Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the effect of the use of ePassport gates on queue waiting times at Heathrow Airport.

There are a total of 69 ePassport gates across the 4 Heathrow terminals:

Terminal 2 = 15

Terminal 3 = 15

Terminal 4 = 10

Terminal 5 = 24 in main arrivals hall and 5 in International/Domestic Transfer area

An average of 1 million passengers use the eGates every month, across Heathrow, which is 79.4% of the total number of passengers who are eligible. Whilst the number of eGates open is demand led, current performance addresses volume of passengers with very limited wait times.