UK Border Force

Nick Raynsford Excerpts

Monday 7th November 2011 Commons Chamber

[Mrs May]

My hon. Friend makes a very important point, and this is why we have an exercise in place to improve our ability to remove people who are in this country without having a right to be here.

[Mr Nick Raynsford (Greenwich and Woolwich) (Lab)]

Given the UK Border Agency’s reputation for mishaps and inefficiency, and the sensitivity of this issue, why did the Home Secretary bring this pilot into force without making arrangements for checking at regular and frequent intervals how it was actually working in practice? Why did it take three months before this failure emerged?

[Mrs May]

As I indicated in my statement, the pilot was for a limited period of time. It was exactly what it said: a pilot to test whether the operation was going to ensure that we could target higher-risk individuals, rather than routinely checking everybody in certain categories. The evaluation of the pilot would have led to a decision as to whether or not it was appropriate to continue that in any further way. This was for a limited period and the full evaluation was to take place at the end.