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Border and Immigration Agency goes live

HOME OFFICE News Release (062/2007) issued by The Government News Network on 2 April 2007

Six regional directors have been appointed to the new Border and Immigration Agency (BIA), which goes live today, the Home Office has announced.

The shadow Agency is the next step forward in delivering an immigration service that is fair and accountable and in which the public can have confidence. There will be a new focus on delivery at a regional level with each director taking operational responsibility for delivery across the range of day to day immigration activity and working in more open partnership with other key stakeholders.

The Border and Immigration Agency will remain part of the Home Office, but will have greater public accountability for the service it provides and greater operational freedom to deliver it. There will be a visible Border and Immigration Agency presence at all ports with uniformed immigration officers and new signage, an individual case owner managing asylum cases from start to finish, and more staff on the ground enforcing the rules and removing those with no right to be here.

Beginning a UK-wide tour to meet frontline Agency staff, Chief Executive Lin Homer said:

"Our vision for the new Agency is that it will be more responsive to the communities it serves. It will engage with a whole range of partners from police, local councils and agencies to deliver the sort of service that the public expects.

"It will be more open and accountable with clear, published targets so the public can see whether it is delivering - putting us in a stronger position to deliver the transformation we have promised."

Home Office Minister, Liam Byrne said:

"This is the next step in the Home Secretary's shake-up of the Immigration Service - delivered on time and as promised.

"Since May 2006, we've seen the number of asylum seekers fall to the lowest level since 1993 and deportations hit an all time high.

"But we want to give the Border and Immigration Agency freedom not only to work globally delivering border security but act locally tackling local immigration policing priorities."

Notes to editors

1. The Border and Immigration Agency comprises of six regions:

* Scotland and Northern Ireland
* North East, Yorkshire and Humberside
* North West
* Wales and the South West
* London and the South East; and
* Midlands and East of England

2. The following six Regional Directors have been appointed:

* Phil Taylor, Regional Director BIA Scotland and Northern Ireland
Phil started his Home Office career as an Immigration Officer at Dover, moving to enforcement in London. Following a spell as an Entry Clearance Officer in Bangladesh he moved to Heathrow as a Chief Immigration Officer. From there he was part of the Warnings Index team that developed and implemented that system, after which he headed up the Illegal Entry section as an Inspector. Following periods of operational planning and at Heathrow as an Inspector, Phil became the Assistant Director for Operational Planning and Support Services. As a Deputy Director Phil led the Finance and Planning Group for Border Control and Enforcement and Removals before becoming IND's first Regional Director. He has a law degree from London University and a Masters in Business Administration from Imperial College London.

* Chris Hudson, Regional Director BIA North East, Yorkshire and Humberside
Chris has worked in the Home Office for over 30 years. Initially he joined the Home Office as an Administrative Officer and has spent nearly all his working life based in London. During this time he has covered a wide range of activities including police, criminal policy, prisons, probation, gambling and immigration. He was selected for the Civil Service fast-stream and served as Private Secretary to the Immigration Minister in the mid-80s and Private Secretary to the Home Secretary in the mid-90s.

On joining the Senior Civil Service in 1996, he oversaw the project to set up the National Criminal Intelligence Service and the National Crime Squad in 1998. He returned to IND in 1998 to prepare a White Paper on immigration and asylum and to manage the associated legislation required to implement key reforms.

Since re-joining IND, his main focus has been on asylum policy and casework. In March 2004, Chris took charge of Work Permits (UK), and general immigration casework based in Sheffield and the nationality casework based in Liverpool.

In September 2006, he was appointed Interim Regional Director overseeing immigration activity across the North East, Yorkshire and the Humber, employing about 2,300 staff.

* Gill Mortlock, Regional Director BIA North West
Gill joined the Ministry of National Insurance and Pensions in 1970 and spent many years managing the delivery of front line National Insurance and benefit services in Manchester, Glasgow and London. In 1995, she transferred to the Child Support Agency in Birkenhead. A move into the world of projects came next, with Gill delivering the national reorganisation of CSA's field work and developing the Agency's Debt Strategy.

Gill moved to Greater Mersey District, Jobcentre Plus in March 2002, bringing together the former Benefits Agency and Employment Services. Since November 2006 she has led the Disability and Carers Processing Units and is Deputy Chief Operating Officer for the Agency.

* Tony Smith, Regional Director BIA London and South East
Tony joined IND in 1972 as an Executive Officer and in 1975 became an immigration officer and was posted to Heathrow Terminal 1. He transferred to the Intelligence and Investigations Unit at Harmondsworth in 1980 and served as an Entry Clearance Officer in Dhaka in 1984 before being promoted to Chief Immigration Officer in 1986. Tony served as an Inspector at Immigration Service HQ dealing with passenger casework and asylum liaison and at Becket House dealing with enforcement. After a further spell in ISHQ he returned to Heathrow in charge of LAD1 district which included Terminals 1 and 2 plus Midlands and North West ports.

He was seconded from IND to Citizenship and Immigration Canada in Ottawa in 2000 as Director of ports and border management. He played a key role for Canada during and after the terrorist attacks of 9/11 and was instrumental in developing the shared Border Accord between Canada and the USA in 2002. Tony returned to IND in 2003 as Deputy Director and Head of London Regional Command in the Enforcement and Removals Directorate. In January 2005 he became the Head of UK Border Control. As lead official for the intake reduction and secure borders target Tony led his team to deliver record reductions in asylum intake which in turn assisted IND to achieve the Prime Minister's target of "tipping the balance" in 2006. Tony also acted as gold command for IND in response to the terrorist attacks in London on 7/7.

* Jane Farleigh, Regional Director BIA Wales and South West
After a short spell in the private sector, Jane Farleigh moved across to the public sector where she has worked ever since. She has worked in a variety of Government and non-government departments, including Transport, Industry and the Environment. Jane's earlier career was in HR and she was a personnel manager with English Heritage before moving across to the NHS where she worked for almost 10 years.

Whilst in the NHS she worked with all NHS Wales organisations during which time she published many sets of good practice guidelines. She led on the NHS quality agenda for Wales whilst working for the Welsh Assembly Government and following this was an Assistant Director for reviews and inspections with the Government health watchdog, now known as the Healthcare Commission.

She has been the Regional Director with the Independent Police Complaints Commission for the last three and a half years and was responsible for setting up the Wales and South West region.

She has an MSc in health and last year commenced a PhD.

* Gail Adams, Regional Director BIA Midlands and East of England
Gail Adams has worked in local government for 27 years. As Assistant Director in the Resources Directorate of Birmingham City Council she is currently responsible for a number of large scale, financial and central operations. These include the collection of council tax, business rates and sundry debt, accounts payable and the electoral process. As these services rely heavily on the efficient use of IT, Gail has steered a number of major IT and transformational projects.

Gail has substantial experience of managing large staff groups through successful change and has a track record of service improvement. She has worked extensively to improve service delivery through consultation with customers and stakeholders.

3. The Border and Immigration Agency will operate in shadow status for the first year. This means getting much of the technical architecture, such as its delegated freedoms and its responsibilities towards the rest of the Home Office in place early to smooth the transition to full agency status. The Business Plan for the Agency and its framework agreement will be published in April.

4. IND's reform plan, Fair, Effective Transparent and Trust: Rebuilding Confidence in our Immigration System was published in July 2006. This review set out plans to establish IND as an agency on a shadow basis from April 2007, and to introduce regional directors with the freedom and flexibility to improve performance and local accountability. The review is available at http://www.ind.homeoffice.gov.uk/aboutus/reports/indreview and from 2 April http://www.bia.homeoffice.gov.uk/aboutus/reports/indreview