Asked by: Lord Soames of Fletching (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent assessment she has made of the adequacy of levels of Border Control officers at Heathrow Airport; and what steps she is taking to increase those levels.
Answered by Robert Goodwill
Border controls at Heathrow are among the most stringent in the world. Border Force employs a rigorous and effective control regime at the UK’s borders, predicated on a policy of carrying out full checks of all arriving passengers and an intelligence-led approach to searching for contraband goods that ensures resources are used as effectively as possible. Border Force Heathrow has transformed its working practices, command and control and leadership in order to keep the UK safe.
We have also invested in new technology to enhance security and improve the service delivered to legitimate passengers and deliver efficiencies. 55 ePassport Gates are operational across Heathrow terminals. A total of 8.8 million passengers used the ePassport gates at Heathrow in the past year (to end of October 2016), which represents 64.3% of eligible passengers. This is a 27% increase from the same period ending October 2015.
Asked by: Lord Soames of Fletching (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the current (a) manpower establishment and (b) deployment is of the UK Border Force.
Answered by James Brokenshire
As of April 2016 there were 7,651.34 full time equivalent staff working for Border Force.
Deployments are made across a wide range of activities based on levels of demand and intelligence. Border Force do not release numbers deployed to specific ports on the grounds of national security.
Asked by: Lord Soames of Fletching (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what progress her Department has made on the emergency services mobile communications programme.
Answered by Mike Penning
The purpose of the Emergency Services Mobile Communications Programme (ESMCP) is to deliver a mobile communications network for use principally by the Emergency Services - the Emergency Services Network (ESN). The ESN will deliver integrated critical voice and broadband data services to all three emergency services (3ES) and other users throughout England, Wales and Scotland. The aim is to provide a mobile communications network capable of providing the full coverage, resilience, security and public safety functionality required by the 3ES.
The procurement of the ESN is divided in 3 main procurement lots supplemented by a number of related projects. The contract for Lot 1 - Delivery Partner was awarded to Kellogg Brown and Root in August 2015 . The Home Office announced it’s intention to award contracts to Motorola - Lot 2 User Services and EE Lot 3 Mobile Services on 13th November 2015. The procurement process was halted following a legal challenge by Airwave Solutions Limited, the incumbent supplier, on 23 November 2015, the last day of the 10 day standstill period. The Home Office submitted an application to lift the automatic suspension of the procurement and had been working with Counsel preparing for a hearing in the High Court on 8th and 9th Dec.
On Saturday 5th December, the Home Office was informed that ASL would no longer contest the Home Office application to lift the suspension and that subject to the consent order being agreed by the Court today, the Home Office will seek to sign contracts with Motorola and EE on 8th December. This will then start the Mobilisation phase of the programme during which the network will be designed, built and tested over a 21 month period. The 3ES will start to use the network from late 2017 following extensive tests and trials.
Asked by: Lord Soames of Fletching (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will place in the Library a copy of the timetable for transition of the emergency services from Airwave to the emergency services network, for each (a) service and (b) region.
Answered by Mike Penning
The supporting transition plan attached is a provisional plan and, therefore, subject to change.
Note:
• This is for the 3 Emergency Services only and does not include British Transport Police (BTP), Civil Nuclear Constabulary (CNC), Ministry of Defence Police (MDP) and National Crime Agency (NCA)
• Dates are shown in months from Effective Date (ED)
• Kent Constabulary is shown in East of England transition group as per ESMCP Programme Board decision; Kent Fire and Rescue Service is still in South East