Immigration (Biometric Registration) (Civil Penalty Code of Practice) Order 2008

rose to move, That the Grand Committee do report to the House that it has considered the Immigration (Biometric Registration) (Civil Penalty Code of Practice) Order 2008. The noble Lord said: I shall take the two measures together. The UK Borders Act 2007 introduced powers for the Secretary of State to make regulations to issue identity cards to foreign nationals who are subject to immigration control. The order and the regulations will enable the UK Border Agency to do that. They are intended to enable the introduction of the first identity cards to be issued to foreign nationals, subject to immigration control, who are staying in the United Kingdom for more than six months. The first identity cards will be issued from 25 November 2008 to those who are granted limited leave to remain as certain types of students and those who are granted limited leave to remain as spouses, civil partners or unmarried couples under the Immigration Rules. The cards will confirm the holder’s immigration status and entitlements to work and to access public funds in the United Kingdom. The identity card will provide foreign nationals who are subject to immigration control with a secure and reliable immigration document. To achieve this, we need to make regulations under the biometric registration powers contained in the UK Borders Act 2007, allowing the UK Border Agency to enrol biometric features. These will be a photograph and 10 fingerprints. Taking the person’s fingerprints will enable us to fix a person to a single identity and make it possible to verify that identity against centrally held records. At present, around 50 different documents are issued to foreign nationals granted leave to enter or remain in the United Kingdom; I have to say that I was rather surprised by that. This makes it difficult for employers and service providers to check whether a person is entitled to work in the UK before they give them a job or allow them to access public funds. Identity cards are designed to make it easier for foreign nationals to demonstrate that they are entitled to live and work in the UK. We consider this essential as part of our efforts to tackle illegal working and immigration fraud. In addition, these regulations will be the way that the UK complies with a new European regulation, EC 380/2008, which requires the residence permits that grant leave to remain to be in the form of a card containing the biometric features of the holder. The identity cards will be credit-card sized and will contain the holder’s unique biometric features, including a photograph and two fingerprints. On the face of the card will be the holder’s photograph and his biographical information, including his name, immigration status, nationality, date and place of birth, and gender. This information will also be stored in a secure embedded microchip, along with the two fingerprints. I have a copy of such a card here, which noble Lords can look at afterwards. I do not think that it is for any specific person. No, it is not. In April this year, noble Lords kindly approved the Immigration (Biometric Registration) (Pilot) Regulations 2008, which enabled the UK Border Agency to test the biometric enrolment processes and technologies by registering the fingerprints and photographs of a small group of foreign nationals applying for leave to remain. The pilot started on 28 April and since that date noble Lords may be interested to learn that we have enrolled more than 7,500 biometric records and had around 2,000 responses to our applicant survey, with the vast majority of responses being positive. The pilot enrolment processes and technologies are operating smoothly. Given our experiences with the pilot so far, we expect the technologies and our processes to continue to deliver our business needs when we start to issue identity cards from the end of November 2008. Identity cards are being rolled out incrementally, starting with applicants granted limited leave to remain in certain types of student categories and as spouses, civil partners or unmarried couples under the Immigration Rules. We selected these two categories based on risk and efficiency. Those who are required to register their biometric identifiers will be able to enrol them at any one of the network of offices around the UK. From November 2008, there will be at least six enrolment venues sited across the country, including locations in Birmingham, Cardiff, Croydon, Glasgow, Liverpool and Sheffield. An additional centre will come on line in the following months in Northern Ireland. Foreign nationals whose applications are successful will be issued with an identity card that will serve as their document granting them leave. We will not place any vignettes, stickers or stamps within the applicant’s passport. I shall briefly set out to your Lordships the main differences between these regulations and the pilot regulations. These regulations will apply to foreign nationals in the specified student or family categories making an application from anywhere in the UK, unlike the pilot, which applied only to those making ““in person”” applications at the Croydon Public Enquiry Office or, if applying for leave by post, those living within a London postcode address. Obligations will be placed on identity card holders to notify the Secretary of State when their circumstances change and to apply for a replacement card in situations when it is cancelled. We need to define the circumstances when we will require the identity cards for foreign nationals to be used. These regulations impose requirements on holders of the identity cards to provide their cards as part of an immigration process or procedure, where the holder attends a centre to take the ““Life in the UK”” test and to provide them to an employer. We are also introducing two additional sanctions, which were excluded from the biometric registration pilot. These are a power to curtail or cancel leave and a power to issue a civil penalty notice against persons who fail to comply with the requirements included in these regulations. The bulk of the regulations were developed from the earlier biometric registration pilot regulations. I am happy to answer specific questions about them if Members of the Committee wish to discuss such issues. The order will bring into force the draft code of practice concerning the sanctions for non-compliance with the biometric registration regulations, which was laid before Parliament on 11 June 2008. The code sets out how the sanctions, which the Secretary of State may impose, will be applied to those who fail to comply with requirements of the biometric registration regulations. An early version of the draft code was published in February 2008 and we consulted the public about its contents. The version before the Committee reflects many of the helpful comments made as part of the consultation process. We intend the code to work in the following way. Where a person fails to comply with a biometric registration requirement, a sanction may be imposed. There are two categories of requirements, previously known as primary and secondary requirements, which, following the consultation exercise, are now termed application and maintenance requirements. The application requirements relate to the need for foreign nationals to apply for an identity card. Failure to comply with these requirements will attract a more severe sanction than failing to comply with a maintenance requirement, as we regard the requirement for foreign nationals to apply for an identity card as a fundamental step towards protecting our border. The maintenance requirements mainly apply to those who have an identity card and need to keep their records up to date, or they concern the production of the card, essentially for immigration purposes and verification that the person producing the card is the rightful holder. Where a foreign national has existing leave and fails to comply with a requirement, we will normally issue a civil penalty notice to ensure compliance with the requirements rather than curtail or cancel the person’s leave. As with the biometric registration pilot regulations, where a person is applying for leave and is required to apply for an identity card, we will normally disregard or refuse their immigration application unless they comply with the requirement. However, any decision to refuse, curtail or cancel leave is subject to the United Kingdom’s obligations under the Human Rights Act 1998 and international conventions, such as the 1951 Refugee Convention. Turning specifically to the civil penalty regime, copies of the sanctions table were circulated to Committee Members and we have more here. It sets out the levels of financial penalties that may be imposed. At present, the maximum is £1,000, with the starting level at £250 or £125, depending on whether the non-compliance is an application or maintenance requirement. These amounts may be increased where the person continues to fail, or subsequently fails, to comply with requirements made under the regulations up to the maximum statutory penalty allowed. As with other civil penalty regimes operated by the UK Border Agency, a person issued with a civil penalty notice will have a right to object to the Secretary of State and to appeal to the courts against the notice. The result of an objection or an appeal may lead to the penalty notice being cancelled, the amount increased or decreased, or the decision being maintained. I am pleased to have brought these regulations and order before the Committee today. We believe that they will be a useful tool in tackling illegal migration and other identity and immigration abuses. We consider that they will support those who are staying in the UK legally and will form part of our wider national identity scheme. These regulations and the order are the first to enable the rollout of identity cards. When we intend to broaden the categories of foreign nationals who are required to apply for an identity card, we will return to Parliament and seek further approval. That is what the regulations and order seek to achieve. I beg to move. Moved, That the Grand Committee do report to the House that it has considered the Immigration (Biometric Registration) (Civil Penalty Code of Practice) Order 2008. 22nd Report from the Joint Committee on Statutory Instruments.—(Lord West of Spithead.)