Borders, Citizenship and Immigration Bill [HL]

My Lords, I start by thanking the Minister for his introduction and explanation of the Bill. Neither the size nor the content of the Bill seem to justify the efforts of the Home Office team in the contribution that it makes to the control of immigration, asylum and the security of our borders. It is beyond parody that it is described by the Home Office on its UK Border Agency website as being, "““part of the biggest shake-up to the immigration system for a generation””." That statement might be justified if this had been the long promised consolidation or simplification Bill, but it is not. I am glad to hear from the Minister that that will come later this year, but there is a lot of work to be done on it when it does. It might be justified if the Bill had implemented either the full proposals in the draft immigration and citizenship Bill—it was only published in July 2008, for goodness’ sake—or those under A Pathway to Citizenship, the consultation document published by the noble and learned Lord, Lord Goldsmith. But it does not do that either. As the Refugee Council states in its briefing, there is concern that by taking a piecemeal approach to implementing the simplification proposals, the Bill adds to the existing complexity of asylum and immigration law, rather than reducing it, and reduces opportunities for proper parliamentary scrutiny of the whole simplification programme. That is quite an indictment, and the Minister might like to comment upon it. Of the 52 main clauses, 36 are devoted to constructing a system of border control that parts the department of Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs from most of its customs and many of its revenue functions, and gives them to the Home Office. They then become the property, for implementation, of the Home Secretary and the new Director of Border Revenue. I am interested to hear from the Minister that the chief executive of the UK Border Agency will, by any other name, be the Director of Border Revenue. Between them, they will control the newly named general customs officers and customs revenue officials, who, it seems, may hold either role or a combined role. Clause 22 gives the Secretary of State powers to invoke provisions under PACE to enable these officers to undertake investigations. Clause 3(8)(g) and Clause 7(8)(h) give the officers powers of arrest. Clause 15 then enables them to share personal information gleaned from their inquiries with other bodies. I hear what the Minister says about the care and confidentiality with which that information will be treated, but the Government’s record on preventing information going AWOL is not startlingly good. We need to find out what information is open to being passed on and whether it will be passed on on security grounds, and we will need to ensure that such information is subject to legal professional privilege. These officers have wide powers and functions, which are enhanced by the provisions of PACE being passed to them. I realise that these provisions are already given to current immigration officers, but they should be confined to the police. Following any arrest, will these officers will be able to caution and detain without police input, or will it still be the case that, once someone is arrested and detained, no charges can be laid without the police attending? This is an important point, and I hope that the Minister will be able to answer it. It is straining credulity to suggest that these officers, who emanate from the department of Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs and who, under the UK Borders Act 2007, also include immigration officers, can or should become pseudo-police. If these proposals are to go ahead and to succeed—they are of course enabling, and it will be up to the Home Secretary to decide whether and when they are implemented—it is essential that all the officers are trained and competent to deal with all aspects of their immigration and customs and revenue roles, including, most importantly, how those who are suspected of illegal or criminal activity are dealt with at the border. Clauses 4 and 12 make it clear that general customs officials and general revenue officials—those are the new names—can be designated only if the Secretary of State or the Director of Border Revenue is satisfied that the officers have received adequate training. We will table amendments to satisfy ourselves about the terms and the level of such training. The Law Society of Scotland has drawn attention to the fact that officers will need to have a high level of training, competence and familiarity with tax law as well as with customs and excise law, and we need to ensure that they do. The contrivance in the Bill to avoid having to admit that our proposals to have a border police force are correct—proposals that we have put forward for several years now—makes a farce of having inclusive border security. I note what the Minister says about this, but I do not agree with him. The Bill’s proposals only shuffle the pieces around the board; they do not do a proper job. It is not our intention to rubbish the need for a dedicated border force, but that is not what we have in the Bill. We will table an amendment in Committee to have a border police force that will have all the necessary powers to arrest, detain and prosecute offenders. Only by having a fully integrated border police force will officers have the specialist skills to fight people-trafficking, illegal immigration, drug smuggling and all the other border offences. We welcome the changes relating to the forces and their families in Part 2, which is on citizenship. However, as the Immigration Law Practitioners’ Association, which has briefed me, has said—I am sure others have said this—we are at a disadvantage in discussing the limited changes. The reason is that the provisions in these clauses on acquiring British citizenship by naturalisation are the tip of the iceberg, and are being promoted in isolation to the wider aspects of the anticipated changes, such as those who are not British citizens or permanent residents being denied access to services such as social care and healthcare. We will also test by amendment the effect on existing migrants of these changes. In the White Paper, The Path to Citizenship, the Government acknowledge the importance of understanding the effects of the proposals now before us on those who are already in the system and say that they will continue to examine this before making any changes. Will the Minister tell us the result of that examination, particularly as the Bill is now here and there seems to be no operative date for the start of this scheme and, thereby, the effect of that on those who still have their applications under consideration? Many migrants currently will be progressing their way along the road to citizenship and will be concerned as to whether they will end up in a game of snakes and ladders, by which they may fall down and have to start the process all over again. The Government need to make it clear in the Bill that those who are already in the scheme will be able to enjoy its benefits as originally offered to them. The Bill also includes a completely new terminology of ““probationary citizenship””, rather than the better understood phrase, ““limited leave to remain””. It is not at all clear why this change has been made or what its implications are. As a correspondent has pointed out to me, one of the rationales put forward is that probationary citizenship will be an explicit stage which recognises that migrants are on a journey and need to continue earning the right to become British citizens, which is very much what the Minister said. But ““limited leave to remain”” was also a stage on a journey, so what is the great difference that makes this part of the legislation worth while? There is also the much vaunted requirement to be able to speak English, which, as the Minister said, is a requirement already. However, the current standard is far too low. Will the standard be enhanced and how will it be tested? Finally, the new proposals that a quicker way to naturalisation will be through participating in an activity—for which we should read the words ““voluntary service””—will also require considerable scrutiny. I declare my interest now as the chair of the England Volunteering Development Council, which is an integral part of Volunteering England. This organisation has been and is a member of the design group, which the Minister mentioned, on this aspect. It has put forwards its concerns during the discussions and wants to ensure that the Government’s intentions can be fulfilled in a way which is beneficial to the applicant and fair to others. But it has some concerns, which, if we are not satisfied on them, we will be testing. The legislation says that this part will be introduced by regulation, but we will put down amendments to test the adequacy of what is being proposed, and the consequences for volunteering and the voluntary sector of having a considerable number of people who have been compelled to undertake voluntary service, not as willing participants but only as a way to accelerate their path to citizenship. The Minister will know that my noble friend Lord Marlesford has been beavering away though Questions about his concerns over the citizens of this country who have dual nationalities and more than one passport, and he will raise this matter again today. My noble friend Lord Kingsland, who cannot be present today, will take part in Committee on the transfer of immigration judicial review applications. My noble friend Lord Bridgeman, who will wind up, will speak on our intention to have inserted into the Bill the provisions outlined in the draft Bill on expulsion orders. On Part 3—I think that he will have been overtaken by several other speakers by that stage—he will speak on the common travel area and also will address issues within Part 4. I should say now that we are in favour of the duty to have regard to the welfare of children. We were successful—I underline the ““we”” quite heavily—through amendments to previous legislation moved in this House, in having this duty accepted and put into two Bills for all those who come into contact with children in the immigration system, whether they are employed by the Government directly or work under contract. However, we want to assure ourselves that the provisions remain sufficient to prevent children being detained under unsatisfactory circumstances, and that they are all encompassing. A suggestion has been put forward by the Immigration Law Practitioners’ Association that there is, in particular, difficulty in preventing babies being trafficked. For all its brevity, the details of this Bill must be scrutinised with care. My noble friends Lord Bridgeman and Lord Kingsland and I look forward to doing just that during the later stages.