Borders, Citizenship and Immigration Bill [HL]

My Lords, this amendment ensures IPCC oversight of the exercise of immigration and customs functions and of the provision of services under arrangements for the discharge of those functions, whether in the UK or abroad. It provides that complaints can be made to the IPCC about the conduct of customs and immigration officials, whether they be in the UK or at the juxtaposed controls that we discussed at length in Committee. At that point, we moved a similar amendment to this one, Amendment 37. I refer to col. 293 of the Official Report of 25 February. We have now changed that amendment to recognise the roles that were added to the functions of the IPCC in what is now Clause 30, which I very much welcome, extending the remit of the IPCC to include the private contractors of the UK Borders Agency. The Minister said then that there was no need to provide power for independent investigation of misconduct by officials at overseas posts because they did not exercise enforcement powers. On juxtaposed controls, the Minister said: ""The Government are considering whether an independent oversight system can be put in place for matters arising at the juxtaposed controls". —[Official Report, 25/02/09; col. 295.]" On the escorting of those who are being removed or deported from the UK, he added that, ""the IPCC jurisdiction does not cover detention in the escorting of prisoners on probation outward from the UK. An individual being escorted for deportation ... is really for the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman. There probably is something here that needs a little more looking into. My Box tells me that this is a Prisons and Probation Ombudsman issue but I will look into it a little more because it looks like something could fall between the cracks and I want to look at it".—[Official Report, 25/02/09; col. 297.]" The importance of provision for independent investigation of complaints of misconduct by immigration officers and the private contractors at juxtaposed controls and in the course of escorted removals, especially the latter, was highlighted by the Outsourcing Abuse dossier, which is now being investigated by Dame Nuala O’Loan. It would be very useful if the Minister could tell us when it is expected to report, because I dare say that we will not make any progress until we know what the recommendations are. If the Government will not accept the amendment, we need an explanation of how they are going to ensure that misconduct overseas by officials or contractors, particularly at the juxtaposed controls or during escorted removals, can be adequately investigated. We should also like to hear from the Minister about the division of responsibility for investigation of misconduct within the UK between the IPCC and the ombudsman. In Committee, my noble friend Lady Miller raised the distinct situations in Northern Ireland and Scotland, where the IPCC remit does not run. On Scotland, the Minister promised to write to my noble friend, but she still awaits an answer to her question. We understand that there has been some correspondence between the Home Office and the Scottish Government on extending the remit of the Police Complaints Commissioner for Scotland to match the extended remit to be granted to the IPCC in Clause 30. We should be grateful for a progress report on that matter. Regarding Northern Ireland, the Minister said that the police ombudsman there will be given statutory powers to look into serious complaints incidents and conduct matters in relation to the exercise of specified enforcement functions by all border staff and contractors. If it is only specified enforcement functions, does that mean a more limited range of matters than in England or Scotland? Will the enforcement of the police ombudsman’s recommendations be the same as if the complaint had been made in one of the other jurisdictions, and to whom will the Police Ombudsman for Northern Ireland report? In the report on public awareness of the system for complaints to the Police Ombudsman for Northern Ireland, it was found that only 11 per cent of respondents said that they could go to the police ombudsman if they had a complaint. I wonder whether the Minister expects that there would be as low a rate with complaints against the UKBA or customs, where intrinsically the complainants are less likely to have knowledge of the ombudsman's powers.