Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps he is taking to improve the performance of Border Force at UK Airports in clearing (a) EEA and (b) non-EEA passengers through immigration controls.

Border Force has taken a number of steps to help make the customer journey as smooth as possible while continuing to protect and secure the border. This includes additional proactive planning alongside the airport operators and airlines, and new passenger-facing communications tools that are designed to promote faster ways to travel.

Border Force is maximising staff available at the busiest times of day, increasing the number of border officers on e-gates, and deploying 220 additional staff over summer, mostly at Heathrow. Earlier this year, Border Force launched a nationwide campaign to recruit up to 1,000 Border Force officers.