WIREDGOV

Border controls boosted by new technology and unified structure

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.