MPs say the UK Border Agency is still plagued by backlogs of unresolved immigration cases.
The Home Affairs Committee said it had been supplied incorrect data by the agency for six years, and 'repeatedly misled' by former head Lin Homer.
Ms Homer, now the head of Revenue and Customs, said the accusation was unfair and untrue.
The report comes as the prime minister announces steps to restrict the rights of some immigrants to social housing.
In its latest report into the immigration agency, the committee said that for six years the UKBA had repeatedly supplied incorrect information about the size of the asylum backlog and measures supposedly being taken to trace others with whom officials had lost contact.
The MPs said the failure to trace these other migrants, whose cases were placed in a closed 'controlled archive', led officials to conclude that they were not in the UK when in fact tens of thousands of them could be.
The report said that the total backlog of unresolved or disputed immigration cases in the UK was 312,726 at the end of September last year - but it was not possible to be sure if that figure was accurate. Officials say the committee's figures include cases that have either been closed or should not be considered as part of a backlog.
The suggestion that I deliberately misled the Committee and refused to apologise are both untrue and unfair
The List of UK Border Force Cutters is a listing of all cutters to have been commissioned by the UK Border Force and its predecessors,
- Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs[1] (Front line Customs Controls Transferred to New Border Agency in 2008)
- Her Majesty's Customs and Excise (HMCE) (merged with the Inland Revenue in 2005)
Prior to the formation of HM Customs and Excise in 1909, revenue cruisers of various types were operated by various bodies including HM Customs, the Excise, the Admiralty and the Coast Guard.[2]
In 1980 HMCE's Revenue Cutter Service was renamed the Customs Cutter Service. Thenceforward its vessels bore the ship prefix 'HMCC' - Her Majesty's Customs Cutter (previously they had long been known as HM Revenue Cutters).[3] Following the flotilla's transfer to the UK Border Agency they were given the prefix 'HMC' - Her Majesty's Cutter; all current vessels of the UK Border Force bear this prefix.
For much of the 20th century the Cutters were supplemented by smaller 'launches'; but these were non-seagoing vessels, restricted to patrolling rivers and estuaries.[3]
Pre-Second World War[edit]
For the first part of the 20th century HM Customs and Excise made do with a single Customs Cutter:[2]
- Vigilant (1902-1920) built by Cox & Co. of Falmouth[4]
- Vigilant (1919-1928) (formerly HMS Esther)[3]
After 1928 no new Cutter was procured until after the Second World War, HMCE seeking instead to rely on its Launches.
Post-war[edit]
- HMRC Vigilant (1946-1962), a former Royal Navy Isles-class trawler
- Valiant (1947-1967), a former Royal Navy motor launch
- Vincent (1948-1965), a former Royal Navy motor launch
V-class[edit]
- Venturous (1962-1980) built to Customs specifications
- Vigilant (1965-1980)
- Valiant (1968-1979)
Tracker-class[edit]
- HMCC Active (1976–1988)
- HMCC Alert (1976–1983)
- HMCC Challenge (1977–1989)
- HMCC Champion (1978–1989)
- HMCC Safeguard (1979–1993)
- HMCC Swift (1978–1993)
Fast patrol vessel[edit]
- HMCC Searcher (1979-2001)[5]
- HMCC Seeker (1980-2001)
Protector-class[edit]
- HMCC Valiant (1988–2003)
- HMCC Vigilant (1989–2003)
- HMCC Venturous (1989–2003)
- HMCC Vincent (1993–2004)
Island-class[edit]
- HMC Sentinel (1993–2013)
UKBF 42m Customs Cutter[edit]
- HMC Seeker (2001)
- HMC Searcher (2002)
- HMC Vigilant (2003)
- HMC Valiant (2004)
Telkkä-class[edit]
- HMC Protector (2014)[6][7]
Coastal patrol vessels[edit]
- HMC Active (2016)
- HMC Alert (2016)
- HMC Eagle (2016)[8][9]
- HMC Nimrod (2016)
Image gallery[edit]
HMC Seeker
HMC Vigilant
HMC Valiant
HMC Protector
HMC Nimrod
References[edit]
- ^Cutters List of Revenue Cutters
- ^ abSmith, Graham (1980). Something to Declare: 1000 Years of Customs and Excise. London: Harrap.
- ^ abcSmith, Graham (1983). King's Cutters: The Revenue Service and the War against Smuggling. London: Conway Maritime Press.
- ^'The Restoration of Vigilant'. Medway Maritime Trust. Retrieved 25 March 2018.
- ^Photo, 1998
- ^HMC Protector: Customs patrol boat launched, bbc.com, 17 March 2014 - 'It will be located in Portsmouth and will operate around the UK coastline.'
- ^'Home Secretary launches new Border Force cutter to protect UK coastline'. gov.uk. HM Government. Retrieved 23 April 2015.
- ^'Patrol boat deployed in English Channel as Calais 'Jungle' prepares to be demolished'. 15 March 2017.
- ^Pyman, Tom. 'Border Force introduces more coastal patrol boats in bid to step up security off Kent coast'. Kent News. Retrieved 22 May 2017.