The UK Border Agency’s handling of unresolved immigration cases came under intense criticism on Monday as MPs warned it would take 24 years to clear the backlog at the current rate of progress.
The Home Affairs select committee also slammed Lin Homer’s performance as the head of the Border Agency, and questioned her promotion to lead the HM Revenue and Customs.
“It is shocking that after five years under Lin Homer’s leadership an organisation that was described at the beginning of the period as being ‘not fit for purpose’ should have improved its performance so little,” the report said.
“Given this background, we are astounded that Ms Homer has been promoted to become chief executive and permanent secretary at Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs and can therefore have little confidence in her ability to lead HMRC at what is a challenging time for that organisation,” it added.
Homer in her response said that the accusations were “unfair” since the events in question took place after her departure 18 months ago.
“It is therefore wholly inaccurate and unfair to seek to ascribe responsibility to me for matters of concern that occurred long after I left the Agency,” she said in a letter.
Homer was appointed as the director general for the Immigration and Nationality Directorate (IND) in August 2005.
The IND was replaced by the Border and Immigration Agency in 2008, which she continued to lead as its first chief executive
She took over the reins of the HMRC in January last year.
MPs also reprimanded the UKBA for supplying incorrect data since 2006 over the size of the asylum backlog and steps being taken to trace people with whom contact had been lost.
The report said that the total number of unresolved cases stood at 312,726 at the end of September 2012, but it was not possible to be sure if that was an accurate figure.
Immigration Minister Mark Harper said: “We have always been clear that the UK Border Agency was a troubled organisation with a poor record of delivery.
“Turning it around will take time but I am determined to provide the public with an immigration system they can have confidence in.”
Border Agency under fire over immigration backlog
