Borders, Citizenship and Immigration Bill [HL]

They are different, but they are functions exercised by customs officers. The ““general customs matters”” such as drug-smuggling are those in which the immigration authorities can already be involved. The provision merely clarifies the reporting lines, because matters to do with Revenue and Customs—for example, the funding side—cannot be dealt with directly by the Secretary of State. A rule separates those matters and they have to be handled through HMRC. We therefore need to identify those two areas separately.