Borders, Citizenship and Immigration Bill [HL]

My Lords, we do not think that it would be appropriate for the Director of Border Revenue to be approved by both Houses of Parliament but we understand that, as the noble Baroness said, this is really a vehicle allowing us to discuss what will happen in the future when Lin Homer has disappeared from the scene. We know, because the Government said so when we dealt with the appointment in Committee, that Lin Homer is going to be appointed, doubling as head of the UKBA and ensuring that the two functions are joined from the top down. The Bill does not actually provide that the chief executive of the UKBA will always be the same person as the Director of Border Revenue. However, as the Minister told us in Committee that the intention was that they would always be one and the same person, I merely wonder why that is not in the Bill. At some time in the future when the post becomes vacant—the noble Baroness, Lady Hanham, has hypothesised about this—the Minister said that it would be possible to fill it through an open competition under Civil Service rules on the basis that the chief executive would also be the Director of Border Revenue. His wording indicated that other scenarios might be being contemplated, which may account for the absence of any reference to the accommodation of the post in the Bill. Assuming that it is envisaged that, in some remote circumstance and at some future date, two different individuals could occupy the posts, how would the department’s wider strategic objectives for a unified operation and management command of the UK’s border forces be achieved? We remain uncertain of the future, because this is not in the Bill, and we would like to learn more from the Minister now.