Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department has taken to protect Border Force officials from contracting covid-19 when dealing with illegal migrants crossing the English Channel to enter the UK.

We take the welfare of the domestic population, our staff and the welfare of the detainees in our care very seriously and we are taking the following further measures in respect to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Border Force and Immigration Enforcement Officers have been provided with facemasks, disposable gloves, eye protection and aprons. Additionally, other items to support frontline staff including hand sanitiser, wipes for equipment/vehicles and clinical waste sacks have been procured and distributed.

Staff use Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) when encountering symptomatic migrants, in line with PHE guidance. Specific guidance has been issued to staff about the processes for dealing with symptomatic clandestine arrivals during interviewing, fingerprinting and transport.