Wednesday, December 09, 2020
Another Brexit failure: Another cost to the taxpayer
At the moment there is a continuing flood of Brexit stories underlining the failure of the UK Government to appreciate the enormity of the task they have taken on, or the complete failure to deliver on ridiculous promises made during the referendum and afterwards, that were always rather far-fetched anyway. The latest, and one yet to appear on the side of a bus, is the judgement by the National Audit Office that the Home Office’s failure to deliver a new digital border system to monitor the movement of people and goods into and out of the UK will cost the taxpayer an additional £173m.
Apparently, border force staff will instead have to rely upon 26-year-old technology to decide who is allowed into the UK until the scheduled delivery of the Digital Services at the Border [DSAB] programme in 2022. The Guardian says the extra cost has been disclosed in a report released today, which catalogues the Home Office’s repeated delays over 17 years as officials tried to digitise the management of entry to the UK via ports and airports:
It has been released amid deepening scrutiny of the UK’s borders, with Border Force officers braced for problems at UK ports on 1 January. With a month to go until the end of the post-Brexit transition period, there is still no clarity about exactly how they will operate when it comes to trade with the European Union.
Meg Hillier, the chair of the public accounts committee, said the Home Office had “utterly failed” to learn from the mistakes with past failed attempts to update systems.
“The Home Office once again lost sight of the programme’s core purpose, trying to add more and more features like baubles on a Christmas tree.
“The department plunged ahead without a delivery plan and didn’t address risks. Failure was inevitable,” she said.
A plan to digitise the UK’s borders was first launched in 2003 and was originally due for completion in 2011, at a cost of £600m. It was supposed to help staff manage the watchlist of suspected criminals, search facilities and “identify and assess threats”.
After repeated problems and delays, the Home Office launched its DSAB programme in 2014, which would allow border force staff to make decisions about people crossing the border and to track goods entering and exiting the UK.
Auditors found the Home Office “did not deliver improved digital border systems to its planned timetable of March 2019” which has “increased costs by £173m and means it continues to rely on legacy technology”.
The report also reveals that the Home Office plans to remove all data from Schengen Information System II (SIS II), the EU’s police and security database, on 31 December.
“While it plans to mitigate the loss of access to SIS II, the implications of replacing this key data source for the programme’s stakeholders are yet to be worked through,” it said.
As Yvette Cooper, the chair of the home affairs select committee says, such a decision would leave the UK open to people who may be a security threat:
“This decision has serious implications for border checks as it means that Border Force will overnight on 31 December cease to have access to any of the 40,000 alerts from SIS II on dangerous wanted criminals across Europe,” she said.
Auditors said the rollout of the new digital system has been pushed back to the end of March 2022 and cannot be guaranteed to be on time or within budget.
Without it, Border Force staff will rely upon a 26-year-old system to check whether suspects and persons of interest are trying to enter the country, while another system which analyses passenger data is 16 years old, auditors said.
If it wasn't for Covid then this would be far bigger news than it currently is. We shall have to see what transpires next month when we officially enter the post-Brexit chaos.
Apparently, border force staff will instead have to rely upon 26-year-old technology to decide who is allowed into the UK until the scheduled delivery of the Digital Services at the Border [DSAB] programme in 2022. The Guardian says the extra cost has been disclosed in a report released today, which catalogues the Home Office’s repeated delays over 17 years as officials tried to digitise the management of entry to the UK via ports and airports:
It has been released amid deepening scrutiny of the UK’s borders, with Border Force officers braced for problems at UK ports on 1 January. With a month to go until the end of the post-Brexit transition period, there is still no clarity about exactly how they will operate when it comes to trade with the European Union.
Meg Hillier, the chair of the public accounts committee, said the Home Office had “utterly failed” to learn from the mistakes with past failed attempts to update systems.
“The Home Office once again lost sight of the programme’s core purpose, trying to add more and more features like baubles on a Christmas tree.
“The department plunged ahead without a delivery plan and didn’t address risks. Failure was inevitable,” she said.
A plan to digitise the UK’s borders was first launched in 2003 and was originally due for completion in 2011, at a cost of £600m. It was supposed to help staff manage the watchlist of suspected criminals, search facilities and “identify and assess threats”.
After repeated problems and delays, the Home Office launched its DSAB programme in 2014, which would allow border force staff to make decisions about people crossing the border and to track goods entering and exiting the UK.
Auditors found the Home Office “did not deliver improved digital border systems to its planned timetable of March 2019” which has “increased costs by £173m and means it continues to rely on legacy technology”.
The report also reveals that the Home Office plans to remove all data from Schengen Information System II (SIS II), the EU’s police and security database, on 31 December.
“While it plans to mitigate the loss of access to SIS II, the implications of replacing this key data source for the programme’s stakeholders are yet to be worked through,” it said.
As Yvette Cooper, the chair of the home affairs select committee says, such a decision would leave the UK open to people who may be a security threat:
“This decision has serious implications for border checks as it means that Border Force will overnight on 31 December cease to have access to any of the 40,000 alerts from SIS II on dangerous wanted criminals across Europe,” she said.
Auditors said the rollout of the new digital system has been pushed back to the end of March 2022 and cannot be guaranteed to be on time or within budget.
Without it, Border Force staff will rely upon a 26-year-old system to check whether suspects and persons of interest are trying to enter the country, while another system which analyses passenger data is 16 years old, auditors said.
If it wasn't for Covid then this would be far bigger news than it currently is. We shall have to see what transpires next month when we officially enter the post-Brexit chaos.
