HOME OFFICE News
Release (178/2007) issued by The Government News Network on 14
November 2007
Immigration,
customs and visa checks will be united in a new UK Border Agency,
it was announced today. At the same time the Government announced
a £1.2bn programme to strengthen the UK's offshore border
controls with new passenger screening technology.
The new Home Office agency will be tougher, smarter, and more
flexible and able to react to new threats much faster - and will
have both a customs commissioner and a senior police officer
represented on its board.
By integrating the work of Customs, the Border and Immigration
Agency and UKVisas, overseas and at the main points of entry to
the UK, the UK Border Agency will have in place both the resources
and remit to strengthen the UK's security through strong
border controls beginning before travellers start for Britain.
The new agency will have a central role in helping tackle the
threats faced from both crime and terrorism, and the £1.2billion
programme includes a £650million contract signed today with
consortia Trusted Borders for a passenger screening system, which
will work alongside the global rollout of fingerprint visas to
keep the UK's border secure.
The electronic border security system will screen all passengers
before they travel to the UK against immigration, customs and
police watch lists. Successful trials of the new system have
already led to more than 1,000 criminals being caught and more
than 15,000 people of concern being checked out by immigration,
customs or the police.
The Home Secretary Jacqui Smith said:
"A unified border force means a stronger British border.
All travellers to Britain will be screened against no fly lists
and intercept target lists and, together with biometric visas,
this will help keep trouble away from our shores.
"As well as the tougher double check at the border, ID cards
for foreign nationals will soon give us a triple check in country.
Together this adds up to some of the most advanced security
anywhere on the globe. These are the most sweeping changes to our
border security for decades."
Today's contract is an essential step in enabling all
passengers coming to the UK to be screened against watch lists
before they arrive, stopping those with no right to be here from
entering the UK. These new measures are in addition to the roll
out to more than 100 countries of fingerprint visas.
The contract's signature signals the roll-out of electronic
security passenger checks across the country at international air,
rail and sea ports with all high risk routes into the UK covered
by mid-2009 and all journeys into the UK by foreign nationals.
Welcoming today's announcement Brian McKeon, president and
managing director of Raytheon Systems Limited, said:
"On behalf of Raytheon and the entire Trusted Borders team,
we are extremely pleased to have been selected for this important.
We are honoured by the confidence that the Home Office has placed
in us, and we look forward to working closely with them to deliver
an integrated, secure border for the 21st century."
Martin Peach, Director of Detection at Her Majesty's Revenue
and Customs, said:
"The awarding of this contract will provide a further boost
to the integrity of the UK's borders. It will also make an
important contribution to protecting the country's borders
from those seeking to smuggle Class A drugs, illicit and
counterfeit cigarettes and other items that could otherwise cause
untold harm to the UK."
John Donlon, Assistant Chief Constable of Thames Valley Police
and Association of Chief Police Officers lead on Ports Policing, said:
"Today also sees the award of the e-borders contract. The
contract award follows a highly successful trial, codenamed
Operation Semaphore, which saw police forces across the UK make
1,300 arrests. The high number of arrests linked to Semaphore
alerts demonstrates a visible measure of success. In addition,
significant contributions have been made in support of
investigations and the protection of the vulnerable.
"The trial has underlined the potential that this system has
in supporting the multi-agency fight against terrorism and
criminality, and we look forward to working with the programme to
deliver this important capability."
NOTES TO EDITORS
1. 'Security in a global hub: establishing the UK's new
border arrangements' can be found at http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk .
2. The e-Borders pilot, Project Semaphore, which began operation
in 2005, has already resulted in a number of successes including:
* The arrest of a man wanted for actual bodily harm (ABH) since
2005. The subject was suspected of assaulting his wife.
* A person previously sentenced to imprisonment for 11 years for
importation of Class A drugs and deported was refused leave to
enter the UK.
* A person who had previously claimed asylum in the UK in a
different identity and nationality was arrested on arrival and prosecuted.
* A passenger was identified as a serial cigarette smuggler who
had attempted to import 177,700 cigarettes since 2002.
* A passenger was stopped and found in possession of one kg of
cocaine. The drugs were seized and the subject was later sentenced
to seven years imprisonment.
3. e-Borders is a joint project, led by the Border and
Immigration Agency in partnership with the Police, HM Revenue and
Customs and UKVisas. It requires commercial carriers and
owner/operators of all vessels to submit detailed passenger,
service and crew data prior to their departure to and from the UK.
This data will be checked against watch-lists, analysed, risk
assessed and shared between UK border agencies. It will improve
border security and assist in the fight against organised crime
and illegal migration.
4. Information captured through the e-Borders programme will help
build more accurate pictures of risk in advance - so that there is
a better awareness of suspect passengers, travel patterns and
networks. As a consequence we will be able to focus resources on
identifying and where necessary intervening against high risk
travellers, while ffering low risk travellers a more rapid service.
5. The e-Borders programme will be delivered by consortia Trusted
Borders made up of Raytheon Systems Limited (prime), Accenture,
Detica, Serco, QinetiQ, Steria, Capgemini, and DAON.
As the prime contractor for the Trusted Borders consortium,
Raytheon will be responsible for systems integration, travel
services and overall project management, drawing upon its
extensive development and production base in the U.K. as well as
the company's worldwide technology resources.
Supporting members of the consortium are leaders in their
respective fields who bring a strong record of performance and
delivery to the e-Borders programme. The members of the Trusted
Borders team and their respective areas of responsibility in the
programme are as follows:
Serco is responsible for infrastructure and service management.
Serco is a leading international services company and specialises
in providing infrastructure and process outsourcing services to
the UK government.
Accenture is responsible for business change, stakeholder
management, training and benefits realisation. Accenture is the
world's largest management consulting firm and a leading
specialist in change management for UK Government programmes.
Detica is responsible for intelligence and analytics services.
Detica is the UK's leading information intelligence
specialist, working extensively in this area of commercial, law
enforcement and national security clients.
QinetiQ is responsible for security accreditation and human
factors. QinetiQ is a world-leading defence technology and
security company which specialises in designing customer-facing
processes and secure systems that comply with UK Government requirements.
Capgemini is responsible for the development of business
architecture including the design of business processes,
organisation structure and primary data flows. Capgemini is a
leading global consulting firm and a specialist in UK Government
Business Architecture design and implementation.
Steria is responsible for the development of the Agency
interfaces. Steria is a major European IT services firm with
extensive experience of European Border management systems.