Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent discussions he has had with his French counterpart on plans that country has for a centralised biometric database when processing UK business travellers.

Policy on short stay visitors, such as business visitors, is an EU competence, rather than a Member State competence.

The Visa Information System (VIS) is the system that Schengen states use to exchange visa data for short-stay visas. This includes the capability to match biometric data.

The EU has proposed that UK nationals would be able to enter the EU visa-free for short periods after the country’s exit, provided EU nationals enjoy the same conditions when travelling to the UK. The Home Secretary has announced that EEA and Swiss nationals will be able to continue to travel to the UK for holidays or short-term trips without needing a UK visa.