Immigration (Biometric Registration) (Amendment) Regulations 2010

I am grateful for noble Lords’ questions about this. The noble Lord, Lord Rosser, asked about the rollout and whether the UK would be fully compliant by 2012 as per the regulations. Yes, it will. Companies are becoming familiar with them, because there are 300,000 in circulation. Certain types of companies tend to use more migrant labour and are therefore more familiar. He asked how many more would be issued. We think about 80,000 per annum. He also asked about consultation. In the Explanatory Memorandum there is a very long list of people consulted, but I shall not weary your Lordships by reading it out. The noble Lord touched on enrolment capacity and limitations. That is one reason why we did not introduce the BRPs in one go. It is a rollout programme, taking in new tiers. I was asked how an employer can check a BRP without a reader. Guidance clearly sets out that the security features of BRPs are available to download from the UK Border Agency website. There is also a BRP verification telephone service, which employers can call to check whether a card has been cancelled—for example, because it has been reported lost or stolen. I was asked where applicants can register their biometric identifiers. They can do so at one of 11 Home Office biometric enrolment offices around the UK, or one of 17 Crown post offices participating in a pilot. At present there are 28 venues located at UK Border Agency inquiry offices at Croydon, Solihull, Sheffield, Liverpool, Glasgow, Belfast and Cardiff. There are also biometric enrolment centres at passport service offices enrolling foreign nationals on behalf of the UK Border Agency at London Elephant and Castle, Birmingham, Derby and Brighton. The post offices are at Aberdeen, Beckenham, Beeston, Bracknell, Cambridge, Durham, Kingstanding, Battersea, Camden, Earls Court, Old Street, Middleton, Oxford, Redditch, Romsey, South Shields and Stamford. So there are plenty of locations. We have also rolled out a mobile biometric enrolment service for those physically unable to attend an enrolment centre for medical or other reasons. This service is also available as an exclusive super-premium service whereby UK Border Agency officers will visit an applicant to enrol their biometric information—fingerprints, photograph and signature—and decide and conclude their application. This costs £15,000. The super-premium service is not currently available to customers applying for an extension of leave under a category that does not require a BRP, or applying for permanent residency or citizenships. I was asked what we were doing to address the problems that applicants have experienced when applying for BRPs. Most have not experienced problems. The UK Border Agency takes any problems or issues very seriously, and is determined to learn lessons and continuously improve the service provided to its customers. It investigates any complaints received and aims to resolve them as quickly as possible and take steps to put things right if and when they have gone wrong. The vast majority of people find applying for a permit trouble-free. We have been collecting customer feedback and the vast majority of responses have been very positive. I was asked why applying for a BRP delays applications. It does not do so, but the biometric enrolment must take place before the case is concluded, so that we can check the applicant against the existing databases and link their biographical details provided to the unique biometric identifiers. The noble Baroness, Lady Hamwee, asked several questions. First, she asked what more was required for the UK fully to comply with the EU requirements. EU legislation requires BRPs to be issued to all non-EEA migrants, granting permission to stay in the UK for more than six months, by May 2012. We are on target to do that. She asked how biometric information, as distinct from the card itself, makes it easier for employers to check eligibility in the UK and whether that did not require employers to use a reader to check the information. Biometric information makes the link between the document and the holder more reliable, which in turn means that employers can have more confidence in the BRP than other less sophisticated documents. Currently, an employer can perform a visual check of the biometric facial image incorporated into the face of the card against the person present as well as checking the BRP’s security features and using the telephone verification service. We are currently developing plans for an automated online checking service. In time, readers capable of unlocking the data on the chip will be more readily available and will enable employers to check the biometric information of the person presenting the document against the facial image and fingerprints stored on the chip. They will also have the ability to authenticate the document electronically. Finally, the noble Baroness asked how accessible readers are. This was an issue in the consultation. Biometric residence permits are an important step in the fight against illegal immigration and abuse of the immigration system. BRPs are more secure than other paper-based documents and allow us to check and store an applicant’s unique biometric identifiers before granting them permission to be in the UK. In addition to this capability, we can biometrically verify the identity of visa nationals, holders of entry clearances and holders of biometric residence permits at 31 major ports. Entrants at these ports, who have these documents, provide their fingerprints to be checked against the records on the UKBA fingerprint database. A small number of specialist readers, capable of reading the electronic chip on the permit, are deployed at ports and will become more readily available over time as we ramp up the issuing of permits. Investment in card-reading capability will only occur when there are sufficient documents available to justify the investment in such technology. In the mean time, it makes sense to use other means of checking the document and holder, while we assess the need for chip-reading equipment against the volume of documents in circulation and other financial priorities. I thank noble Lords for an interesting debate on our proposals to expand the roll-out of biometric residence permits, and welcome the Committee’s views. Where I have not fully answered questions, I will of course write. The issues that have been raised are pertinent to the immigration regulations and I have replied. In conclusion, recording biometric data and biographical information is important because it enables the UK Border Agency to check against existing records to make sure that the person who applies is not known to us or the police by another identity; and to establish a reliable link between the permit and the holder. Biometric residence permits provide details about the holder’s right to be in the UK in a secure format that meets very high technical standards to safeguard against counterfeiting and falsification. A standard format of permit across Europe is of clear benefit to member states, and enables us to comply with the EU regulations and to ensure that we are not a weak link in Europe for immigration abuse. Biometric residence permits contain features that make it easier for employers and public bodies to check the status of migrants. The permits make it straightforward for employers to identify an overseas national’s right to work in the UK and easier for foreign workers to demonstrate that they are here legally and allowed to take employment or access other entitlements in the UK. With more than 300,000 residence permits now issued since November 2008, employers and others required to check the status of migrants are familiar with them. We have engaged with business, which has told us that these permits make conducting right-to-work checks easier. They would not welcome another change in immigration documentation since this would require them to put new training and procedures in place. The categories selected for this rollout will enable us to continue it to more migrants with the right to work in the UK under the PBS, and to comply further with obligations under EU legislation. We will return to Parliament to seek further approval as we roll out to other categories of foreign nationals required to apply for biometric residence permits. I commend these regulations to the Committee and beg to move. Motion agreed.