UK Borders Bill

moved Amendment No. 3: 3: Clause 1, page 1, line 11, at end insert— ““(4) The Secretary of State shall make regulations setting out the necessary qualifications and training for a designated immigration officer. (5) Regulations under subsection (4) shall be published no less than six months before the commencement of section 1 of this Act.”” The noble Baroness said: The amendment requires the Secretary of State to publish regulations setting out the training that should be carried out by designated immigration officers. Clauses 1 to 4 allow for the designation of immigration officers. Officers who are designated by the Secretary of State will be able to exercise detention powers against anyone who is—or who they suspect is—about to commit an offence, or who they suspect is committing or has committed an offence. The power is very wide. After detention a police officer must be called to attend and detention cannot exceed three hours. These powers are similar to other powers under Section 24A of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984, amended by the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005, to create standardised arrest powers for non-policing bodies. However, the powers in Clause 1 go further than Section 24A in that they allow for search and for the use of reasonable force to detain. Clause 3 also creates specific offences of absconding from, assaulting or obstructing a designated officer. As a consequence, the powers of designated immigration officers will be more on a par with those enjoyed by officers of HM Revenue and Customs as opposed to other quasi-policing officials such as police community support officers. I fully accept that there will be occasions where it is appropriate to detain and search when there is no constable present. However I also note that this extension is part of what appears to be a general trend to grant powers traditionally reserved for the police to those who have not received policing training. That is of some concern, and I expressed those concerns during passage of the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act as well. Clause 1(2)(b) states specifically that the immigration officer detaining an individual prior to arrest should be ““suitably trained””, but there is no reference to regulations or other training documents to define what ““suitably trained”” means. My amendment asks the Government to justify the omission of training requirements from the Bill. Does the Minister accept that immigration officers should be given comparable training to police custody sergeants or their equivalent? Why should we avoid clarity about the regulations which should set out the designation and training process in some detail? I beg to move.