Clause 9
Borders, Citizenship and Immigration Bill [Lords]
12:30 pm
Phil Woolas (Minister of State (also in the Home Office), Home Office; Oldham East and Saddleworth, Labour)
I rise positively, Sir Nicholas, and not with a quiver to reply to this debate. It is the responsibility of the Minister to put on the record for the Committee and for Hansard, where it is necessary, the intent of the clause. I draw the Committee’s attention to the fact that my noble Friend was able to do so for clause 8 in the other place. Therefore, that explains my quiver. I was trying to be helpful but it was not necessary because of that.
Let me address directly the delegation of the director’s functions to officials, which clause 9 enables. This practice allows operational flexibility and is necessary. It is already the case with officials in their relationship with the commissioners. Of course, in practice, most of the functions of the director are undertaken by officials under the designation arrangements set out in clause 11. Only designated officials will be able to exercise the front-line enforcement powers currently relied on by officers of Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs at the border to tackle smuggling. Those powers are not exercisable by the director and are therefore subject to the delegation power.
The amendment would remove the power to delegate and replace it with a power to designate a function with the approval of the Secretary of State. It seems likely—the hon. Member for Ashford has confirmed this—that the amendment is intended to make the delegation of functions by the director subject to approval by the Secretary of State, or at least to restrict delegation of functions to those who are designated by the Secretary of State. That would be inappropriate and unnecessary. Let me quickly explain why.
In exercising revenue functions, the director of border revenue is not subject to the direction of the Home Secretary. The director acts independently but, like HMRC, is subject to the general directions of the Treasury. The director’s functions will be exercisable by designated customs and revenue officials under clause 11, as I said, but it is right that the director should also be able to delegate her functions to others, including those in the UK Border Agency.
At the same time, clause 9 provides some fundamental safeguards. The director must monitor the exercise of any delegated function and the person exercising such functions must comply with their direction. In that context, if there were a need to oversee the director’s exercise of the power to delegate, that role would fall to the Treasury, not the Secretary of State.