Home Office publishes 13 reports left over by sacked borders watchdog

During his tenure, David Neal had repeatedly raised concerns that the department was too slow to publish his findings.
David Neal was sacked earlier this month (House of Commons/UK Parliament/PA)
PA Wire
Luke O'Reilly29 February 2024
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The Home Office has published 13 of the 15 outstanding reports submitted by sacked borders and immigration watchdog David Neal.

During his tenure, Mr Neal repeatedly raised concerns that the department was too slow to publish his reports.

Among the 13 published at 4pm on Thursday, subjects include: Asylum accommodation, Afghan resettlement scheme, asylum casework, Border Force practices, illegal working enforcement operations, and e-passport gates.

They were released by the Home Office on the same day as an inquiry on Sarah Everard’s murder and asylum statistics, however Downing Street downplayed suggestions this was deliberate.

A No 10 spokeswoman said: “We wanted to publish them as swiftly as possible following the necessary and appropriate due diligence.”

Two further reports – on airport security and visas – are due to be published at a later date.

Mr Neal was sacked as the independent chief inspector of borders and immigration earlier this month after losing the confidence of Home Secretary James Cleverly amid claims he breached the terms of his appointment.

The former inspector had become embroiled in a row with the Home Office about concerns he was raising over security checks at airports.

Earlier this week, Mr Neal told the Commons Home Affairs Committee he was sacked in a Microsoft Teams meeting held online.

“I’ve been sacked for doing my job,” he said.

“I think I’ve been sacked for doing what the law asks of me and I’ve breached, I’ve fallen down over a clause in my employment contract, which I think is a crying shame.”

His tenure as the independent borders watchdog was due to end on March 21 and he claimed Number 10 had blocked his reappointment before he was ultimately fired.

He told the committee: “I now know that the Home Office, so the ministers, supported my reappointment, my extension, my reappointment. And the Home Secretary supported my reappointment.

“That reappointment process was sent to the Cabinet Office and that was sent on to No 10 and it was turned down by No 10.

“I’ve no idea why it was turned down by No 10.”

During his tenure, Mr Neal had repeatedly raised concerns the Home Office was too slow to publish his reports and questioned why his three-year contract was not renewed for a second term, as was customary with his predecessors.

His exit came after the Daily Mail newspaper reported data provided to the independent chief inspector showed the UK Border Force failed to check the occupants of hundreds of high-risk, private jets arriving at London City Airport.

Mr Neal told the newspaper it was a “scandal and incredibly dangerous”, but ministers accused him of putting “misleading information into the public domain”, claiming a large proportion of flights initially categorised as high-risk should have been classed as low-risk.

Downing Street downplayed suggestions that the outstanding reports submitted by sacked borders and immigration watchdog were published on a busy day on the home affairs front in a bid to bury the news.

The reports by David Neal were released by the Home Office on the same day as an inquiry on Sarah Everard’s murder and asylum statistics.

Asked by reporters whether this was deliberate, a No 10 spokeswoman said: “We wanted to publish them as swiftly as possible following the necessary and appropriate due diligence.”

She said the Government “regularly” publishes reports and “we’ve been working to try and do that as swiftly as possible”.

Diana Johnson, chairwoman of the Commons Home Affairs Committee, said: “Not only have all these reports been published in one go, but there is no ICIBI (Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration) in post to provide a press release or a commentary on the contents of these reports.

“This is wholly inadequate and raises serious questions about what the Home Office has been doing all this time.”