Borders, Citizenship and Immigration Bill [Lords]

As it happens, I have before me a note on that very point. In his evidence to the Home Affairs Committee, the chief inspector of the UK Border Agency made it clear that he was giving a personal view, and that the issue was a matter for Parliament; of course, he is right, and I respect him for that. He said that he thought that the IPCC should have a role wherever enforcement powers were exercised, and he did not think that the IPCC's remit should be curtailed by geographical boundaries. I think that that refers to the juxtaposed borders, which are in France. Just for the record, to answer the points made by the hon. Member for Ashford in quotes to the tabloid newspapers, we have not given £15 million to the French to police their own border; we are spending £15 million to police our border, which, with the agreement of the French, is in France, and thank goodness it is. As I have said, the Government remain committed to securing appropriate oversight of all complaints and incidents. It has always been our intention that the IPCC should have a statutory role in relation to the UKBA only in England and Wales, just as it does in respect of the police and the other organisations that it oversees. However, there is an argument for introducing oversight of complaints relating to the exercise of specified enforcement functions by our officers at juxtaposed controls. Recently, following the Standing Committee debate on the issue, we wrote to the IPCC to inquire whether it would be content to consider having a non-statutory role in overseeing UKBA internal investigations into relevant matters at the juxtaposed controls. We await a formal response from it, but I understand that it is looking at the proposal positively. It makes sense to get the experts in, but as I am sure that the hon. Member for Carshalton and Wallington appreciates, there are delicate matters relating to the French; they are tremendous partners in the endeavour that we are discussing, but we recognise the sovereignty of their soil.