Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to prevent general aviation aircrafts, landing at small airports, airfields and airstrips, from facilitating the smuggling of (a) people, (b) drug and (c) arms.

The security of the UK border remains our top priority, and this government is committed to strengthening border security. Border Force conducts robust security checks on those arriving into the UK, including 100% checks on all notified general aviation flights and spot checks at aerodromes to reinforce security.

Border Force allocates resources based on assessed risk, applying intelligence and targeting techniques. We have significantly reduced the number of aerodromes authorised to handle international or Common Travel Area flights by 85%, and anyone who fails to submit the required information prior to flying faces civil penalties.

Border Force has implemented a range of initiatives to address vulnerabilities. These include:

• Substantially reducing the number of aerodromes permitted to handle flights to and from the UK.

• Introducing a civil penalties regime for non-compliance with airfield designation requirements.

• Person details checked on all notified GA flights.

• The General Aviation (Persons on Board, Flight Information and Civil Penalties Regulations), which came into force on 6 April 2024, require that specified information about General Aviation flights and persons onboard must be submitted online and in advance of departure to Home Office Systems. Failure to comply with these requirements can result in civil penalty.

• Working closely with the National Crime Agency and the police to counter threats such as smuggling, immigration crime and terrorism at UK airfields has resulted in seizures of Class A Drugs (in total approx 130kgs) at small airfields and identification of undocumented arrivals, leading to multiple criminal convictions and working with partners to identify non-compliant GA flights.

• Regular Home Office engagement with the GA community representatives and cross-government partners.