Question

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many detector dogs Border Force had in each (a) airport, (b) port and (c) train terminal in each year since 2010.

Answer (Brandon Lewis)

Border Force works at the Border with a range of law enforcement partners including the police and the Ministry of Defence, including the use of detector dogs.

Border Force detector dogs are a national resource and the current number available for deployment nationally to detect illegal goods and clandestines is 108.

65 of these dogs are wholly owned by Border Force and 43 are provided by a UK based contractor.

Since 2010, the numbers have been (Border Force owned dogs only):

2010: 75

2011: 73

2012: 70

2013: 69

2014: 70

2015: 64

2016: 67