UK Border Agency

Thursday 21st March 2013 Written Statements

[The Minister for Immigration (Mr Mark Harper)]

On 9 November 2012 the Commons Home Affairs Select Committee published its eighth report of the Session 2012-13 “The Work of the UK Border Agency (April-June 2012)”. I am today publishing by Command Paper the Government’s response to that report and to accompany that response would like to set out some of the measures that this Government are taking to improve the performance of the UK Border Agency.

This Government are bringing immigration back under control. The latest net migration statistics show another significant fall in net migration—down almost a third since June 2010—and visa statistics indicate that this trend is set to continue. The UK Border Agency is playing an important role in ensuring our reforms are having an impact in all the right places.

The agency has already shown signs of significant improvement. It has maintained and improved its performance against service standards in its international and visa operations and launched priority services in over 30 countries. Last year it closed the historic “controlled archives” of asylum and migration cases and helped to deliver a safe and secure Olympic and Paralympic games by collecting over 15,000 biometric details in advance.

However there is further work to be done.

To improve processing times agency staff have been redeployed to front-line caseworking duties and additional employment agency staff recruited to deal with outstanding work. These measures are already making inroads and I expect the agency to be operating within service standards across most workstreams by the spring of 2013.

The agency is building on the success of its dedicated MP account managers to continue to improve and develop its services. Every MP will have a named contact for their queries. We will continue to expand the use of email and telephone to provide a more timely and responsive service. MP account managers will also continue to alert MPs about rules and procedure changes that might impact their constituents.

We are also driving enforcement activity: the agency removes around 40,000 people every year, including up to 5,000 foreign national offenders, and continues to focus on developing innovative approaches; a joint UKBA and Metropolitan Police Service operation is successfully using new methods to identify and remove foreign national offenders in London.

I am confident that these measures represent the start of a period of further improvement that will leave the UK Border Agency on the sure footing necessary to continue to deliver a safe and efficient immigration system.