Question to the Home Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Williams of Trafford on 24 February (HL6429), what are the current average waiting times for passport control clearance for passengers at (1) ports, (2) airports, and (3) the Channel Tunnel terminus; and what discussions they have had with representatives from organisations in the tourism sector about the impact of passport clearance delays.

Resource and staffing requirements at every port are continually reviewed by Border Force who work closely with port operators to ensure resources are deployed flexibly as and when they are required.

Border Force is committed to ensuring that passengers arriving in the UK receive an excellent service. But this must also be balanced with our responsibility to Border Security, checking 100% of passports and making sure that anyone or anything that might cause harm to the UK is properly dealt with.

Performance against our passenger wait time SLA can be found in Border Force Transparency data available at:

Border Force transparency data: Q4 2021 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

We regularly engage with stakeholders form a range of sectors about the operation at the UK Border