Borders, Citizenship and Immigration Bill [HL]

My Lords, in speaking to Amendment 7, I shall speak also to Amendments 8, 9 to 12 and 16 to 18. In particular, I shall speak to the elements relating to the possible dilution of skills of the workforce. My noble friend Lady Turner of Camden will cover the elements relating to the powers of the Secretary of State to designate officials. These amendments were requested by the Public and Commercial Services Union because it has fears about the dilution of the skills in the workforce under the Government’s proposals, which it believes could lead to less effective border controls, and the Secretary of State’s power to designate officials. The PCS considers, ""that separate bodies, with separate specialisms"—" as we have at present— ""exercising separate powers, but in a complimentary way makes for the most professional border controls"." It fears, ""that spreading powers will lead to diluted skills"." It believes that: ""Effective co-ordination between public authorities at the border is recognised as vital in the fight against trafficking. For such co-ordination to be most productive, it has to draw together specific expertise in a complementary way"." The union states that it, ""strongly believes that government policy on the creation of a unified border force militates against effective border security for two main reasons: at present, with three sequential control points there are three opportunities for detection and intelligence purposes, with passenger and vehicular traffic potentially subject to three checks by immigration, police and customs officers at points of entry. Currently these checks are separate and sequential, allowing each organisation the chance to display their skills and experience to tackle trafficking. Our experience has shown that each intervention has yielded intelligence and concrete results in dealing with human trafficking. The proposed reduction to a single primary line may reduce the barriers at the border to one and accordingly reduce the deterrent and interceptive effect of three separate controls"." The union believes that complementary skills of three trained and experienced groups of specialists—immigration officers, customs officers and police—are not likely to be matched by one officer attempting to fulfil a variety of roles. The PCS’s view is that, ""effective co-ordination of separate organisations presents a much tougher barrier to human and goods trafficking than the reduced presence and deskilling as a result of a single border force"."