'Poor management responsible' for border security lapses

A damning independent report has blamed poor management at the UK Border Agency (UKBA) for security lapses that could have allowed criminals and terrorists to enter the UK.

The former head of the UK Border Force, Brodie Clark, was suspended last year over the allegation that airport security checks were cut to avoid overcrowding. 

He has since claimed constructive dismissal, saying that checks were suspended with ministerial approval and only implemented for health and safety reasons.

However, John Vine, the independent chief inspector of the UKBA and the author of the report into the episode, said: “Overall, I found poor communication, poor managerial oversight and a lack of clarity about roles and responsibilities.”

Vine said: “Importantly, there was no clear understanding of when health and safety was a ground for suspension, resulting in different assumptions as to the number of times checks might be suspended. While there was a consistent understanding that suspensions may be necessary for health and safety reasons, these occurred more frequently than the agency’s senior management and ministers had assumed.”

He added that neither senior management nor ministers understood when or why the length of passenger queues might constitute a health and safety issue.

Vine also said that despite regular visits by senior managers, not enough questions were asked about what was happening at ports and no processes were in place to analyse the number of occasions and reasons why checks were suspended.
 
“There is nothing I have discovered which could not have been identified and addressed by senior managers exercising proper oversight,” said Vine. 

“I was particularly concerned to find one example of a local initiative operating at Heathrow under which border controls were relaxed and which had not undergone any scrutiny by more senior managers or ministers. I found this to be potentially unlawful and it reinforces the need to clarify what local managers can and cannot authorise.”

His findings have prompted Home Secretary Theresa May to announce that the Border Force will be split from the main UKBA to enable tighter ministerial control over entry check suspensions. 

In a statement to parliament, May said that other improvements at the UKBA had already been made, including separating immigration policy work from operations, the creation of a strategy ad intelligence directorate to measure performance and monitor compliance with rules, and the set up of a new UKBA training academy. 

The PCS union has previously criticised the employer for cutting staffing levelsto the bone and pressurising staff into a culture of “no dissent” where concerns could not be aired.

May said that the government was reviewing staffing levels and service standards for queuing times.

“I do not believe the answer to the very significant problems exposed in the Vine Report is just a series of management changes,” May said. 

“The Border Force needs a whole new management culture, and I have appointed Brian Moore, currently the chief constable of Wiltshire Police, as the interim head of the Border Force.”

The Border Force will split from the UKBA on the 1st of March.

Last year, former UKBA head Clark was suspended after May said that security checks had been dropped without ministerial approval. He has strenuously denied the accusations and is involved in an ongoing constructive dismissal case against UKBA.