Asked by: Stephen Crabb (Conservative - Preseli Pembrokeshire)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent discussions he has had with his (a) EU and (b) French counterparts on the implementation of the new EU entry/exit system.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
The Government is engaging both the European Commission and French Government through officials holding routine technical meetings to understand and influence the implementation plans of the new system. This includes working with port owners and operators to understand and support their plans to mitigate EES and ETIAS impacts at the border. HMG’s focus is on the juxtaposed locations of Dover, St Pancras and Eurotunnel as the EES processes there will take place before departure from the UK.
Asked by: Stephen Crabb (Conservative - Preseli Pembrokeshire)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent discussions he has had with representatives of (a) Eurostar, Port of Dover and (b) Eurotunnel on the implementation of the new EU entry/exit system.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
The Government is engaging both the European Commission and French Government through officials holding routine technical meetings to understand and influence the implementation plans of the new system. This includes working with port owners and operators to understand and support their plans to mitigate EES and ETIAS impacts at the border. HMG’s focus is on the juxtaposed locations of Dover, St Pancras and Eurotunnel, as the EES processes there will take place before departure from the UK.
Asked by: Stephen Crabb (Conservative - Preseli Pembrokeshire)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of the implementation of the new EU entry/exit system on vehicle processing times at the Eurotunnel terminal.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
The Government is engaging both the European Commission and French Government through officials holding routine technical meetings to understand and influence the implementation plans of the new system at Eurotunnel. This includes working with Eurotunnel to understand and support their plans to mitigate EES and ETIAS impacts there, as the EES processes there will take place before departure from the UK.
Asked by: Stephen Crabb (Conservative - Preseli Pembrokeshire)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of the implementation of the new EU entry/exit system on passenger processing times at St Pancras International station.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
The Government is engaging both the European Commission and French Government through officials holding routine technical meetings to understand and influence the implementation plans of the new system at St Pancras. This includes working with High Speed 1 and Eurostar to understand and support their plans to mitigate EES and ETIAS impacts there, as the EES processes there will take place before departure from the UK.
Asked by: Stephen Crabb (Conservative - Preseli Pembrokeshire)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of the implementation of the new EU entry/exit system on vehicle processing times at Dover ferry port.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
The Government is engaging both the European Commission and French Government through officials holding routine technical meetings to understand and influence the implementation plans of the new system at Dover. This includes working with the Port of Dover to understand and support their plans to mitigate EES and ETIAS impacts there, as the EES processes there will take place before departure from the UK.
Asked by: Stephen Crabb (Conservative - Preseli Pembrokeshire)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what progress she has made on implementing the Digital Services at the Border Programme.
Answered by Kevin Foster
The Digital Services at the Border (DSAB) programme continues to make good progress working diligently on replacing legacy IT systems whilst identifying and addressing technical complexities, at the same time as reacting to the changing priorities faced at the UK border, such as the automation of the Passenger Locator Form (PLF).
Asked by: Stephen Crabb (Conservative - Preseli Pembrokeshire)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what discussions she has had with her European counterparts on the potential merits of a short transition period from 1 October 2021 to allow for EU citizens to travel to the UK using a national ID card.
Answered by Kevin Foster
The UK has left the EU, ended free movement and is aligning the entry of EU and non-EU citizens. Citizens from outside the EU (and other EEA countries and Switzerland) cannot use national identity cards for travel to the UK and EEA national identity cards are, as a rule, less secure documents than national passports, hence they dominate the figures for document abuse detected at the border. Their continued use presents a risk to border security which we are no longer obliged to accept.
All visitors from outside the EU are expected to hold a passport (and visa where necessary) and those visiting from EU countries will be expected to do the same.
We have provided almost a year’s notice for this change to allow people to plan ahead and obtain a passport, if they need to, before they travel. Our assessment is therefore a short transition period from 1 October 2021 is not appropriate and, consequently, there have been no discussions on this point with EU Member States.
Asked by: Stephen Crabb (Conservative - Preseli Pembrokeshire)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of a short transition period from the 1 October 2021 deadline to allow for EU citizens to travel to the UK using a national ID card.
Answered by Kevin Foster
The UK has left the EU, ended free movement and is aligning the entry of EU and non-EU citizens. Citizens from outside the EU (and other EEA countries and Switzerland) cannot use national identity cards for travel to the UK and EEA national identity cards are, as a rule, less secure documents than national passports, hence they dominate the figures for document abuse detected at the border. Their continued use presents a risk to border security which we are no longer obliged to accept.
All visitors from outside the EU are expected to hold a passport (and visa where necessary) and those visiting from EU countries will be expected to do the same.
We have provided almost a year’s notice for this change to allow people to plan ahead and obtain a passport, if they need to, before they travel. Our assessment is therefore a short transition period from 1 October 2021 is not appropriate and, consequently, there have been no discussions on this point with EU Member States.
Asked by: Stephen Crabb (Conservative - Preseli Pembrokeshire)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent assessment she has made of the extent of the links between the political and military wings of Hamas; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by James Brokenshire
The Government does not routinely comment on intelligence matters.
Asked by: Stephen Crabb (Conservative - Preseli Pembrokeshire)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent assessment she has made of the UK’s designation of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
The Government does not routinely comment on intelligence matters, including whether an organisation is or is not under consideration for proscription.
The Government keeps the list of proscribed organisations under review