Clause 6
Borders, Citizenship and Immigration Bill [Lords]
12:00 pm
Damian Green (Shadow Minister, Home Affairs; Ashford, Conservative)
I am glad to hear that the Government are consistent and will say the same thing in this debate as they said several weeks ago in another place. But, in all seriousness, if that is what the Government are looking for—who could disagree with that as an aim?—it is important to know which functions of the director of border revenue may be different from those of the director of UKBA. The two posts can be brought together under Lin Homer, which seems appropriate, but I am not just staring into a crystal ball when I say that the functions change. I have observed them changing considerably, in the relatively recent past. If, in particular, we move towards a unified border police force, it is easy to imagine that those functions will change quite radically in the future as well. Therefore, before we set up the post, the Committee deserves quite a lot more detail and clarity about what it is meant to achieve.
Essentially the question is whether the post is just a name. Is it required because there is a need for a director of revenue and an accounting officer, and someone formally responsible for all the money? Alternatively, is it envisaged as a new post, with new powers and new functions? I would not expect those to be set out in the Bill, but it would be useful for the House to know whether the post is essentially a sinecure that comes along with other jobs that people do, or a real job in its own right—or could the Minister envisage circumstances in which the former might become the latter in the future? Before we pass the clause it is important to tease out some of the details, and I hope that the Minister can do that.