Government seeks e-Borders compensation

Responding to a question from Conservative MP Philip Davies on whether the Home Office was seeking compensation, minister Damian Green replied: "The Home Office is pursuing its remedies under the contract and the matter is now subject to a confidential arbitration under the jurisdiction of the London Court of International Arbitration." The court, a not-for-profit company that deals with cases from all over the world, describes itself as "one of the leading international institutions for commercial dispute resolution". It uses commercial arbitration practitioners from major trading countries and regions. The Trusted Borders consortium, led by Raytheon, was fired as the £650m supplier of e-Borders by the coalition government in July. Green, in a set of parliamentary written answers published on 21 December, also said that the Home Office believes that discussions with the European Commission on making e-Borders compatible with European rules on free movement and data protection are "close to being concluded". In December 2009, the commission raised major problems with the system, which aims to check those wishing to cross UK borders in advance of them travelling, by insisting that advance passenger information could only be sent to the UK for clearance with the permission of each European country's data protection authority. Green also said that the Home Office expects to agree contracts with one or more new suppliers for e-Borders and move existing services from Raytheon by April 2011, although no deals have yet been agreed. He added that a new budget for the project has been set through the spending review – but that "for commercial reasons, we are unable to disclose this figure".