Immigration service under fire over computer chaos

THE IMMIGRATION service was reprimanded by the Government's spending watchdog yesterday over a computer system which has sunk the department into chaos.

A "too ambitious" pounds 77m private contract to install the system at the Immigration and Nationality Directorate (IND) has led to months of delays for thousands of applicants, including international business people, foreigners living in the UK and individuals requiring work permits.

The National Audit Office (NAO) said in a report that government departments should carefully consider whether such computer projects were achievable. The immigration department's computer project is already lagging 14 months behind schedule and is unlikely to be fully operational until next year.

The delay, which has been exacerbated by the problems of relocating the IND's offices in Croydon, has infuriated the Home Secretary, Jack Straw, who told MPs this week that he "deeply regretted" the deterioration in the immigration service. Mr Straw, who visited the IND yesterday, has told the private contractor, Siemens Business Services, to draw up a plan to deal with the delays.

The aim of the Siemens project, which was agreed in 1996, was to switch from a paper-based to a computer-based system to speed up decisions onimmigration and asylum cases.

The IND employs 1,400 and spends pounds 67m a year dealing with 400,000 cases.

The problems come as the Immigration and Asylum Bill is going through Parliament, with proposals for the biggest shake-up in the immigration system for decades, involving an overhaul in the organisation and working methods of the IND.

However, if the information-technology project is successful, it will bring substantial savings, the report said.