Borders, Citizenship and Immigration Bill [HL]

We start now on the more detailed scrutiny and consideration of the Bill. Some areas may already have been covered a bit; I apologise if we go back over some of them. Amendments 3 and 5, in Clause 1, are probing amendments, as are many of the other amendments coming forward today. They are intended to probe the functions of the Commissioners for Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs and the powers being transferred to the Secretary of State and the UK Border Agency. As I noted on Second Reading, Part 1, "““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””.—[Official Report, 11/2/09; col. 1133.]" I also expressed concerns about the proposals. We have already covered some of those concerns. They include the Government’s capacity or competence to handle sensitive information; the extension of policing powers being given to the UK Border Agency—by default really, because there are no police; and the level of training to be provided to officials of the agency. I think that we will be going through subsection (8) in detail but should like to know now what is meant by ““general customs function””. It is a new phrase. We know about the customs functions that are part of Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs, but what are the general customs functions relevant to the Bill? Once we know, we can decide whether we feel it appropriate that they should be transferred. I beg to move.