Posted: Monday 22 March 2010
PCCS & UK Border Agency agree new independent complaints review system
On Monday 22 March 2010, John McNeill the Police Complaints Commissioner for Scotland (PCCS) signed an agreement with Lisa Kilham, Director Complaints and Correspondence, Standards and Performance Directorate at the UK Border Agency that gives the Commissioner the power to independently review how the UK Border Agency handles certain complaints about it from members of the public in Scotland. The Commissioner's service is free and impartial.
Immigration officers and officials exercising immigration functions are now subject to the same oversight in terms of complaints about their actions, as Scotland's eight police forces, their staff and officers and other UK-wide policing bodies operating in Scotland, such as the Serious and Organised Crime Agency.
Anyone who has been affected by or witnessed something that led to a formal complaint about the UK Border Agency can request a review by the PCCS. The Commissioner can review a complaint from the public about the UK Border Agency only when all of the following conditions are met:
- it has been investigated by the UK Border Agency, including the internal appeals process, and the complainant remains dis-satisfied with the way in which it was investigated by the UK Border Agency
- it relates to an immigration officer or official exercising immigration and/or asylum functions
- it relates to an immigration officer or official exercising a specified enforcement function, such as arrest and detention.
In these circumstances, the Commissioner can conduct an independent review and publish a report detailing his findings and recommendations. This can range from the Commissioner calling on the UK Border Agency to look again at the complaint either on its own or under supervision, to recommending changes to the policies and procedures that led to the complaint. These recommendations can be made even where the PCCS does not uphold the initial complaint but where the Commissioner is not satisfied that the procedures followed are adequate.
The PCCS will not investigate some areas of UKBA functions, including:
- An immigration decision:
- A decision to grant or refuse asylum:
- Giving removal directions:
- Policy decisions in relation to the use of specified enforcement functions.