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January 20, 2012

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Health and safety used as excuse by harried border-control staff

A parliamentary select committee has criticised a major Government agency for using health and safety as a “routine” excuse for not following recommended procedures.

The Commons Home Affairs Committee published its report into UK border controls yesterday (19 January), following its scrutiny of whether checks designed to catch suspected terrorists and criminals trying to enter the country had been relaxed without proper authorisation during the summer of 2011.

The Committee, chaired by Labour MP Keith Vaz, said it was “shocked” at the number of times the Home Office Warnings Index Guidance (HOWI) – a database of terrorist suspects and others who are not to be admitted to the country – was invoked by UK Border Agency staff to downgrade border checks for health and safety reasons.

During evidence sessions, the Committee heard that the guidelines had been invoked almost 100 times at the French port of Calais alone, and on 50 occasions between May and July 2011, and then on a further seven occasions between August and October 2011.

The guidance is supposed to relate to “significant” health and safety problems, such as traffic at ports backing up all the way to the motorway, or a build-up of passengers in an airport arrivals hall such that those disembarking from more recently landed aircraft could not be accommodated, thus preventing aircraft from landing.

In his evidence to the Committee in November, the chief executive of the UK Border Agency told the MPs: “I think that there was confusion on the ground about what provisions were being used in relation to different checks. I think that the health and safety provisions became used routinely, rather than being used only in those [serious] circumstances.”

The Committee expressed its concern that the HOWI guidance “might be being used inappropriately at a local level as a management tool instead of an emergency provision”.

Consequently, it recommended that the Agency conduct a full review of its use of the Guidance since its introduction (in 2007), clarify to all ports the limits of authority which they have to implement it, and ensure that robust reporting and monitoring mechanisms are in place for its continued use.

Commented Mr Vaz: “Border checks carried out at airports and ports in the UK are the final line of defence against those who should be prevented entry. The apparent low levels of supervision at the UK Border Agency are highly troubling. The overuse of the HOWI guidelines and the fact that no one appears to have been aware of what was happening demonstrates a lack of oversight and a failure of communication.”

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Kelleeandsteve
Kelleeandsteve
12 years ago

what an utter disgrace. I am tired of hearing companies, now government agencies blaming health and safety on their own inadequate procedures and staff training. This BS needs to stop! Sorry for the language but goodness. What a cop out and I cannot even write anything intelligent because this is just a pathetic excuse for not doing your damn jobs properly!!!!!!!