National Audit Office:The Border Force: Securing the Bordr: Home Office - HC 540
National Audit Office:The Border Force: Securing the Bordr: Home Office - HC 540

Author: Great Britain: National Audit Office

Publisher: The Stationery Office

Published: 2013-09-04

Total Pages: 44

ISBN-13: 9780102986136

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Since the UK Border Force was separated from the UK Border Agency, it has met some important objectives such as reducing queuing times. To provide value for money, however, it needs to perform effectively and in a sustained way across the full range of its activities. Border Force officers reported that staff shortages and the requirement to prioritize full passenger checks while managing queue times often prevented their performing other important duties, such as checking freight. In addition, during the first months of 2012-13, the Border Force's performance in some of its activities, such as seizures of cigarettes and counterfeit goods, entry refusals and detecting forgeries, was below target. The Home Office's internal auditors confirmed that the 2012 Olympics and wider resourcing issues had an effect on the Border Force's ability consistently to resource customs controls. The Border Force's workforce lacks organizational identity. The Border Force consists largely of officers who previously worked in separate customs and immigrations agencies, who typically still identify themselves as 'ex-customs' or 'ex-immigration'. To meet the demands the Border Force is recruiting more staff. Despite this, there are continuing staff shortages at the border. The Border Force has not established whether it has the resources it needs to deliver all its objectives. It needs to deploy staff flexibly to respond to its competing demands, but is prevented from doing this as efficiently as possible because almost a fifth of its workforce is employed under terms and conditions that restrict working hours to fixed periods during the week

House of Commons - Public Accounts Committee: The Border Force: Securing the Border - HC 663
House of Commons - Public Accounts Committee: The Border Force: Securing the Border - HC 663

Author: Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Committee of Public Accounts

Publisher: The Stationery Office

Published: 2013-12-10

Total Pages: 60

ISBN-13: 9780215064820

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The Border Force's 7,600 staff operate immigration and customs controls at 138 air, sea and rail ports across the UK. It has a budget of £604 million for 2013-14, but is facing cuts. It has had to prioritise passenger checks at the expense of its other duties thereby weakening security at the border by neglecting other duties, such as the examination of freight for illicit goods, and checks in Calais on lorries to detect concealed illegal entrants. It was not able to meet and check up to 90,000 private planes or private boats arriving in the UK each year, leaving the UK border vulnerable and raising issues about resourcing and how priorities are set. The Border Force acknowledged that it had missed 8 of its 19 seizure and detection targets. Recommendations: set out how it will ensure that it delivers its full range of duties across all ports to provide the required level of national security; demonstrate that it can deliver its workload within the resources available; must address the gaps in the data it receives on people arriving in the UK, and the existing data needs to be cleansed to increase the quality, reliability and usefulness of the intelligence generated; set out how, and by when, it will have in place the functional IT systems it needs to underpin the security of the UK border; senior management must provide the organisation with a clear sense of purpose and tackle those barriers which inhibit the flexible and effective deployment of its staff.

HC 902 - The Work of the Immigration Directorates: Calais
HC 902 - The Work of the Immigration Directorates: Calais

Author: Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. Home Affairs Committee

Publisher: The Stationery Office

Published: 2015

Total Pages: 49

ISBN-13: 0215084608

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Calais is the closest entry point to the UK from Europe, with frequent ferry services to Dover, the Eurotunnel Shuttle service to Folkestone, and direct passenger trains to London St Pancras. About 10 million passengers and about £89 billion worth of UK trade pass through the port of Calais every year. A further 20 million passengers pass through the tunnel on Eurostar or the Shuttle. Most of the traffic is freight. Most of the passengers are British citizens on leisure trips. The growing number, and living conditions, of migrants in Calais, and the enhanced security measures brought in to counter them, have affected the residents of Calais, the reputation of the port of Calais, and the ease with which trade and traffic can pass between Britain and the Continent. The number of migrants at Calais has increased over 2014, from an estimated 1,300 in September, to about 2,500 by the end of October. The majority are from countries that have been affected by war or civil unrest. Most are men, and from Somalia, Sudan, Eritrea and Syria - in 2013 Syria overtook Afghanistan as the top country of origin of asylum-seekers in the world. Some of the migrants live in squats and small camps in the town of Calais, but most live in makeshift tents made out of plastic sheets and canvas, poorly constructed, located in empty industrial sites or woodland. The camps are not permanent and Calais is not the final destination, but a staging post for migrants wishing to enter the UK illegally. The UK cannot ignore the issues around Calais. While security in France is the responsibility of the French authorities, the UK operates juxtaposed border controls in Calais and Coquelles. These juxtaposed controls enable all border administration for entry to the UK to take place before passengers and vehicles leave France. Efficient management of queues and the ability to deliver on time are important, both to avoid disruption to carriers' timetables, and to avoid the excessive build-up of traffic on the surrounding road network. As well as ensuring the efficient and timely processing of travellers and freight, the border controls are needed to ensure the integrity of the UK border.

Open public services
Open public services

Author: Great Britain: Cabinet Office

Publisher: The Stationery Office

Published: 2011-07-11

Total Pages: 60

ISBN-13: 9780101814522

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This White paper puts forward a comprehensive policy framework across public services. It sets out the principles for reforming public services and how they apply to existing policies. It also, crucially, outlines a range of wider ambitions for further consultation. The Government plans to follow five principles for modernising public services: wherever possible choice will be increased; public services should be decentralised to the lowest possible level; public services should be open to a range of providers; ensuring fair access to public services and that public services should be accountable to users and to taxpayers. In applying these principles it is recognised that different public services have different characteristics and the proposals are tailored accordingly. In essence, three different categories of public services are identified: individual services; neighbourhood services; and commissioned services. For individual services the aim is to put power in the hands of the people who use them; for neighbourhood services the aim is to put power in the hands of the elected councils; and for commissioned services, the intention is to open up and, where appropriate, decentralise commissioning to ensure greater quality and diversity.

Preparing the U.S. Army for Homeland Security
Preparing the U.S. Army for Homeland Security

Author: Eric Victor Larson

Publisher: Rand Corporation

Published: 2001

Total Pages: 144

ISBN-13: 9780833029195

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Although military policy seems focused on overseas threats, defending the homeland is, of course, the ultimate objective. This guide examines emergent threats to the USA homeland such as speciality weapons, cyber attacks and ballistic missiles and delineates the army's responsibilities.

Overview of the Privacy Act of 1974
Overview of the Privacy Act of 1974

Author: United States. Department of Justice. Privacy and Civil Liberties Office

Publisher:

Published: 2010

Total Pages: 276

ISBN-13:

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The "Overview of the Privacy Act of 1974," prepared by the Department of Justice's Office of Privacy and Civil Liberties (OPCL), is a discussion of the Privacy Act's disclosure prohibition, its access and amendment provisions, and its agency recordkeeping requirements. Tracking the provisions of the Act itself, the Overview provides reference to, and legal analysis of, court decisions interpreting the Act's provisions.