the barriers to success that currently exist.’
The UKBA was set up in 2008 after then Home Secretary John Reid found the Immigration Directorate ‘not fit for purpose’. It is responsible for securing the UK border at air, rail and sea ports and migration controls, such as the issuing of visas.
Its work was previously carried out by the Border and Immigration Agency, Revenue and Customs at the border and the Foreign Office.
