Transparency data

6 September 2022: Digital Services at the Border (DSAB) accounting officer assessment

Updated 6 December 2024

Introduction

Digital Services at the Border (DSAB) is a major programme within the Home Office Portfolio and part of the Government Major Project portfolio (GMPP). It is critical to delivering new functionality required to transform the way the Home Office secures and manages the flow of people and goods across the United Kingdom border. The programme addresses the known obsolescence issues in the Semaphore system and replaces the existing Warnings Index, both of which are classified as Critical National Infrastructure, in order to meet the requirements for the Future Border and Immigration System and enable the transition to a single uniform immigration model with the UK having left the EU.

Objectives

There are three compelling reasons why DSAB is needed:

• DSAB delivers the transformational functionality for future improvements needed for the national security and protection of our country
• DSAB capability is a key enabler for the Future Borders and Immigration System (FBIS)
• DSAB replaces the Warnings Index (WI) and splits Semaphore into Semaphore (Core) and Advanced Passenger Messaging (APM) to facilitate improvements to business operations, plus replaces legacy technology.

Background and context

Border functions are currently supported by a network of systems across several agencies including the security and intelligence agencies, the police, Border Force and HMRC. There are two that are owned and operated by Border Force:

• The Warnings Index (WI), operational since 1994
• The Semaphore system, operational since 2005, electronically collects passenger and crew travel document information in advance of travel either into or out of the UK. Notwithstanding the recent downturn in travellers as a result of COVID19, Semaphore has been managing far greater volumes of data than initially envisaged and it was designed for. Since April 2015, Advanced Passenger Information (API) records processed per month have risen from just under 40 million to over 90 million at peak (over 50 per second). To keep pace with this increase, additional hardware and processing power has been added to the platform over the past two years.

These systems are inefficient, operate in a disaggregated way and have not kept pace with the potential opportunities that modern technologies offer, which would help improve the identification of threats to our borders and security.

The DSAB Programme was originally scheduled to run until March 2019, but the programme was not able to deliver all the change envisaged by the end of the initial business case period (March 2019) due to internal and external factors including:

• Re-classification of data from CONFIDENTIAL to OFFICIAL and SECRET;
• The UK decision to leave the EU;
• Changes to the approach to the Home Office Common Data Platform; and,
• Adjustment to the strategic approach to targeting and intelligence, which required a move away from the original approach of storing goods and passenger data in separate silo, to a more sophisticated and integrated storage approach.

These factors added to in-programme pressures of the scale of delivery scope and dependent projects and lack of programme leadership stability and continuity. These factors together then resulted in the need to extend the contracts supporting the WI and Semaphore applications to April 2022.

In 2019-20 the programme undertook a major reset, which included a full business-led review of scope, extensive re-planning and review of the delivery approach. This culminated in a new business case that was approved by the Home Office Portfolio Investment Committee (PIC) in March 2020, and subsequently by HM Treasury, when the initial Accounting Officer assessment letter was submitted to the Comptroller and Auditor General in November 2020.

Since the reset, DSAB has been in a stronger position to deliver based on factors including:

• Strengthened governance and alignment across the Migration and Borders Transformation Portfolio (MBTP), Border Force and DDaT (Digital, Data and Technology);
• Clarity of scope;
• Established delivery capabilities and relationships; and,
• A proven approach to customer engagement and national rollout planning.

Nevertheless, delivery has extended beyond April 2022 due to factors including:

• Greater than anticipated complexity in the solution;
• The need to deliver Passenger Locator Forms as part of the COVID health measures at the border;
• Difficulties retaining skilled resources when the private sector is more lucrative; and
• Initial disruption to development due to COVID.

The reasons for the extended delivery have been fully declared with letters being submitted to both Public Accounts Committee (PAC) and the NAO.

Assessment against the Accounting Officer Standards

Regularity

The DSAB Programme is assessed as regular as the programme does not change the collection or use of data or Border processes. The collection and use of data held by the capability DSAB is delivering, processes that the capability is to support, and the purposes those processes deliver are based on powers that flow from the 1971 Immigration Act.

The main changes to reintroduce the controls on EEA citizens were achieved as part of the Immigration and Social Security Co-ordination (EU Withdrawal) Act 2020.

I consider the programme to conform to the Regularity Accounting Officer standards.

Propriety

The focus of the DSAB programme is to support improvements to Border Force Operations, and to enable a number of other programmes and operational teams to improve services at the Border. By doing so, the programme delivers changes that are likely to be welcomed by the public and businesses.

DSAB does not introduce any new regulation or requirements for businesses and or members of the public, and therefore does not present any potential discrimination or other conflicts with equality duties. The outcomes of DSAB include improved border security, public protection from terrorism, and sharing of information with trusted partners. These outcomes will improve the experience of travelers through and into the ports of the UK.

DSAB continues to deliver within the limits of the authority delegated to the SRO. The project’s funding was allocated as part of the Spending Review (SR) process and the project is being delivered within the allocated funding agreed with HM Treasury.

As a Government Major Projects Portfolio (GMPP) project, DSAB is subject to high standards of internal and external governance and assurance. The project’s business case was submitted annually to the Executive Committee’s Finance and Investment Committee, who act on behalf of the Accounting Officer to maintain Accounting Officer Standards in the delivery of the Home Office project portfolio. The project reports in to the GMPP with quarterly submissions. The project is subject to regular assurance by the Infrastructure and Projects Authority and also received oversight from the Government Internal Audit Agency (GIAA) up to 2021.

The administration of the DSAB programme has included oversight on the appropriate use of data with ongoing monitoring and audit to detect and prevent improper system use and links in with cyber security due to the criticality of the system being replaced. The programme is working to ensure that the use of the data is appropriately even handed and not prejudice to any protected groups, as is the collection of that data.

The delivery of the DSAB programme is similarly compliant and risks to it not completing within the 2022-23 financial year are deemed relatively low and acceptable. The estimated whole life cost of £1.01bn remains as quoted in the NAO December 2020 report on DSAB. In summary, the programme’s scope and execution as well as the operational service are consistent with the Civil Service and Ministerial Code.

I consider the programme to conform to the Propriety Accounting Officer standards.

Value for Money

The investment in the DSAB programme generates benefits in four categories:

• Security: DSAB is delivering significant improvements to UK security resulting in reduced risk of a terrorist entering the UK and increased ability to track known criminals.
• Enablement: DSAB has developed integration points that present information in a manner that supports effective decision making at Border entry points as well as on digital products ahead of people seeking to cross the Border. DSAB also provides functionality that will be built upon by other programmes, which will deliver further benefits once those programmes are delivered. These benefits are to teams within the Home Office, but also to teams within:
  • The Police
  • Security services
  • HM Revenue and Customs and
  • Department for Work and Pensions.

• Efficiency: Improved watchlist management tools will reduce the time required to manage the watchlist, allowing for the redeployment of staff, and generating monetised benefits over the ten financial years to FY29/30. Monetised cash releasing efficiency benefits amounts to £14.7m over the 10-year period of analysis.

• Experience: We have evidence from staff that the new Border Crossing system at the border is a material improvement over the WI application previously used at the Primary Control Point (PCP) and on eGates. Further improvements to user and customer experience are expected.

Whilst the broad benefits for this programme are significant, security benefits are among the most important drivers for the DSAB programme and include amongst others a reduced likelihood of terrorists and other criminals entering the UK and an improved ability to investigate criminal activity. DSAB has a negative NPV (-£37.2m) due to the qualitative nature of these benefits.

One of the key non-monetised benefits is reducing the risk of a terrorist attack and research by RAND Europe has shown that between 2004 and2016 the estimated twelve- year loss to the UK in GDP arising from terrorism was £38.3bn^{[footnote 1]}. While it cannot be concluded that any of these incidents would have been prevented by the improvements delivered by this programme, the increased capability at the border to improve the chances of crime prevention compared to the cost of this programme indicates the potential value of this investment.

Taking account of the points above, overall, I consider the DSAB programme is a sound use of public funds that will deliver a significant level of benefits for the public sector and the UK economy and will conform to the Value for Money Accounting Officer standards.

Feasibility

Although completion of the programme is taking longer than anticipated, delivery is now in the closing stages and DSAB is expected to enter its closure stage in early 2023. The delivery of DSAB is delayed due to technical complexities identified during the discovery stages and the lessons learned from testing of the first strategic data centre, feeding into the testing requirements for the second strategic data centre, to ensure significantly greater resilience for the new system and to ensure the new system will not be reliant upon the Warning Index (WI) as a fallback service.

DSAB had its last independent IPA assurance review in May 2022. This confirmed, via its ‘Amber’ delivery confidence assessment, that successful delivery is feasible, albeit not without issues to be resolved to secure final delivery.

I consider the programme to conform to the Feasibility Accounting Officer standards.

Conclusion

The DSAB programme conforms to the four Accounting Officer standards of regularity, propriety, value for money and feasibility. Therefore, I consider the programme to be proper. As the Accounting Officer for Borders and Enforcement led investments within the Home Office, I have considered and approved this assessment of the DSAB programme.

Patricia Hayes CB

Second Permanent Secretary for the Home Office

6 September 2022

1. Converted from euros value published 20th January 2020 ↩