Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent estimate she has made of the number of migrants who (a) entered the UK at Dover (b) were stopped and returned to France immediately and (c) have been deported following a review of their status.

The Home Office do not routinely publish this level of data on clandestines, as this could compromise immigration controls and impact on national security.

The Home Office works closely with partners in the UK and overseas to strike people smuggling at source – identifying and dismantling the organised crime groups that facilitate illegal immigration. Additionally, the UK works abroad to reduce factors that may push or force people to attempt such journeys - through creating jobs, tackling modern slavery, providing education and delivering life-saving humanitarian assistance in response to conflicts and natural disasters.

We will continue to work closely with our French counterparts to maintain border security and keep legitimate passengers and trade moving.

At juxtaposed controls and ports around the country, Border Force officers use some of the most advanced detection technology available to find and stop migrants attempting to reach the UK illegally.

The Home Office publishes data on the number of returns from the UK in the ‘Immigration Statistics Quarterly Release’. Data on the number of Returns are published in table Ret_D01 of the Returns detailed datasets.

Please note that only some of those returned will have previously entered the UK illegally; others may have entered legally, for example those who enter on a visa and overstay their period of valid leave and are therefore not separately identifiable in the data.