Commons Committee final report on the work of the disbanded UK Border Agency says backlog stands at a concerning 432,000 cases
The House of Commons Home Affairs Select Committee has today published its final report on the work of the now disbanded UK Border Agency (UKBA).
The report covers the period from January to March this year and is available here.
The Committee says in a press release that whilst the UKBA's backlog had fallen, it still stood at a concerning and sizeable 432,000 cases when the agency was wound up. Most of the 70,400 reduction was achieved by simply loading pending cases onto the computer, and in some categories—such as those applying for further leave to remain on the basis of marriage or civil partnership—the backlog had actually grown.
The press release also noted that the new Immigration Bill raised concerns over health care for vunerable people: "The Committee has no objection in principle to the introduction of a charge for access to the National Health Service for those who are in the UK only temporarily and would therefore not otherwise be making a long-term contribution to the NHS. But it expresses concerns about the possible application of the scheme to vulnerable people who have been trafficked into the country and recommends that the Government should pilot an alternative option for visa applicants to take out private health insurance instead."
The Committee welcomed the scrapping of the controversial "go home or face arrest" van campaign, saying a more effective and less menacing message would be that the Government is willing and able to support those who are here illegally to return home if they want to.
The Commitee says that currently only 6 in 100 reports of immigrants without legal status result in an actual investigation and only 1.5 in 100 result in removal.
Chairman of the Committee, Keith Vaz MP, said: "This has been a chaotic summer for immigration policy. First we had the controversial AdVans which were rightly ridiculed, and then it was revealed that Capita had botched the contract to clear the migration refusal pool by asking British citizens to leave their own country. Finally we saw a u-turn on visa bonds, however the uncertainty has already done damage."