Customs checks ‘overlooked in bid to cut queues’

Customs checks aimed at thwarting drug and gun smuggling have been overlooked since border security staff came under pressure to cut passenger queues during the London 2012 Olympics, the public spending watchdog has warned.

Border Force officers told the National Audit Office (NAO) staff shortages and the need to juggle full passport checks with keeping queue times down has often stopped them from key duties such as checking for illegal goods.

Nearly 100 per cent of passengers at the border received full passport checks in 2012-13, the NAO said, while more than 99 per cent of European arrivals cleared controls within the 25 minute target time.

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But this success came at the expense of activities outside dealing with passengers, as the number of entry refusals at the border, forgery detections, and seizures of cigarettes and counterfeit goods all came in below targets.

Margaret Hodge MP, chair of the Committee of Public Accounts, said: “The Border Force did well to reduce queuing times both during and after the Olympics, but it is deeply worrying that this came at the expense of its other responsibilities, particularly customs.

“The Border Force must be able to check both goods and passengers at the same time – border security cannot be an either or choice.”

Border Force – formed in March last year as a law enforcement command within the Home Office – has officers at nearly 140 sea and air ports across the UK and overseas. With a budget of £604m this year, it must deal with an expected 10 per cent surge in the number of passengers arriving in the UK on flights between 2011 and 2017 – from 106 million to 117 million.

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Home Office internal auditors have confirmed the 2012 Olympics and wider resourcing issues have had an effect on the Border Force’s ability to support customs controls.

Elsewhere, the NAO said Border Force staff lack “organisational identity”. It is made up of officers who previously worked in separate customs and immigration agencies, who typically still identify themselves as “ex-customs” or “ex-immigration”, the spending watchdog said.