Oral Answers to Questions

Pauline Latham Excerpts

Monday 15th April 2024 Commons Chamber

[The Minister for Legal Migration and the Border (Tom Pursglove)]

I am grateful to the hon. Lady for that question. We responded within the eight-week deadline to that ICIBI report and accepted the recommendations made to us in it. We are working through them, but work was already in train, particularly in collaboration with the Care Quality Commission, on better accreditation practices for care providers when we are matching people to those visas.

[Mrs Pauline Latham (Mid Derbyshire) (Con)]

T6.   Outdated laws are allowing child sexual predators and offenders to enter or leave our country while in possession of illegal material on their digital devices because Border Force does not have the power to access them. Will my right hon. Friend work with his colleagues in the Ministry of Justice to consider the merits of a new offence of wilful obstruction, under which an individual could be prosecuted if they fail to unlock their devices to allow them to be properly searched?

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department (Laura Farris)]

I thank my hon. Friend for her work in this area. The issues that she raises are of direct importance to intelligence gathering and child protection. My officials have been working closely with Border Force to ensure that its powers keep pace with the digital age. When the next legislative opportunity arises, if not before, we will carefully consider giving Border Force powers to compel individuals to submit to searches of their devices, if they are suspected of holding child sexual abuse material.