Summary
In 'The Work of the UK Border Agency (April-July 2011)' (HC1497-I), the Home Affairs Committee criticises the UK Border Agency for failing to explain why 350 foreign national prisoners due to be deported are still in the country.
The Agency provided the Committee with a breakdown of the issues with the deportation process of 1,300 prisoners who were released between 1 April 2010 and 31 March 2011. The largest group, making up 27% of the total, was labelled 'unknown'.
The Committee also found that the Agency has not resolved all of the asylum 'legacy' cases first identified in 2006 within the promised five year timeframe. Instead, 18,000 ongoing cases are still awaiting a final decision.
The Committee highlights its concern at the dramatic increase in files transferred to the "controlled archive" - where the Agency has lost contact with individuals - in the past six months.
The files, which are placed in the archive when every effort to track an applicant has been exhausted, numbered 40,500 in March 2011. By September 2011, it had increased to 124,000.
A series of specific recommendations are made:
- the Government should commission a detailed investigation into financial waste, included the writing-off of bad debts, overpayments to staff and asylum applicants, and failure to collect civil penalties;
- there should be better liaison between the Agency and HM Prison Service;
- the Agency is losing too many appeals at immigration tribunals and should raise the quality of its representation; and
- all staff must be aware of the existence of "bogus colleges", which exist only to sponsor visa applications.
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