UK Borders Bill

moved Amendment No. 34A: 34A: After Clause 55, insert the following new Clause— ““Independent Police Complaints Commission (1) Section 41 of the Police and Justice Act 2006 (c. 48) (Immigration and asylum enforcement functions; complaints and misconduct) is amended as follows. (2) After subsection (1)(b) there is inserted— ““(c) the exercise by an individual or company contracted to provide services to the Secretary of State of specified enforcement functions relating to immigration or asylum””.”” The noble Lord said: My Lords, Amendment No. 34A is in my name and those of my noble friends Lord Avebury and Lord Roberts of Llandudno. It will come as no surprise to the Minister, as I have raised the issue of accountability in our consideration of almost all previous immigration and asylum legislation and legislation affecting policing; the UK Borders Bill will be no exception. Our amendment would insert a new clause after Clause 55 to amend Section 41 of the Police and Justice Act 2006. We suggest that, after subsection (1)(b), a paragraph (c) be inserted to take into account, "““the exercise by an individual or company contracted to provide services to the Secretary of State of specified enforcement functions relating to immigration and asylum””." By amending the Police and Justice Act 2006, we can meet the important need for accountability. To an extent, we can take it that today’s exercise is to probe the Minister’s intention on this matter and to tease out the Government’s stance. My purpose is to ensure that the Independent Police Complaints Commission has jurisdiction to entertain complaints against private contractors doing enforcement work for the Home Office. Section 41 of the Police and Justice Act 2006 provides a power to extend the jurisdiction of the IPCC to cover scrutiny of the Border and Immigration Agency in its exercise of enforcement functions. The Border and Immigration Agency is currently consulting on the content of regulations made under this section. We understand that—I trust that the Minister will confirm this—the Government have recognised the need for powers to cover private contractors and are seeking a suitable legislative vehicle. This Bill provides that vehicle and this amendment is designed to give the Border and Immigration Agency an opportunity to do what it states it intends to do. Should the Government decline to accept the amendment, we will, as I said, raise it during debate on the Criminal Justice and Immigration Bill, which I understand had its Second Reading in the House of Commons very recently. The latter Bill is an opportunity for the Government to extend the IPCC’s jurisdiction to cover private contractors working for HMRC. This, too, we understand to be the Government’s intention. While waiting for such a legislative vehicle, HMRC is writing into its agreements with private contractors that they must co-operate with the investigations of the Independent Police Complaints Commission. Will the Minister give an assurance that the Border and Immigration Agency will do likewise, pending not the identification of a suitable legislative mechanism—of which we have identified two in this short briefing—but their taking any action? I remind the Minister of the IPCC’s understanding of this matter. Its website confirms that, "““assurances had been received from IND [the Immigration and Nationality Directorate] that arrests would only ever be carried ""out by an authorised officer. Relevant legislation did not permit this function to be delegated to contractors. However, if the legislative position changed then the IPCC’s jurisdiction in relation to contractors would also need to be revisited””." The position had changed by that time, although I am afraid that the Border and Immigration Agency does not appear to have communicated that to the IPCC. Section 40 of the Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Act 2006 came into force on 31 August 2006 permitting private contractors to exercise search powers and to hold people for up to three hours. There have been heated debates on this matter in the House, particularly on the questions of the protection of children and juxtaposed controls. Perhaps I may give the Minister a way out. I ask him to take back the amendment to see what provision can be made before Third Reading. We ask only for an assurance that there will be transparency in the process and that those with powers of enforcement functions, however limited, be subject to proper independent accountability and scrutiny. The Minister is aware that a certain airline recently refused to participate in a deportation exercise because it did not believe that the process treated deportees fairly. I could give many more examples, but all I want is that we do not forget the damage to community relations in the detention and death of Joy Gardiner in Tottenham some years ago. At this stage, I simply look forward to the Minister’s explanation. Either at Third Reading or possibly during the passage of the new Bill currently going through the Commons, we shall have an opportunity to suggest a suitable means of moving forward. I beg to move.