IMMIGRATION CHIEF TO CRACK DOWN ON ILLEGAL WORKING
(30 October 2007)

Jane Farleigh, the first Border and Immigration Agency Director for Wales and the South West, says people who abuse the immigration system will not be tolerated. Speaking three months after taking up her post, she said the challenges of delivering an improved immigration system for the region were being met, but added that there was still more work to be done.

The Border and Immigration Agency has been established as an executive agency of the Home Office to deliver an immigration system in which the public can have confidence. Six regional operations have been set up across the UK to deliver a greater local emphasis in immigration services.

The Wales and South West region is based in Cardiff with other offices in Portishead, Plymouth and Poole. Jane Farleigh said the Agency's priority in the region was to work with business to manage immigration in the interests of communities, while putting more staff on the ground to crack down on people flouting immigration laws and remove those with no right to be here.

She said: "Within my first few months in post we have had a series of successes in disrupting illegal working and have successfully prosecuted individuals involved in identity and passport fraud.

"We now have our own budget for enforcement and we are carrying out operations every day of the week to detect and remove from the UK those people who break the rules.

"We are also naming and shaming businesses which employ illegal workers and are beginning to see success brought about by our new regional focus. Dishonest employers will have nowhere to hide."

Jane Farleigh was speaking as a meeting was held in Taunton on Tuesday between the Agency and partner organisations including police forces, asylum and refugee voluntary groups, housing providers, charities and local authorities. The event, at Taunton racecourse, has been held for the Agency to explain new initiatives in asylum and immigration policy and for senior managers to listen to views and concerns.

Jane Farleigh said: "This is an opportunity for us to listen to our partner organisations and hear what they think about our new approach to running asylum and immigration services in the South West.

"Setting up the Wales and South West region is about bringing these services closer to the communities we serve and we want to hear about what we are doing well and what more we can do to increase public confidence in the system.

"For example, I am keen to emphasise that we are now processing and deciding asylum claims far more quickly than in the past - allowing us to integrate those who need our protection or to remove promptly those who have no right to be here."

Jane Farleigh, who previously headed the Independent Police Complaints Commission in Wales and the South West, is responsible for managing immigration across Wales and seven English counties. She added: "Regionalisation is a key part of what the Border and Immigration Agency is doing. We will be much closer to communities to find out about the issues on the ground and to understand the impact of migration on local people.

"Being decentralised will help us better understand what people's priorities are and how best to deliver local services.

"Regionalisation also helps us to develop better relationships with partner organisations such as police forces, the Identity and Passport Service and HM Revenue and Customs which will allow us to deliver a better service."

Among the policies being implemented by the Agency is a new Australian-style points-based system for managing migration, which will ensure that employers take responsibility for their workers' compliance with immigration rules and that the region gets the workers with the skills it needs.

Jane Farleigh said: "We are working to introduce by early 2008 a new points-based system for foreign nationals who want to come to the UK to work.

"Our teams are already visiting hundreds of employers to explain these changes and we have already received positive feedback from many local businesses over the support we have offered them."