Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment the UK has made on the effectiveness of the EU's Operation Sophia in deterring illegal migrants who seek entry into the UK.

Operation SOPHIA is just one part of the EU’s overall approach to tackling the migration crisis of 2015 onwards. It aims to break the smugglers’ business model in North Africa, alongside other interventions in the EU’s comprehensive approach to reducing migration flows, which also includes work in countries of origin and transit to reduce the need of migrants to leave their home country or move on from a safe third country in their region.

The Operation means that smuggling networks can no longer operate with impunity in Central Mediterranean international waters and it has put over 551 smuggling vessels beyond use and rescued over 44,000 migrants.

Operation Sophia is considered to have contributed to a reduction in the volume of migrants crossing the Central Mediterranean into Italy, and complements other EU work to reduce secondary movements across Europe, including towards France and the Channel ports. However, it is not possible to make a direct correlation between Operation Sophia and arrivals on the English coast