Clause 54
Borders, Citizenship and Immigration Bill [Lords]
4:30 pm
Phil Woolas (Minister of State (the North West), Home Office; Oldham East and Saddleworth, Labour)
I shall try to respond to the amendment that the hon. Gentleman has tabled to his satisfaction, in the hope of persuading him to withdraw the amendment.
Once again, what we are talking about here is the extension of sections 1 to 4 of the UK Borders Act 2007 to Scotland, recognising the particular circumstances that exist there and also the relationship between the immigration official’s power to detain and the power of arrest, which is what the clause is about.
I would like to explain the clause, Mr. Gale, if that is within your strictures. It enables a designated immigration officer—earlier, we discussed how the process of designation happens—at a port in Scotland, by which we mean airports as well as seaports because “port” is a catch-all word, to detain an individual for up to three hours pending the arrival of a constable, if the immigration official thinks that the person is subject to an arrest warrant. That is an important difference, as my hon. Friend the Member for Midlothian will know.
The power, as extended to Scotland, reflects the requirements identified in Scotland, in conjunction with UKBA, and it will provide UK border force officers in Scotland, once they are trained and designated, with powers similar to those of their colleagues in the rest of the UK.
The power to detain an individual for up to three hours can be used if the immigration official thinks that that individual is liable to arrest under specified sections of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 or the Police and Criminal Evidence (Northern Ireland) Order 1989, or if the individual is subject to a warrant for arrest. So the answer to the hon. Gentleman’s question—essentially he asked what the difference is between “thinks” and “has reasonable suspicion”—is in relation to those PACE codes.
The powers were introduced in response to a need for powers for immigration officials to deal with those individuals, including British and EEA nationals, who are of interest to the police. So the measure is a read-across and it also has an important read-across to the debate that we will have later on police powers. Essentially the immigration official is being asked to take a judgment on whether or not he or she thinks, according to the PACE guidance, that that individual passing through the border is subject to a warrant for arrest in Scotland.
During the passage of the Bill in the other place, the noble Lords expressed concern that the new powers did not extend to Scotland. The Government therefore committed to work with the Scottish Government, the Scottish police forces and our own people in the agency to look at the issue. We are pleased that a legislative consent motion has been approved in the Scottish Parliament to extend the power. That happened because it relates to police powers, which are devolved, not immigration officials, who are of course answerable to UKBA.