Privatise Britain's border controls, says new report

Source: The Telepgraph, 04/01/2016

Think-tank says UK Border Force - set up only four years ago - is
failing and should have passport control functions put out to contract

The UK Border Force is struggling to keep up under increasing pressure
because it now has to check departures as well as arrivals and faces a
doubling of demand over the next 35 years Photo: PA

Passport control at Britain`s border should be privatised, a
controversial new report will propose this week.
Immigration control functions of the UK Border Force (UKBF) should be
handed over to a private company to modernise the "understaffed"
service and stop spending spiralling out of control, the Centre for
Policy Studies think-tank will say.
In a major new report the organisation claims the move will improve
border control and should help overcome years of disastrous computer
projects which have left staff coping with "woefully inadequate" IT.
It warns that 67,500 ships and aircraft entering Britain each year are
not met by border guards - mainly at small ports and airports – and
suggests investment by the private sector could help close the gaps
and make the country safer.
"It is fashionable in some circles to suggest that a certain area of
public life is simply `too important to be left to the market`," the
report will say.
"In light of the woeful failings of the Home Office and the UKBF it is
probably fair to say that when it comes to management of the UK`s
borders it is simply too important to be left to the government."
"The Government should privatise the passport and immigration control
functions of UK Border Force."
Tom Papworth, report author

The proposal, which comes just four years after Theresa May, the Home
Secretary, created the UKBF in a reorganisation, would not see law
enforcement-style powers handed to civilians, however.
It will say enforcement functions – such as customs checks and drugs
checks – should be handed to another public sector agency.
Tom Papworth, the report`s author, said: "A simple solution is
desperately needed. The efficient and effective operation of the UK`s
borders is a core responsibility for the state, but the Home Office
and UKBF have struggled to meet that requirement.
"UKBF has underperformed both as part of an arms-length agency and as
an in-house directorate.
"The Home Office has proven unable to improve the vital IT
infrastructure that a modern border requires and has been guilty of
meddling with operational decisions for political ends.
"The Government should privatise the passport and immigration control
functions of UKBF."
Massive increases in travel to and from Britain predicted by 2050
would require an extra £1 billion on top of the agency`s £517 million
annual budget unless it can improve productivity, the report said.
The new contractor would be responsible for securing new computer
systems to replace ailing IT which – it was disclosed last year –
breaks down twice a week on average.
"The contractor would also be required to roll out new front-line
technology and systems so that UKBF staff could work remotely, so that
areas that were not currently covered by UKBF could be covered, and so
that backlogs at major transit points could be dealt with swiftly," he
said.
"The contractor would be held to account by clear service standards
and ministers would remain answerable to parliament for the successful
operation of the border."
The full report will be published later this week by the think-tank,
which was co-founded by Margaret Thatcher in 1974.