CW UK: MPs slam UK border technology

Andrew Watson · **Posted:** Wed, 11 Apr 2012 08:32:22 +0000

http://www.computerworlduk.com/news/pub ... echnology/

MPs slam UK border technology
Serious questions over e-Borders timescales

By Antony Savvas | Computerworld UK | Published 07:30, 11 April 12

MPs have slammed the level of progress made by the UK Border Agency in using technology to control entry to the UK.

The parliamentary Home Affairs Committee has criticised the cost of deploying IRIS Scanners at border checkpoints, which are now being axed. The £9.1 million cost of the Iris Scanners, which are being closed down only five years after their introduction, "should not be repeated", it says.

It warns the same mistakes must not happen with e-Gates - where UK passport holders can self-scan their passports to clear immigration queues.

"The committee recommends the Agency publish data collected on e-Gates trials to ensure it does not suffer the same costly investment in equipment which will not last," warns the report.

Meanwhile, the government has said its e-Borders programme will be able to pre-check every non-European Economic Area (EEA) airline visitor to the UK from this month, with sea and rail visitors added later. Immigration minister Damian Green made the pledge as he explained in a speech last month how the new Border Force will operate following its separation from the UK Border Agency.

The Home Affairs Committee report published today said it was "uncertain" over the feasibility of the government's e-Borders timetable. It said it "found it difficult" to see how the scheme can be fully applied to all rail and sea passengers by the set date of December 2014.

...

Andrew Watson · **Posted:** Wed, 11 Apr 2012 09:02:45 +0000

Report here: http://www.publications.parliament.uk/p ... 2/1722.pdf

The section on e-Gates concludes:

HAC wrote:

64. £9 million has been spent on an iris recognition system which has lasted only six years and its sole value appears to have been that it provided data for the e-Gates. This money could have been better spent on border staff—at least 60 immigration officers could have been employed with the money spent on IRIS. The Committee recommends that, in order to avoid another costly investment in equipment which will not last, the “Agency” publish the data it has collected on the e-Gates trials which it is currently running. The Committee would also like the “Agency” to inform the Committee as to what it intends to do with the data collected by the IRIS programme and whether the retinal [sic] scans will be destroyed following the mothballing of the scanners at Heathrow and Gatwick.

NO2ID

CW UK: MPs slam UK border technology

Who is online