UK Borders Bill

My Lords, the noble Duke asks a very good question. I assume we are having this discussion today because this is seen by the party opposite as being a political priority. Of course, it is quite right to prioritise these issues; we have been doing exactly that as a Government for some time. We should of course give further consideration to the report when it is produced; I am arguing precisely that. That is why I do not believe it is right for us to accept an amendment of such a wide-sweeping enabling nature as the one we have before us today. While we have made progress in that direction, we should await the outcome of the review. Then we will have to consider what kind of legislation we need to bring forward—because it will certainly require complex legislation. As I have described, in setting up SOCA we had to introduce a Bill with 59 clauses and two schedules. If we do not have legislation that has been properly and appropriately considered by the House then the force that noble Lords opposite are seeking will not have been given thorough consideration. Noble Lords raised a number of other issues, and I will try to deal with some of them. I do not have in front of me the precise words that I used in Grand Committee, but I do not believe that I suggested that immigration officers were devolved in the way in which they operate. That was certainly not my intention. Are immigration officers devolved? No. It is in the conferral of functions that police officers engage in a devolution issue, in the sense that they will act in Scotland to support the Immigration Service. As I have said, immigration is a reserved matter. There was a question about enforcement and assault. The offence of assault will apply nationally, by virtue of Clause 22. The powers of arrest in the Bill will also apply nationally. The question of the British border management programme was also raised by implication. ACPO Scotland is fully engaging with the programme with regard to delivering the powers relating to non-immigration matters, and discussions continue on those sorts of issues. The noble Lord, Lord Forsyth, and the noble Baroness, Lady Carnegy, raised other issues with regard to the Scottish Executive, and I understand entirely why they might want to do so. We as a Government have to work constructively with our colleagues in the Scottish Executive. To that end, the Executive have confirmed that they will further consider the matters raised by noble Lords today. We have had no commitment as yet from the Executive to legislate on this area; they are considering whether they need to. Border controls are not devolved, but crime is a devolved matter.