§ Miss McIntoshTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) who will have responsibility for the retention and disposal of passports required to be photocopied by UK carriers abroad; and what assessment he has made of the implications for such a requirement of the Data Protection Act 1998 and EU Directives on data protection; [148390]
(2) if his Department will resist a requirement on UK-registered airlines operating flights to the UK to photocopy passengers' passports; [148391]
(3) if he will list the overseas airports his Department intends to designate as departure points requiring carriers to photocopy passports for passengers travelling to the UK; [148392]
(4) how his Department will consult airline carriers before requiring them to photocopy passports at a foreign airport; [148393]
(5) what plans his Department has to obtain approval and clearance from the relevant foreign government or authority before requiring airlines to photocopy passports for passengers travelling to the UK at airports located in that country; [148394]
(6) what estimate he has made of the (a) cost to the airlines of photocopying passports in terms of equipment and staff and (b) length of time required to photocopy passports; [148395]
708W(7) if he will set out the procedures that will apply in the event that passengers refuse to allow their documents to be copied. [148396]
§ Beverley HughesThe new clause brought forward by way of Government amendment to the Asylum and Immigration (Treatment of Claimants, etc.) Bill will allow an Immigration Officer to require a carrier (UK or overseas based) to provide either a full or partial copy of any document relating to a passenger and containing information about that passenger. A carrier would only have to provide copies of documents on written request. This will help deal with the significant number of asylum seekers who deliberately destroy their travel documents.
Consultation with carriers began on 27 October 2003 and continues through correspondence and meetings. The Home Office has received a range of cost estimates from a number of carriers. There are currently joint discussions over the practical details of a trial to provide a more precise estimate of the costs involved and to test the process.
This power will not be implemented unless the trial has demonstrated that this is practical and cost-effective. This power would not be applied universally but would be deployed on selected routes as and when there was a problem with undocumented arrivals. The power will he capable of being invoked in respect of any ship or aircraft which has arrived/is expected to arrive in the UK or which has departed/is expected to depart from the UK, regardless of which port that ship or aircraft arrived/will arrive at or will depart/has departed from. It is, therefore, not necessary to designate or list departure points for the purposes of the use of the power.
The proposal is for the criminal offence in section 27(b) (iv) of the Immigration Act 1971 to apply in respect of the new power. The offence in section 27(b) (iv) of the Immigration Act 1971 is not committed if the carrier has a "reasonable excuse" for failing to comply with the request. This means that it would be a criminal offence, punishable on summary conviction with a fine of not more than level five on the standard scale or with a maximum of six months imprisonment, or with both, for a carrier to fail to comply with a request to copy documents, without reasonable excuse. It is anticipated that a carrier would decline to carry any passenger who refused to allow their document to be carried.
The Home Office will be responsible for the retention and disposal of any copies. All data processed would be done so in compliance with the terms of the Data Protection Act 1998. The Act imposes a number of obligations on a data controller, one of which pertains to the retention and disposal of data.
Personal data processed for any purpose or purposes will not be kept for longer than is necessary for that purpose or those purposes.
Foreign governments will be approached only when a need for the power at a specific location has been identified.