The UK’s sacked chief borders inspector has said the Home Office occasionally used fact-checking procedures to try to “cover-up” criticisms in his inspection reports.
David Neal lost his position as the chief inspector of borders and immigration recently for disclosing details about perceived security lapses at London City Airport. He also faulted the department for withholding about 15 of his inspection reports during his tenure.
On Wednesday, March 27 Neal accused civil servants of attempting to censor his reports using the factual accuracy process.
He said that every time he submitted evidence to the Home Office, civil servants would strongly resist and attempt to manipulate his statements, attempting to package his words more favorably for them, effectively concealing what occurred. Neal mentioned that his reports would have contained fewer significant problems if his team had embraced the proposed revisions.
“If we listened to every single case that the civil servants put forward, we’d have failed to expose the small boats security issues at the Channel, we’d have failed to expose what was going on at [the asylum processing centre] Manston. So actually, it’s really important in my book that the independent chief inspector can communicate directly with ministers without it being polished by the civil service.”
David Neal
Neal was speaking about his report on security issues at London City airport, which found that “high-risk” private jets were not being checked as they arrived in the country.
In the absence of a permanent chief inspector, he emphasized the lack of oversight to detect similar problems at other airports.
“If I was still in post, or if my successor had been appointed, then I would have expected to commence an inspection much more broadly into general aviation because clearly there are problems here. We’d want to do something right across the country, I suspect, but there is no chief inspector in post, there is no one that can independently do this now.”
David Neal
Home Office Challenges Neal’s Data Accuracy
But the Home Office says the data used in the airport inspection was wrong. The Border Force director general, Phil Douglas, stated “As I previously explained to Mr Neal, some of the information in this report is factually inaccurate. Border security checks were carried out on all general aviation arrivals at London City airport.”
Neal said his team had seen “really bad data” all the time from the Home Office “and if this is another example of bad data, then I’m not entirely sure how they’re supposed to protect the border”.
Following Neal’s criticisms last month, the Home Office rushed out 13 of his inspectorate’s reports in one day. An investigation was initiated by the department after employees engaged unaccompanied asylum-seeking children in a game where they had to predict who would be the next to enter foster care, as reported by one of the employees.
Neal said he wondered if the Home Office would have trouble finding someone to replace him. “It’s been a real struggle to get the message across to ministers. So then why would someone want to put themselves at risk either to become some form of patsy for the Home Office, or end up being sacked for doing what they think is right?”
However, Douglas said the Border Force will never compromise on border security and would carry out robust security checks on those arriving into the UK, including both scheduled and notified general aviation flights.
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