UK Borders Bill

moved Amendment No. 15A: 15A: Clause 5, page 3, line 37, leave out paragraphs (g) and (h) The noble Lord said: I put on record my gratitude to the Delegated Powers and Regulatory Reform Committee for their observations on Clause 5(3)(e) and (f), which prompted us to reconsider the paragraphs. We tabled Amendment No. 17A in response. The committee recommended following Section 126 of the 2002 Act in specifying in the Bill that PACE codes will apply to authorised persons registering biometrics. However, having looked carefully at the PACE codes, we do not consider them to be appropriate for the biometric registration provisions in this Bill. Indeed, there is no provision in the Identity Cards Act 2006 that requires authorised persons to have regard to a code when registering a person’s biometric samples, such as fingerprints. This is because we did not want the legislation to have a sense of criminality, or for applicants to feel that they were being treated as citizens under suspicion. The same therefore applies to this legislation, as it is not our intention to criminalise foreign nationals, but simply to issue secure, reliable documents establishing their immigration status and identity. For this reason, my amendment removes references to a code. However, we want to ensure that the process of registering biometrics is carried out properly. We will publish practice guidance to which persons authorised to register biometrics must adhere. For those reasons, I beg to move.