Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2002 (Juxtaposed Controls) (Amendment) Order 2011

My Lords, we are very grateful to the Minister for his careful explanation of the provisions of these statutory instruments, which deal with the immigration arrangements for the 22,000 expected Olympic and Paralympic accredited contestants and their so-called family members, the categories of which he has enumerated, who will be arriving in the UK during the period from March to November 2012. I just want to be absolutely clear that Games family members actually include the family of the contestants. I should be grateful if the Minister will say when he replies that that is so, and that contestants can bring a spouse and children under these arrangements. As the Minister has explained, the accreditation is by means of a card issued by the International Olympic Committee and the International Paralympic Committee through their contractor ATOS, but the necessary security and immigration checks are to be conducted by UKBA. They will know whether an applicant is recorded on their system as having ever been in breach of our immigration rules, and I ask my noble friend what they will do if a GFM—or, even more sensitive, an athlete—is flagged up by this check. What other checks will the UKBA undertake to confirm that an applicant for accreditation is not a threat to security or a person whose presence in the country would not be conducive to the public good? Athletes and GFMs who are visa nationals and in possession of an accreditation card will not generally need a visa to enter the UK, as the Minister has explained; but according to the Explanatory Memorandum, there are 2,000 who will still have to apply for a visa in their countries of origin. Will the Minister explain who are these people, and is the position absolutely clear to them, so that we do not get them turning up at a port of entry thinking that they can get in with just the accreditation card? For the remaining 20,000 visa national athletes and GFMs, the accreditation card allows the holder to enter the UK without a visa but these statutory instruments, as the Minister has explained, permit the UKBA to take their biometrics at the port of entry instead of in the country of origin as would normally be the case. That comes into operation at the beginning of the period on 12 March next year. There may still be some customer resistance to giving biometrics at the port of entry when the Government say that they are facilitating the entry of Olympians and their entourages, even though LOCOG says that it does not object to the process provided that it is communicated very clearly to the applicants in advance. I respectfully suggest that LOCOG cannot be certain that people will not still complain, but there might be one way of reducing the numbers affected. There is a special visa to be created which allows for a longer stay, enabling the contestants and GFMs to come here in advance for training and acclimatisation. Applicants will then be asked to give their biometrics overseas, as non-Olympian visa nationals already have to do. The Immigration Law Practitioners’ Association has suggested that the uptake would be increased if the special visas were free, but the UKBA has not taken up the idea. What is being charged for the extended visas, and has any estimate been made of the extra spending that would be generated in the UK by making the visas free, to offset the loss of revenue that would arise from waiving the fees? Next, what will the procedure be if a visa national contestant or other GFM who does not obtain a concession visa shows up on the biometric checks at the port of entry, for example as a person who has overstayed in the past? There should not be many of those because checks will have been undertaken in advance when they received their accreditation. However, if some do slip through and are only detected at the port of entry, are they detained or removed, or is action suspended until after they have finished competing in the Games? Will there be any difference in the treatment of an actual competitor and a member of a competitor’s family or entourage? When a person applies for a visa they know if they are accepted or refused before they travel, but there could be an unpleasant surprise awaiting a few people upon arrival at Heathrow. Speaking of Heathrow, I wonder if the UKBA thought it necessary to designate that airport as the main Olympic entry point? It is already the busiest of the UK’s airports and can be a real nightmare for travellers from time to time. The Piccadilly line into central London is grossly overcrowded and if Olympians are forced onto the more expensive Heathrow Express, they may suffer problems if it does not have any special arrangements to offer concessions to Olympians or to cope with the extra traffic. Why does this order not contain all the juxtaposed controls? Why is it necessary to have this order presented now, and another in the autumn dealing with some of the other juxtaposed controls? The explanatory memorandum states in paragraph 7.6 that if a visa national GFM was not required to provide biometrics on arrival, they would have to do so when applying for leave to remain within the Olympic period. What are the categories of people to whom this would apply, and if it is intended for those who originally entered before the biometric capture scheme came into operation, why do we not have one rule for all visa nationals asking for leave to remain after such a long period? I believe the Minister implied as much during his introductory speech.