Foreign Airport Workers' Criminal Records Checks
A flaw in government legislation means some foreign workers at UK airports do not undergo full criminal records checks, according to reports.
All staff working at airports in the UK are checked against criminal records databases, but the BBC's Newsnight programme claimed it has found a "serious loophole" in the system which means that the criminal records of employees from foreign countries are not checked.
The programme alleges that Criminal Records Checks carried out on airport workers only cover offences which have occured in the UK. The report said that airport staff from overseas are therefore potentially working at airports without having had checks completed to see if they have a criminal record.
The Criminal Records Checks on staff working airside at UK airports were made mandatory in 2003 after the government's promise to tighten airport security in the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. If the checks show convictions for a range of offences from criminal damage to murder or terrorism, the applicant is refused a pass to work airside.
UK Government Airport Security Review
The government moved to say there is no threat to airport security from foreign employees posed by the loophole. It said foreign workers are subject to intensive security measures.
Aviation Minister Jim Fitzpatrick conceded that criminal records checks were not carried out on foreign workers, but he stressed: "Anybody who is able to work in a restricted zone [airside] is screened in exactly the same thorough way as any member of the public who is travelling through our airports, and in that instance we are very confident and are safe in the knowledge that they do not pose a threat".
The Conservative's Shadow Home Secretary, David Davis, accused the government of being "reckless" with airport security. He said: "It's a disgrace. They should immediately carry out security checks on all people currently working airside".
He continued: "Anybody who fails should be removed and before anybody else is employed, those security checks should be completed. And they should do that irrespective of cost and as fast as can be done - otherwise it's worse than complacent; it's reckless."
A spokesman from the Department for Transport (DfT) said foreign workers airside were subject to "physical" security checks every day and a counter-terrorist check, "which is far more detailed than a criminal record check", in addition to undertaking a five-year background check. The spokesman added these measures are carried out on all airside workers, regardless of nationality.
The government added that a review into airport security, which is part of a wider investigation into the security of the UK's transport infrastructure being chaired by a former Home Office official Stephen Boys Smith, is due to report in the summer, and any recommendations regarding checks on foreign criminal records would be considered by the government.
Airport Workers' ID Cards
The DfT also said that security on airside would be improved by the arrival of new biometric ID cards which all UK airports will have to carry from 2009.
As previously reported by Airport International, the government announced in February that airport workers will be among the first to receive the mandatory cards. At the time the Home Secretary Jacqui Smith said "there is a compelling need for reassurance that someone is who say they say they are". The decision to target airport workers was apparently the result of the investigations being carried out by the Boys Smith airport security review.
The DfT said that the ID cards would bolster security at airports and allow airport workers to "to be linked more securely to their own true identity, helping protect against crime, illegal immigration and terrorism".
Source - Airport International's Aviation Correspondent
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