Immigration (Leave to Enter and Remain) (Amendment) Order 2023

Tuesday 17th January 2023 Grand Committee

Considered in Grand Committee

18:00

Moved by

[Lord Murray of Blidworth]

That the Grand Committee do consider the Immigration (Leave to Enter and Remain) (Amendment) Order 2023.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Home Office (Lord Murray of Blidworth) (Con)]

My Lords, the order, laid before the House on 7 December 2022, is required to enact one very minor change to the legislation which sets out the form and manner by which leave to enter the United Kingdom is granted and refused. It will amend the eligibility criteria for people seeking to enter the United Kingdom via an automated e-passport gate, or e-gate, so that eligible, accompanied children as young as 10 may do so. The lower age limit in the present instrument is 12.

This statutory change is needed to enable a limited trial to take place in the February half term, which will examine whether the lower age limit for entry via an e-gate should be 10 years, rather than 12, moving forward. We hope that this will have the effect of accelerating the passage through the airport of families with children aged 10 and 11. In order to carry out the limited exercise—the pilot—it is necessary in law to first pass this order.

The proposed proof of concept exercise will take place, as I said, in the February half term. It will be limited to three airports: Stansted, Heathrow terminal 5 and Gatwick’s north terminal. Once completed, the Home Office will make an assessment of whether the lower age limit of 10 should be more widely adopted.

The Government’s ambition for our future border involves making maximum use of automation. The majority of passengers will routinely cross the UK border using automation as their only point of contact. Indeed, this ambition was set out in last year’s New Plan for Immigration strategy, in which the proposed proof of concept involving younger passengers was made public. Increasing, in a controlled manner, the number of passengers eligible to use an e-gate is a logical next step.

Noble Lords will be aware that some form of automation is already used by large numbers of people passing through the UK border. Indeed, there has been significant widening of the pool of nationals eligible for e-gate entry in recent years. The e-gates started in 2008 and there has been progressive expansion. A previous amendment to the 2000 order in May 2019 extended e-gate eligibility to visitors from Australia, Canada, Japan, New Zealand, Singapore, South Korea and the United States of America.

The continued use of e-gates should be seen in the context of the development of our new global border and immigration system, which makes better use of data, biometrics, analytics and automation to improve security and fluidity across the UK border. The use of e-gates is an important part of that approach, as they provide a safe, secure and efficient means of processing arriving passengers, allowing our highly trained Border Force officers to focus their efforts on those who seek to abuse or exploit the system and those who are vulnerable, as well as wider border threats.

For eligible families with young children, there are obvious advantages to being able to enter via an e-gate, in that they may enter the UK swiftly and effectively without having to queue to be seen by a Border Force officer. We believe that this in turn benefits others by minimising queuing times and bottlenecks at busy UK ports, especially at peak times of the year, such as half term or the summer school holiday season.

There are a number of important questions that must be answered before a permanent lowering of the lower age limit. These include whether children aged 10 and 11 have the cognitive ability to use the technology efficiently and, indeed, whether the technology is able to process such young passengers. It is because of these and other considerations that we must first conduct this short trial, which will be closely monitored by officials and have its results rigorously analysed.

Needless to say, the Home Office takes most seriously its statutory duty to safeguard and promote the welfare of children. We will use the live trial to consider whether there may be any unintended consequences for the welfare of younger passengers, such as anxiety if they become temporarily separated from their parents. To be clear, there will be no decision to extend e-gate eligibility to younger passengers if we consider that doing so would expose them to any safeguarding risks that cannot be mitigated.

Although this amendment enables us in law to allow eligible passengers younger than 12 to use an e-gate, it does not confer a right on those passengers to do so. It does not mean that passengers aged 10 and 11 must be able to use an e-gate at any UK port with that facility. Eligibility will be limited to accompanied 10 and 11 year-olds of eligible nationality at the three participating ports, and only for a 14-day trial period. At other ports, the lower age limit will remain where it is currently set: at 12 years of age.

This order enacts the most modest changes to its parent legislation but allows for a significant next step to be taken in developing a secure and smooth border that demonstrates to the rest of the world that the UK is open for business. I commend it to the Committee.

[Lord German (LD)]

My Lords, I recognise that this is a very small change to the legislation but I am of course tempted to stray into other immigration and right-to-remain areas. However, temptation is not necessarily the best way of approaching this order so I will stick to the instrument before us.

The first thing I want to say is that I have just returned from a parliamentary delegation. My delay was such that I was not able to find any transport whatever from Heathrow Airport; I would have had to sleep on the floor had I not been able to take a taxi. The reason for that was the snaking queues. If you extend the eligibility, which is a reasonable thing to do, you must have a sufficiency of e-gates. Clearly, there are insufficient numbers at Heathrow. This happened late at night but it could have been early in the morning, or whenever; I have experienced the queue being quite extensive probably three or four times in the past five months. Extending the queue by giving more people this opportunity does not solve the real problem, which lies in an insufficiency of e-gates.

There are a number of related questions about children. I have observed them queueing with their families to get through on a separate basis. I have also observed people who are elderly or need support being helped by a family member to make sure that they put their passport in the slot and withdraw it in the right way. It is not easy to do that. The main support that was given was having an official standing by who could tell people exactly what to do. I wonder whether there are sufficient staff to handle an increased number, given the difficulties already being experienced.

It is likely that, when people put their hand on their passport and put it on to the reader, it will not work the first time. I have never had a reader work with mine the first time—well, perhaps once. It has always been after two, sometimes three, attempts. That is nothing to do with me because my hand is in the same place and it is the same passport. I have never understood why it fails each time then, on a subsequent occasion, putting it through works. That may be the technology; it has worked on the first occasion in other countries but not here in the UK. I have no idea why that is.

The efficiency of the e-gate system needs to be improved as well. I observed in front of me, having had plenty of time to watch as the queues lengthened, how many people had to go through more than one attempt to get the gate to open. It needs to be improved in efficiency. I would like to understand, if the Minister can tell us, whether gate efficiency can be improved and what the problems are in the second, perhaps third, attempt to get them to work.

The other problem that this test check of an age group will come against is when families have one child of 10 and an eight or seven year-old. They are not going to separate; they are going to take them together. You have to have a family in which there is a 10 year-old and any other children have to be older than 10. While it will be an experiment, I have no idea—perhaps the Minister can tell us—of the number of families coming through with only children aged 10 or older with them and who will be able to take advantage of this.

The other question I have is about the height of individuals. Anybody who has taken any children to a theme park will know that they have measures of height by which you can take part in certain rides. When you come to the positioning of a child against it, is there a height problem for younger children who are perhaps small in stature and will have to put their hand almost as high as their head to get their passport in? Will the machinery accept that? I hope all of this has been thought out. If it has not, it will probably become clear when the experiment takes place.

My final point concerns what you might call an ESTA approach in USA terms—that is, where you have to complete a document in advance to visit. Will the system already have the ability to understand such a certificate when the UK introduces them? Will it already be built into the software? I think it applies to every country—apart from the UK and Ireland, obviously—that currently has the ability to use these e-gates. As I understand it, there will be a requirement—the Minister can confirm this—to fill in an ESTA-type document that deals with your entry. Will the software in the e-gate system accept that, so that the people going through will already have had that check, or will anybody with one of these certificates have to be peeled off and sent to another means of manual checking?

There is automation, obviously. Anything that can be done to speed up the system of getting people through into the United Kingdom properly and swiftly will be welcome. The only question is whether these will all be tested in the experiment that is about to be undertaken. Could the Minister address those specific issues—height, the ESTA-type certificates, the shortage of gates and whether there will be sufficient assistance—in replying to this debate? Otherwise, I am satisfied that this is a reasonable thing to do.

[Lord Coaker (Lab)]

My Lords, I thank the Minister for his helpful introduction to this order. Like the noble Lord, Lord German, I think there are a number of questions of detail that we need to ask and put on the record to ensure that, when the order goes forward, we are all clear about what it means and how the pilot will operate. Although it is a small change to the rules, it is a significant and important one. The pilot, if agreed, will require very careful monitoring.

At the heart of this is safeguarding children. That is everything, particularly when we are talking of very young children at the age of 10. Children aged 12 are obviously young, but we are entering the realms of quite young children who will be able to pass through e-gates at borders, so I was pleased that the Minister talked about the pilot testing whether that age is appropriate.

18:15

The Minister does not need the Committee to remind him of the risks of children being trafficked, smuggled, victims of forced marriage or moved illegally in any way. We must not do anything, even inadvertently, that helps or increases the risk of that. With that, I have a number of questions for the Minister.

Why has the age of 10 been chosen? Why not 11 or nine? It sounds like a silly question but, somewhere along the line, somebody has to decide the appropriate age. Can the Minister say why 10 was chosen? As the noble Lord, Lord German, asked, was it to do with height or some sort of assessment of the cognitive ability of a child at a particular age?

What is important, and what I do not totally understand from the Minister’s remarks or from reading the Explanatory Memorandum, is whether we are talking of accompanied children only. We need to be reassured that we are not talking of unaccompanied children in any sense, only children with families, because we should not expect a pilot in which any child who is not accompanied is able to pass through. It may be that this requires a simple yes, as this is for accompanied children only, but it is important to put that on the record.

Presumably this is aside from school trips, on which children are accompanied differently. I am not trying to be flippant, but has any thought been given to what accompanied means for school trips? Many of us know, from parents or teacher friends, that significant ratios are used. It would be helpful to know that. Again without being flippant, if the ratio were 1:100 for a child to be regarded as accompanied, that probably would not be appropriate. Somewhere along the line, some thought must be given to what an acceptable ratio is. That should be thought about.

Can the Minister confirm how long the pilot will last and whether there will be an interim assessment? If it lasts for a year, two years or three years, but it is obvious after six months that serious risks are emerging and the Border Force is informing the Home Office of them, the pilot clearly needs to stop before then. We would not want to get to the end of two years when we had realised that there was a real problem within a few months. Can the Minister reassure us on that?

The Minister said this would be trialled at three airports. How were they chosen? I share my ignorance, if this is ignorance, but I am not sure about the use of e-gates at seaports and whether any of them have e-gates. Information seems to be coming to light that there are no e-gates at ports, but looking forward there may be. This is for airports, but thought needs to be given to how this will work for seaports. Will there be any difference? This is quite helpful, because I did not know that there were no e-gates at seaports. I do not know whether I am the only ignorant person here, but it would be interesting to know how the three airports were chosen.

Given the open land border between the EU and Northern Ireland, are there any arrangements to be made for accompanied children arriving from Northern Ireland into any of those three airports? Have any special thoughts been given to monitoring that?

The Minister has talked about—we also see it in the guidance—the importance given to the training of border staff. That is very welcome. Can he reassure us that this is well under way—indeed, almost finished—given that I read in the Explanatory Memorandum that it comes into force seven days after the passing of the order? I think this is being discussed in the other place next week so, in two weeks, this could be in place in the three airports that the Minister mentioned. Are we certain that each of these three airports will be ready in two weeks’ time, or whenever it starts, and will have had all the training to operate the new system? Although it comes into force in two weeks’ time, can the Minister reassure us that, if the assessment is made that it is not ready, we will wait a few weeks to make sure that all the appropriate guidance has been given?

When the pilot ends in a couple of years—it is two years, I think—will this order give the Government the ability to take the decision then to extend the pilot and roll it out nationally, or will the Minister have to come back to Parliament to get it approved? In other words, will there need to be a further order to extend the rollout nationally, or will the order we are passing today give the Government the power to do that upon their assessment that there has been a successful completion of the pilot?

The Government say that, to use an e-gate at the border, you currently need to be not only the required age—that is, 10 years old—but “of an eligible nationality”. Again, this may be an obvious question to those who follow all this, as I try to, but can the Minister say something about what the eligible nationalities are? Is anybody excluded from this because they are not an eligible national? It would be quite helpful to know what “eligible nationality” means.

There are a number of questions there; I am sure a number of others may well arise when the other place considers this. We must remind ourselves that we are being asked to allow children as young as 10 to pass through e-gates without the direct authorisation of an immigration official. Although there will not be direct supervision of the children passing through the e-gate, does the Minister expect there to be an increase in overall supervision in these three airports?

In the Explanatory Memorandum, the Government say that we need to

“consider the best mechanisms for ensuring that the welfare of those children is safeguarded.”

One hopes that the best mechanisms are being used and that it is not a pilot to find out what the best mechanisms are, because we cannot really take chances with the safety of children. To go back to my earlier point, can the Minister assure us that the pilot will be ended sooner than two years if it becomes obvious during that period that increased dangers to children are emerging? As the noble Lord, Lord German, said, we all wish to hear reassurances on these issues as this order progresses through Parliament.

[Lord Murray of Blidworth (Con)]

I thank both noble Lords for their helpful contributions. I will certainly seek to address all the questions asked.

I will deal first with the points raised by the noble Lord, Lord German. By way of context—this also answers a couple of the points from the noble Lord, Lord Coaker—the pilot is for two weeks, or 14 days, during the half term and on those three specific sites. During the operation of the pilot, staff from the relevant team will be supervising so any problems will be swiftly rectified. As I am sure noble Lords are aware, the e-gates are clear glass, so the separation of people from one another is always limited to that clear glass and can be rectified very swiftly if necessary.

It is anticipated—I say this as the father of 10 year- old twins—that the average 10 year-old will have very little difficulty operating the e-gates, given their technical proficiency in many other things. Indeed, they may be better than some older age cohorts at successfully operating the e-gates. It is a usual experience that most families will put the children through the e-gate first and supervise the placement of the passport. It will be interesting to see the extent to which that happens during the pilot. That certainly seems to be the logical way to approach it.

At the relevant part of Heathrow where the pilot is taking place, there are 25 e-gates. It is felt that this is sufficient. Because it is happening during the half-term period, statistics suggest that there will be a lot of 10 and 11 year-old traffic, so it is a good way to test the system.

I was asked by both noble Lords why and how the age of 10 was selected. It was selected both on a cognitive basis, as we think 10 year-olds can operate it—that is certainly my personal experience—and because, from a height perspective, the technology will fit. We have used ONS height statistics, and we think that will work, but clearly it is something we want to test during the pilot. That is why we chose 10 rather than nine or 11. It has also been the international experience; in other countries 10 is the age and it seems fairly successful.

I will turn to one or two of the other points made by the noble Lord, Lord German. On the question about support, the hosts—the airport staff managing the queues—direct people and support them through the e-gates. They are contracted airport employees. They have been worked with in preparation for this pilot to ensure that they are going to provide sufficient support during the pilot and beyond. We will of course, as I have said, ensure increased support during the pilot.

Regarding what we are calling electronic travel authorisations—this is our version of the ESTA—when they are introduced the e-gates will be able to confirm the types of permission held before they allow somebody to enter the UK. I suspect that is the answer the noble Lord anticipated. I have already made the point that the ONS statistics suggest that most 10 year-olds are tall enough to operate the machine.

I turn to the questions posed by the noble Lord, Lord Coaker. At the moment it is anticipated that most children using the e-gates will be accompanied, mostly by their families. On the question about school trips, clearly it would be appropriate for a small school trip but maybe not for one with a large number, which would probably go to the primary control point. Again, we will test that through the pilot.

The next question was on how the airports were chosen. They were chosen with some care because, statistically, those three airports have been ones where there has been quite a number of children of those ages in the February half term. Those airports were selected because it will be a real-world test of the system.

Regarding Northern Ireland, we do not believe there are any ramifications in relation to the common travel area particularly. Obviously Irish citizens, as with British citizens, do not require leave to enter but can use the gates to go through the airport. It will be the case that 10 year-old Irish children can use the gates, just as 10 year-old British children can.

On the level of readiness, they have been working towards this pilot since October. It is the department’s view that the training is ready, and we are aiming for this February half-term period. If there is any intervening event, the department is obviously prepared to postpone the pilot if needed.

As to the question of rolling out nationally, the position is that this change does change the regulations. If the pilot is successful and the decision is taken to roll it out nationally, there will be no need for a further regulatory change, but we will obviously keep the House up to date in the event of that decision being made.

Turning to eligible nationalities, I appreciate that it is not clear, because it is just an amending instrument, but in the parent order, the Immigration (Leave to Enter and Remain) Order 2000, SI 2000/1161, the reference in Article 8B is to the schedule to the order. It is not terribly long, so I will read it out. It says that they consist of the EU nations, Australia, the United States of America, Canada, New Zealand, South Korea, Japan and Singapore. Clearly, over time, one anticipates that this will grow.

[Lord German (LD)]

Does that include EFTA—Norway, Liechtenstein, Switzerland and Iceland?

[Lord Murray of Blidworth (Con)]

Yes, I should have made that clear. Indeed, it is the wider EEA, not just the EU, so it includes all the EFTA countries. I thank the noble Lord; that is an important clarification.

As for safeguarding, we are satisfied that the safe- guarding risk is appropriately handled during the pilot and measures will be in place to ensure that there is no safeguarding risk arising as a result of the change. Obviously, we will consider that and whether there have been any implications or learning points arising while we are considering the results of the pilot.

With that, I think I have addressed all the issues which arose, and I ask the Committee to approve the instrument.

Motion agreed.

Committee adjourned at 6.32 pm.