Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 19
19
We asked about the impact of the UK’s departure from the EU on the Department’s...
Conclusion
We asked about the impact of the UK’s departure from the EU on the Department’s immigration enforcement activities.52 The Department has teams in EU countries which support its work to prevent unlawful entry to the UK and to tackle organised immigration crime. The Department told us the Dublin II agreement allows it to pass responsibility for some asylum cases to EU member states, for example where non-EU nationals enter the UK by clandestine or illegal means from EU countries.53 The Department also explained it has a series of prison transfer arrangements linked to the EU which support the return of foreign national offenders. But the Department believed that many of the arrangements for returns with individual EU member states are done bilaterally, rather than through the EU and Commission.54
Government Response
Not Addressed
HM Government
Not Addressed
5.1 The government disagrees with the Committee’s recommendation. 5.2 The department is working hard to prepare for a range of potential outcomes at the end of the transition period. This remains a top priority, with the Department continuing to build on the preparations which were undertaken in 2019 which ensured a high state of readiness before the UK exited the EU on 31 January 2020. 5.3 The UK shares the same objectives as many EU Member States in taking serious and effective measures to tackle and deter illegal migration, and the Department’s co-operation with them will continue after the transition period. The UK has made a sincere and genuine offer to the EU on a future reciprocal arrangement for the family reunion of unaccompanied asylum-seeking children and for future returns arrangements to EU Member States. An agreement remains the department’s goal.