Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2002 (Juxtaposed Controls) (Amendment) Order 2006

rose to move, That the Grand Committee do report to the House that it has considered the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2002 (Juxtaposed Controls) (Amendment) Order 2006 [36th Report from the Joint Committee]. The noble Lord said: The primary purpose of this order is to enable two parts of UK immigration legislation to be applied in the juxtaposed control zones at the ports of Calais, Dunkerque and Boulogne. The first purpose of the order is to apply Sections 40 and 41 of the Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Act 2006, which provide a power for the Secretary of State to authorise certain persons other than immigration officers to search ships, aircraft, vehicles or other things to ascertain whether there are individuals whom an immigration officer might wish to examine, to search such persons for specified reasons, to detain such persons for a period as short as reasonably necessary up to a maximum of three hours and to escort them as speedily as reasonably practicable to an immigration officer. The second purpose of the order is to provide for the taking and retention of fingerprints under Sections 141 and 143 of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999. This order applies two pieces of English immigration law to the juxtaposed controls in the northern French ports of Calais, Dunkerque and Boulogne. As the Committee will know, the United Kingdom has several international agreements with France to allow UK authorities to carry out immigration and other controls in France, and for French authorities to do the same in the UK. Controls are carried out by UK officers in a defined geographical area and for specified purposes only. These juxtaposed controls, as they are known, provide the United Kingdom with an important opportunity to carry out immigration controls before a person physically enters the UK, and are essential to our ongoing efforts to secure the border. The juxtaposed controls in Calais, Dunkerqueand Boulogne are provided for at an international level by the Le Touquet treaty, which was signed on4 February 2003 and given domestic effect by the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2002 (Juxtaposed Controls) Order 2003—I will refer to it as the 2003 order for convenience—which was made under Section 141 of the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2002. The order under debate amends the 2003 order to apply, first, the power to authorise persons other than immigration officers in Sections 40 and 41 of the Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Act 2006 and, secondly, the power to take and retain fingerprints of certain persons under Sections 141 and 143 of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999 to the juxtaposed controls. I shall deal first with the power to authorise persons other than immigration officers to search ships, aircraft, vehicles and so on. Before Sections 40 and 41 of the Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Act 2006 came into force, only an immigration officer had the power to search a ship, aircraft, vehicle or other thing for the purpose of ascertaining whether there were individuals whom an immigration officer might wish to examine. The 2006 Act provides the Secretary of State with a power to authorise the police, HM Revenue and Customs officers or private contractors to carry out these searches. It is important that these powers apply to the juxtaposed controls at Calais, Dunkerque and Boulogne, where the UK Immigration Service has a considerable freight examination operation, and it is intended that private contractors will be authorised to carry out vehicle searches in order to free up immigration officers to concentrate on other areas of more complex work, such as forgery detection, the application of civil penalty and asylum screening and debriefing, for which they have undergone considerable training. Those contracted to undertake this work will be known as authorised search officers—ASOs—and the legislation demands that they are suitably trained and fit for the task assigned to them. If they are not, the Secretary of State will not give authorisation. He can and will revoke any authority should the contracted party fail to perform effectively and in accordance with the standard set. Careful consideration has been given to the powers of search and detention that ASOs will have. Those powers have been limited to the minimum necessary to enable ASOs to fulfil their function properly. The aim is for ASOs to find people who are seeking to enter the UK clandestinely, to detain them for the shortest period necessary—and for not more than three hours—and to take the person as speedily as is reasonably practicable to an immigration officer for examination. We expect delivery to be swift as the contractor will have a cellular vehicle permanently at his disposal. Checks and balances will be in place to ensure that the ASOs deploy their powers appropriately and efficiently. They will be directed and supervised by the UK Immigration Service on site, and a monitor will be appointed by the Secretary of State to oversee the operation of those powers and to investigate any complaints or failings. On fingerprinting, when the immigration controls at the juxtaposed controls were initially established, no provision was made for the application of Sections 141 and 143 of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999. At the time, it was felt that it would not be necessary to take and retain fingerprints, as all persons refused entry at a UK control zone are handed over to the French authorities. The management of their movement within the UK was therefore of no significance, because they would not enter the UK. However, it has become apparent that there is a real need for the identification of certain persons and that we should have the same powers as at UK mainland ports to take fingerprints. The application of this power in the juxtaposed controls would focus on those persons detected concealed in vehicles who seek to enter the UK clandestinely and those trying to use false documentation. Taking their fingerprints will provide a bank of physical data that can be used to identify people who have previously attempted to enter the UK unlawfully and who subsequently present themselves at the juxtaposed controls. Fingerprinting will support an intelligence-led approach to border security, providing information regarding its efficiency and the level of displacement between ports. For completeness, I should add that the contracting out of search provisions and taking and retention of fingerprint powers will also be applied when appropriate to the juxtaposed controls in France and Belgium connected with the Channel Tunnel. When secondary legislation is required to do this, it has been done under the Channel Tunnel Act 1987, which provides for a negative procedure. The relevant orders are the Channel Tunnel (International Arrangements) (Amendment) Order 2006 and the Channel Tunnel (Miscellaneous Provisions) (Amendment) Order 2006, which came into effect on 26 October. The application of these measures—the use of contractors and the power to fingerprint—at juxtaposed controls will increase the security of the border. They will allow warranted immigration staff to concentrate on more complex work and ensure that all those intent on circumventing the controls have physical data recorded for future identification. I commend the order to the Committee. I beg to move. Moved, That the Grand Committee do report to the House that it has considered the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2002 (Juxtaposed Controls) (Amendment) Order 2006 [36th Report from the Joint Committee].—(Lord Bassam of Brighton.)