Clause 5
UK Borders Bill
9:30 am
Paul Rowen (Shadow Minister, Transport; Rochdale, Liberal Democrat)
I am grateful for the debate earlier and hope that the Minister can deal with the amendments fairly quickly. We are seeking clarity and reassurance from the Government on the use of other non-biometric information, which is referred to in clause 5. That is quite a sensitive matter, so we are attempting to specify what data may be included, as the hon. Member for Ashford has done with his amendments. It should be easy to specify the information listed in amendment No. 74, and if any more information is to be specified, the Minister should put it in the Bill. We want to ensure that immigrants are afforded the same protection as British citizens.
Amendment No. 73 alludes to the use of such data for immigration and nationality purposes only, although I accept that in this case that includes employment. If someone has a work permit and is seeking employment, it is quite legitimate to use those data, with the safeguards provided by the Minister. We all share the aspiration to make our borders secure, but we must ensure adequate safeguards for the use of those data.
Once again, our concern is that many of the provisions are very open-ended. The details are not specified. Some of them might appear later in regulations, but others might not. We are dealing with quite sensitive data, which is why we are seeking to specify what data are necessary for the job and that they are used only for the purposes set out in the Bill. If such information is passed on to other people for other purposes, we should be concerned. We have argued already about the use of DNA data. We want to ensure that there are proper safeguards, that the data collected are only those needed for the job and that there are strict controls on who can use them. That would be a reasonable amendment to the Bill.