UK Border Force is born ... and disappears! ##UPDATED##

 The Home Secretary Theresa May stated on the 20th Feb 2012 "I can therefore tell the House that from 1 March, the UK Border Force will be split from UKBA and will become a separate operational command, with its own ethos of law enforcement, led by its own Director General, and accountable directly to ministers."


Well today is the 1st March but there is no sign of this newly born UK Border Force. lt has no website, no contact details or anything. There is no reference to it at all on the UKBA website, neither in latest news or anywhere else. Nor is it listed or referred to on the Home Office website.


Enquiries to the Home Office were met with "Who are the UK Border Force?" and then they tried to give me another number to ring. l told them that the number they gave me was the UKBA number and was totally useless. lt was useless when you tried to contact the UKBA themselves so trying for the new UK Border Force would be pointless. They said that's the only number they had. They then asked where l had got information about a UK Border Force, so l told them "Your boss, the Home Secretary Theresa May". 


l then made enquiries to the press office and got same response. They said they'd get back to me :)


So, if you see the UK Border Force anywhere please let the Home Office know where they are. However they may have become a secret operational command and have no contact details at all. :)

UPDATE

Well it seems to exist but as to where it is or how to contact it remains a mystery. lt's name is simply Border Force and not UK Border Force according the statement of Therasa May today in the HOC ... she said :-

From today, the Border Force has been split from the UK Border Agency to become a separate operational command within the Home Office. We will finalise the detail of the operational and structural arrangements over the coming weeks, but I would like to inform the House of the high level arrangements that we have put in place.


Brian Moore, Chief Constable of Wiltshire police, has taken up post as the interim Head of the Border Force and with the agreement of HM Treasury I have designated him as the Director of Border Revenue under section 6 of the Borders, Citizenship and Immigration Act 2009. Rob Whiteman will remain Chief Executive of the UK Border Agency. The Border Force will be responsible for entry controls and customs functions at the border, including our juxtaposed controls in France and Belgium. The UK Border Agency will be responsible for immigration casework, in-country enforcement activity, the immigration detention estate and our overseas immigration operations.


All obligations, commitments and undertakings given by the UK Border Agency will continue to be honoured by the Border Force where they relate to operations at the border. Relevant agreements, guidance and documentation will be amended in due course but for the time being should be read, where appropriate, as applying to the Border Force as well as the UK Border Agency.


John Vine, the Independent Chief Inspector of the UK Border Agency, will be responsible for the inspection of both the UK Border Agency and the Border Force.