Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment her Department has made of the effectiveness of Operation Gull in Northern Ireland in the last 15 years.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
To maintain the highest standards of accuracy, the Home Office prefers to refer to published data, as this has been subject to rigorous quality assurance under National Statistics protocols prior to publication. Information about the effectiveness of Operation Gull is not available in our published data
Our published national data on enforcement activity is available at the following link and includes data on detected irregular arrivals to the UK: Immigration system statistics, year ending September 2025 - GOV.UK
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many court cases there have been relating to not having a valid electronic travel authorisation.
Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The Home Office is yet to commence the legislative provision that will make it an offence to knowingly arrive in the UK without an Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA). Accordingly, there have been no cases in the courts brought on this basis. Further details of how the ETA requirement is being enforced will be published in due course.
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will hold discussions with her US counterpart on the potential merits of establishing pre-clearance facilities for US bound travellers at an airport in (a) England, (b) Scotland, (c) Wales and (d) Northern Ireland.
Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
A decision to explore the introduction of US pre-clearance at a UK airport is primarily a commercial decision for airport operators. An outline commercial agreement between an airport operator and US authorities would be required before any formal discussions between the UK and US governments could take place, however we stand ready to negotiate should this be forthcoming.
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will hold discussions with the Foreign Affairs Minister in the Irish Republic on joint action to tackle international drug trafficking into the UK via the Irish Republic.
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
The UK and Ireland have a strong relationship which includes joint action against criminals targeting both the UK and Ireland.
In addition to these operational relationships, there is an annual security dialogue between the UK and Ireland to discuss key shared security issues faced. This includes discussions on international serious & organised crime, with the last one taking place in November 2025.
In January 2026, the UK formally invited Ireland to join the North Sea Channel Maritime Information Group. This group facilitates the cooperation and exchanging of information about maritime border security topics, including information around the movement of drugs. Existing members include Belgium, France, Germany and the Netherlands.
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 5 November 2025 to Question 87001 on Female Genital Mutilation: Training, what information her Department holds on the reasons why people who had registered for the free e-learning module on Female Genital Mutilation had not attempted to participate in the module.
Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
We have issued a range of materials to support professionals to help them understand Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), spot the signs, and support victims and survivors. This includes making available free e-learning for all frontline staff for example in healthcare, police, Border Force and children’s social care.
As this is a free e-learning module and not mandatory, we do not hold information regarding the reasons for not attempting or completing the module.
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what action is being taken to help ensure that EES rollout does not result in delays and queues for UK passport holders at European airports.
Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The Home Office has engaged with the European Commission and Member States to understand plans for the implementation of the Entry/Exit System (EES), in order to support industry and the British travelling public through clear communications about these changes. Ultimately, these matters are the responsibility of the European Commission and Member States.
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she has had discussions with the Metropolitan Police on the case of Hasan Ali al-Taraki.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office does not comment on individual cases.
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the transparency data entitled Returns from the UK and illegal working activity from 5 July 2024 to 4 January 2025, published on 12 January 2026, how many of the enforced returns of people with no legal right to remain in the UK were located in Northern Ireland.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
Obtaining the specific information requested would involve collating and verifying information from multiple systems owned by multiple teams across the Home Office and, therefore, could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, since the introduction of the Foreign Influence Registration Scheme, how many breaches have been detected.
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
We will not be providing a running commentary of breaches of FIRS identified or numbers of registrations received. This is because doing so runs contrary to our policy on publication of information, which centres around an annual report as the key mechanism for providing transparency on the running of the scheme.
The annual report will set out, among other things, the number of registrations, the number of information notices issued, the number of persons charged with an offence and the number of persons convicted of an offence. The first report will be published as soon as practicable after 30 June 2026.
Where evidence of a criminal offence has been committed, including failure to register with FIRS, the Government will refer the matter to the police.
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, How many visitors to Northern Ireland whose primary residence falls outside the UK and the Republic of Ireland have been charged with offences between December 2024 and December 2025 relating to the non possession of an Electronic Travel Authorisation.
Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The Home Office is yet to commence the legislative provision that will make it an offence to knowingly arrive in the UK without an ETA. Accordingly, there have been no prosecutions brought on this basis. Further details of how the ETA requirement is being enforced will be published in due course.