Borders are too busy to fingerprint, says Immigration Minister as he responds to criticism in damning report Mark Harper MP responding to damning report on border controls 'Officers could be using that time to carry out other tasks,' he said Home Office accused of 'cover up' after 15 passages of study redacted The minister in charge of immigration claimed yesterday that border officials are simply too busy to take the fingerprints of people who try to sneak into the UK illegally. Mark Harper was responding to one of the key criticisms in a damning report by chief inspector of borders and immigration John Vine. The Home Office was accused of an "immigration cover-up" after 15 passages in the study into border controls in Calais were blacked out for security reasons. Admission: Immigration minister Mark Harper said border staff are too busy to check fingerprints One of the sections which survived criticised border staff for failing to take fingerprints from all those caught trying to enter Britain from France. Speaking on the BBC Radio 4 Today programme, Mr Harper acknowledged it was useful to take fingerprints before people are handed over to the French authorities, but claimed officers have to strike a balance with carrying out other tasks. "It would be useful but equally it consumes a large amount of time for our officers to do that when they could be using that time to carry out other tasks to secure the border and it's a balance, and the decision that was taken in 2010 was to work very closely with our French colleagues for them to process people trying to enter the United Kingdom illegally," he said. But as I've said we've accepted that it would be appropriate to review our approach and that review will be completed by the end of the year. Critcisms: The chief inspector of borders and immigration John Vine wrote a damning report on Britain's border controls Responding to criticism over the redacted parts of the report, the minister said Home Secretary Theresa May uses her power to redact reports in the name of national security "sparingly." "I think if you look at the history of the reports that the chief inspector's produced I think it would be fair to say that a number of them have previously been very critical for example of the UK Border Agency, in some cases very critical," he said. In those cases the Home Secretary has not used her powers to redact any of those reports. A spokesman for MigrationWatch, a group that campaigns for more controls on immigration, said: "Security concerns may have led to some of the redactions in the report but it is difficult to see this as the reason for all of them. Transparency has to be the best policy, if only to show that the Home Office has nothing to hide. Report author Mr Vine criticised the fact that immigration officials were not fingerprinting people found trying to enter the UK illegally, while biometric data was being taken from legitimate passengers. "I was surprised to find it wasn't being done - it had ceased to happen at Calais from the beginning of 2010," he said. They have 100 per cent checking for legitimate passengers. It seems anomalous that people who are trying to enter the country illegally in this way, we have no record of their identity, nor do we take in their fingerprints. He refused to criticise Mrs May for redacting parts of his report. "The Home Secretary has power under the Borders Act section 50, subsection 3, to redact any part of my report on grounds of national security," he said. What I concentrate on doing is producing a thorough evidence-based report to her, and then she will take advice on matters such as this. It's entirely her prerogative to do that, and in this case she's chosen to exercise that prerogative.