The UK’s immigration watchdog has opened a call for evidence to support its inspection of the Border Force.
The latest inspection by the independent chief inspector of borders and immigration, David Bolt, will examine the “efficiency and effectiveness of the Border Force efforts to deter and detect clandestine entry to the UK by means of concealment in vehicles and freight”.
The inspection will focus particularly on how the agency works at its juxtaposed controls in northern France: Calais, Coquelles and Dunkirk.
It will also consider the administration and effectiveness of the Clandestine Entrant Civil Penalty Scheme – under which vehicle owners, drivers, hirers and operators can be fined if they fail to secure their vehicles to stop people using them to enter the country illegally – and the Civil Penalty Accreditation Scheme for lorry drivers and hauliers.
Anyone with “knowledge or first-hand experience of clandestine entry to the UK by vehicle or freight, and of the measures employed to deter and detect clandestine entrants” is invited to submit evidence.
Information provided to ICIBI’s office may be quoted in the watchdog’s final report, but sources will not be named and case studies will be anonymised “as much as possible”.
Bolt, who recently stepped back into the role of ICIBI after former home secretary James Cleverly removed his predecessor, will be taking evidence for the inspection until 6 September.
“Evidence from those with knowledge and first-hand experience adds value to every inspection, but particularly so here as clandestine entry is by its nature a hidden activity and what is known about it officially can only ever provide a partial picture. I am therefore especially keen to receive as many individual accounts and insights as possible to understand what is working well and where improvements are needed,” he said.