Written question asked by Nigel Evans (Conservative) on Wednesday, 30 April 2008, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Wednesday, 7 May 2008. It was answered by Liam Byrne (Labour) on Monday, 1 September 2008 on behalf of the Home Office.

Borders: Personal Records

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what recent assessment she has made of the effectiveness of the global roll-out of fingerprint visas under the e-Borders programme.

Answer: [holding answer 7 May 2008]: We delivered global roll out of our visa biometric programme in December, three months early and several million pounds under budget. To date, over 2.5 million enrolments have generated over 19,000 matches to data recorded in connection with a previous immigration or asylum matter in the United Kingdom and bringing to notice over 3,100 applications which have been lodged in a different identity.UK Border Agency are now averaging 1,200 matches a month to visa applicants who have previously been fingerprinted in the United Kingdom in association with an immigration or asylum matter.

Secondary information