12. If he will make a statement on progress with his Department’s review of the handling of asylum and immigration applications by staff at the immigration and nationality directorate. (85256)

The review of the immigration and nationality directorate is looking at how we can improve IND’s performance as an organisation overall. The report will be published before the parliamentary recess.

In the light of the so-called sex-for-visas scandal that was exposed by The Observer not long ago, does the Minister agree that it takes enormous courage for victims to expose such wrongdoing; and will he tell the House what actions have been taken against the officials concerned?

The precise investigation to which the hon. Gentleman alludes is still ongoing and so I will not comment in detail on it now. He is right to make a broader point. We understand that IND staff are at risk of corruption, because individuals who do not qualify to remain in the UK may seek to do so fraudulently, and it does indeed require some courage for people such as the individual in question to raise the alarm, but that is exactly why we take the issue of counter-fraud so seriously and why we will continue to bear down on any allegations that we receive.

Some 10 weeks ago the private sector provider of the immigration handling facility at Heathrow airport offered me and two Front-Bench colleagues, my hon. Friends the Members for Sheffield, Hallam (Mr. Clegg) and for Hornsey and Wood Green (Lynne Featherstone), an opportunity to visit their facilities at first hand. Since that time and after tortuous communication with Group 4 Securicor, the IND and the Minister’s office, we are no nearer to finalising that visit. Since the Home Office and its various branches appear to find it so difficult to arrange such a simple visit, can the Minister really be surprised that it is struggling so badly to do the really complicated things, such as protecting our borders and dealing effectively with immigration?

The hon. Gentleman’s information is different from mine. I had understood that that visit had been given not just a green light, but a glowing welcome. If that has not been extended so far, I will personally ensure that it is done when I get back this afternoon.