Dear J Cassidy,

Thank you for your request dated 01/04/09. This falls to be dealt with under the Freedom of Information Act 2000. I have listed your questions below for reference.

What levels of Security Clearance (SC) / Counter Terrorism Checks (CTC)/ and or Developed Vetting (DV) is required for prospective co-located staff, (Joint working between Local authorities and the Home Office/UKBA) such as Social Workers, when they are required by employers or sub-contracted by recruitment businesses (locum agency temp social-workers placed in local authorities)to undertake statutory social work at Government Sites/Facilities, such as Asylum Screeening Units (ASU) , Ports of Entry (POE) and immigration Removal Centres (IRC)? [1]

1)Please also provide copies of the relevant Security Clearance/Counter Terrorism Checks/Developed Vetting forms required by such social work applicants.

and

2)Which level of clearance is required by such social workers to work at ASU's. Is it at SC, CTC, or DV level or a combination of one or more?

3)Which level of clearance is required by such social workers to work at POE. Is it at SC, CTC, or DV level or a combination of one or more?

4)Which level of clearance is required by such social workers to work at IRC's. Is it at SC, CTC, or DV level or a combination of one or more?

5)Please confirm that co-located social workers are also issued with ID cards that confirm that they can work within the aforementioned Government Sites/Facilities and that these ID cards are only issued if the social worker has been given SC, CTC, or DV approval?

6)If SC, CTC or DV clearance does not apply in these situations please advise what form of vetting is undertaken before social worker are issued with said ID.

6.1 Please provide a copy of the vetting forms social workers have to complete before being allowed to work on a co-located basis at ASU's , POE & IRC's.

7)Please provide copies of internal guidance you have which covers all of these vetting processes, including what happens should a social worker fail any vetting procedure to work on a co-located basis at ASU's , POE & IRC's and whether they can appeal against such and whether and how their employers or sub-contractors are informed they have failed.

8)In this context please advise on which agency or organisation conducts these vetting processes and procedures, who can revoke vetting clearance.

9) What processes and procedures are used for social workers who are have newly arrived in the UK, as migrant workers and whether different vetting applies to such migrants who are nationals of:

9.1 EU countries

9.2 Non EU countries

Social Workers applying to work within Government sites would be classified as Contracted employees and as such would be required to hold BS clearance (Baseline Standard of security clearance) prior to being allowed access to the UKBA estate.

Once security clearance has been granted, all staff are issued with a photo-pass that affords them access to the UKBA Estate for the purpose of their official business.

Employees are not issued with ID cards, but are issued with a building access pass.

All persons issued with a building access pass, which includes permanent, agency or contractors, are subject to integrity, financial and police checks as part of the vetting process. Should an employee require a higher level of security clearance they would be subject to further checks dependant on the level of clearance required.

With regards to immigration checks, all employees are subject to the following requirements:

If an employee is from an EU country they must provide a full copy of their passport or ID card as evidence of this. Permanent employees must have been resident in the UK for a period of 3 years.

If an employee is from an A8 EU country they must have been registered under the Worker Registration Scheme for 12 months prior being able to apply for employment with the Home Office. A full copy of their passport is required as evidence of ID.

If an employee is from a Non-EU country they must be permanently settled in the UK (if from a Commonwealth country) and British Naturalised in the UK (if from a Non-Commonwealth country). A full copy of the passport showing this is required.

Security vetting is carried out by the Home Office Departmental Security Unit, and they have responsibility granting access to the UKBA estate

Attached is copy of the security questionnaire form

If you are dissatisfied with this response, you may request an independent internal review of our handling of your request.  Internal review requests should be submitted within two months of UKBA sending a substantive reply to your original request and should be addressed  to:

UK Border Agency
Central Freedom of Information Team
11th Floor
Lunar House, Short Corridor
40 Wellesley Road
Croydon
CR9 2BY

During the independent review the department's handling of your information request will be reassessed by staff who were not involved in providing you with this response. Should you remain dissatisfied after this internal review, you will have a right of complaint to the Information Commissioner as established by section 50 of the Freedom of Information Act.

Yours sincerely,

Mr Feakins,

Freedom of Information Team,

Resource Management Group