Question to the Home Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the security impact of adding passengers from seven additional countries to the list of those able to use automated ePassport gates on arrival in the UK; what impact they anticipate these changes will have on waiting times for passengers at Heathrow Terminals 3 and 5; and what impact they anticipate abolishing paper landing cards will have on border security.

Keeping the UK’s border secure is our priority. The decisions to expand ePassport gate eligibility and remove the requirement to complete a landing card were taken after careful consideration and in consultation with security partners across Government.

Landing cards were primarily used to collect statistics and not used for routine security checks. The Government remains reassured, on the basis of direct expert engagement, that this change will not impact on border security. The additional nationalities that can now benefit from use of the ePassport gates were identified as suitable based on a variety of factors, including immigration abuse, security, cooperation on border matters and prosperity.

Analysis has shown that allowing these additional nationalities to use the ePassport gates provides them with more efficient entry into the UK, whilst not significantly increasing waiting times for existing ePassport gate users. The change will also significantly improve manned queue times, at certain ports and at certain times for other passengers.

Both changes are being closely monitored to ensure that we understand and can adapt to any impact they may have, including on queue times.