Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government how many incursions into British territorial waters there were from 1 March 2017 to 28 February 2018, broken down by country.

Her Majesty's Government does not hold centrally details of incursions into the 12 nautical mile limit of UK Territorial Waters. The protection of UK Territorial waters is a shared responsibility between the Ministry of Defence and the Royal Navy; Border Force; Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs (HMRC); and, in relation to fisheries, the Marine Management Organisation in England, Marine Scotland and Northern Irelands Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs.

Entry into UK Territorial Waters by foreign warships without prior diplomatic clearance, or when exercising Innocent Passage, is rare. The Ministry of Defence routinely monitors the activity of foreign military vessels, but does not release these figures for National security reasons.

Border Force, Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs and the National Crime Agency regularly intercept suspected maritime smuggling operations. Border Force Statistics are publicly available as part of the Home Office Migration Transparency Data initiative. NCA do not collect data on the legal status of any vessels intercepted.