Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of her migrant return agreement with the Albanian Government on the number of migrants from that country seeking to cross the English Channel in small boats.

Since the UK-Albania readmission agreement was signed in July 2021 we have seen over 1,000 Albanian foreign national offenders and immigration offenders removed from the UK, including some who crossed the channel illegally to come to the UK.

The UK and Albania pledged to fast track the removal of Albanians with no right to be in the UK wherever possible, and to send senior Albanian law enforcement to the UK to speed up processing and share information with our authorities. In co-operation with the Government of Albania, we are taking every opportunity to intercept the activities of organised criminal gangs and people smugglers, and speed up the removal of Albanians and other nationals with no right to be in the UK.