Fight to protect Britain's borders stymied by ineffective IT

Work of the UK Border Agency being hampered by fragmented data practices

A report into the effectiveness of the UK Border Agency has revealed that badly planned IT is hampering its efforts.

The report, 'Preventing and detecting immigration and customs offences' from the independent chief inspector of the UK Border Agency, warns that two disparate databases are used, and information is not shared between them.

It stated that some in the agency believe "...that there was a risk that information that could potentially be of value was not being shared effectively".

According to the report, some persons inside the agency suggested that intelligence relating to drug smuggling was likely to be recorded solely on the legacy customs system. However, organised criminals could also be involved in smuggling goods and human beings, meaning the intelligence would also be useful to those investigating immigration offences.

The way the systems are currently designed does not facilitate the sharing of intelligence in this way.

One insider is quoted as stating: "If you can't access the big picture in [one system], or the activity kept in [the other], how can you expect the UK Border Agency to take intelligence seriously?"

The report added that senior managers had said that the agency did not plan to introduce a single intelligence IT system as it would be too costly. However, the agency is working to improve the amount of information that could be seen by staff using either of the two systems.