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Borders, Citizenship and Immigration Bill [HL]

I am most grateful to the Minister for the information. As I understand it, if the complaint relates to a criminal matter in the juxtaposed control, that falls under the responsibility of the criminal investigative authorities in France or Belgium as the case may be. If it falls short of that, the Minister said he was considering independent oversight of matters that were complained about that did not constitute criminal offences. So that is a step in the right direction, but as the noble Lord, Lord Hylton, said, it does not go far enough, because we are talking not only about juxtaposed controls but about any activity by private contractors that is exercised in pursuance of their immigration powers outside the boundaries of the United Kingdom. The particular case that the noble Lord, Lord Hylton, raised—I have raised it a couple of times—is where escorts are used to take somebody on an aircraft from the United Kingdom to his country of origin. I have already mentioned the assaults that are alleged to have taken place on those aircraft. This is a bit of a black hole because the Minister did not give any undertaking that we would consider an independent complaints mechanism relating to those cases. If I am not pressing my luck too far, may I ask the Minister whether the undertaking that he has already given that the Government are looking at an independent complaints mechanism in relation to the juxtaposed controls, whether that could be extended to cover other activities by private contractors overseas, or en route overseas, that are exercised on behalf of the Immigration Service? That would apply to the escorts accompanying people being deported from the United Kingdom and it would apply to airline operatives abroad who have been there for a long time—airline liaison officers—or any other official who is located outside the boundaries of the United Kingdom and who is exercising functions on behalf of the Immigration Service. It would be an enormous step forward if the noble Lord could give us the assurance that the investigation of independent complaints mechanisms relating to Sangatte and other juxtaposed controls could be extended to cover these other areas.