Asked by: David Hanson (Labour - Delyn)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what records the Border Force keeps on illegal migrants prevented from entering the UK by UK authorities or companies at the Port of Calais and Coquelles.
Answered by James Brokenshire
At the ports of Calais and Coquelles illegal migrants detected by Border Force are passed directly to the French police for removal from the UK control zones for processing by the French authorities.
To ensure the integrity and security of the UK border Her Majesty’s Government does not comment on port specific statistics.
At the regional juxtaposed ports in Northern France, around 40,000 attempts to cross the Channel illegally in 2014/15 have been prevented by Border Force and its contractors and the French authorities, compared to 18,000 in 2013/14.
Asked by: David Hanson (Labour - Delyn)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what information she holds on how many illegal migrants have been located at Calais and Coquelles by (a) Border Force staff, (b) Eurotunnel and Eurostar staff, (c) ferry company staff and (d) the French authorities in each time period for which records are kept since January 2014.
Answered by James Brokenshire
To ensure the integrity and security of the UK border Her Majesty’s Government does not comment on port specific statistics.
At the regional juxtaposed ports in Northern France, around 40,000 attempts to cross the Channel illegally in 2014/15 have been prevented by Border Force and its contractors and the French authorities, compared to 18,000 in 2013/14.
Asked by: David Hanson (Labour - Delyn)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what estimate he has made of the number of acts of criminal damage or violence undertaken in the pas de Calais region against vehicles owned by UK companies or citizens since July 2014; and what representations he has made to French authorities on that matter.
Answered by David Lidington
Policing in the Pas de Calais region is a matter for the French authorities. The UK Government therefore does not hold details on the number of acts of criminal damage or violence undertaken in the Pas de Calais region. I and my Ministerial colleagues regularly discuss matters of law and order in the region with our French counterparts. The Secretary of State for the Home Department, my right hon. Friend the Member for Maidenhead (Ms May), was in Paris on 2 July to meet her French counterpart, M Cazeneuve, the Interior Minister. Law and order was among the topics they discussed.Asked by: David Hanson (Labour - Delyn)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when she next plans to meet (a) ferry operators, (b) Eurostar and (c) Eurotunnel to discuss the situation in Calais.
Answered by James Brokenshire
Home Office Ministers have meetings with a wide variety of international partners, as well as organisations and individuals in the public and private sectors, as part of the process of policy development and delivery. Details of these meetings are passed to the Cabinet Office on a quarterly basis and are subsequently published on the Gov.uk website: http://data.gov.uk/dataset/ministerial-data-home-office
Asked by: David Hanson (Labour - Delyn)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will review the funding she committed in September 2014 to strengthening border security measures at Calais to (a) bring forward planned expenditure and (b) increase the funding available.
Answered by James Brokenshire
The £12 million Joint Fund is fully committed to a programme of security infrastructure and other improvements. The infrastructure improvements to security at juxtaposed ports which are part of this are scheduled to be completed over the summer 2015.
Asked by: Lord Condon (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what action they have taken in recent weeks, and what action they intend to take, to respond to the number of displaced people in Calais.
Answered by Lord Bates
The large number of displaced people in Calais is, in part, a consequence of the Schengen Area, in which the UK does not participate. The maintenance of law and order on French soil is, of course, a matter for French Government, but it is in the UK's interest to work with them to bolster security at the port.
The Home Secretary and French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve set out a number of commitments in a joint declaration on 20 September 2014 to tackle problems at the port of Calais. This included £12m from the UK Government to help reinforce security.
We continue to work with the French Government to implement the practical solutions that have been agreed. We are also working to address the wider problem of illegal migration, for example by increasing joint intelligence work with the French to target the organised crime gangs behind people smuggling.
Asked by: Christopher Chope (Conservative - Christchurch)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people have been prevented by UK Border Force officers from entering the UK illegally in the last year for which figures are available; and how many of those people have been prevented more than once from entering illegally.
Answered by James Brokenshire
Between April 2013 and March 2014, Border Force and other agencies detected around 18,000 clandestines at the juxtaposed ports in France, while a further 16,570 people were refused entry at UK ports.
Please note, the figures on both clandestines and refusals represent the number of detections/refusals of illegal immigrants, not the number of individuals detected/refused, and so includes instances where the same person is detected
on multiple occasions.
Between April 2013 and March 2014, there were 420 recorded instances where a person has been refused entry more than once. Please note this is the number of multiple instances, not the number of individuals who have been refused.
Data is not held on the corresponding figure for clandestines detected. This figure is derived from management information, subject to internal quality checks and may be subject to change.
Asked by: David Hanson (Labour - Delyn)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate she has made of the number of people attempting to enter the UK illegally who were intercepted at (a) Calais, (b) Zeebrugge and (c) Ostend in each of the last three years; and how much her Department has spent on measures to help prevent the entry of illegal immigrants to the UK through each such port in each of the last three years.
Answered by James Brokenshire
To ensure the integrity and security of the UK border Her Majesty’s Government does not provide port specific statistics.
In 2013/14 the number of clandestine people detected at juxtaposed controls in France by Border Force and other agencies was around 18,000 – a rise of over 60 percent from around 11,000 in FY2012/13.
Zeebrugge and Ostend in Belgium are not juxtaposed ports. Border Force officers assist Belgian Federal Police at Zeebrugge in freight searching at their invitation but there is no formal juxtaposed control treaty.
The annual cost for Border Force at the port of Calais per fiscal year is:
2011/12 - £14,792,027
2012/13 - £15,825,541
2013/14 - £17,548,829
Between 2012 and 2014 the UK has also provided an upgraded Passive Millimetric Wave Imager (PMMWI) for use by P&O ferries at Zeebrugge. This is one of five PMWWI machines in use in France and Zeebrugge which were upgraded in the last two years at a total cost of £2 million.
Asked by: Lord Condon (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their response to the request from the French Interior Minister for British Police to be posted to Calais to assist with dissuading people from seeking to enter the United Kingdom illegally by secreting themselves in vehicles travelling to Kent ports.
Answered by Lord Bates
The French Interior Ministry issued a correction to Associated French Press on 5 November saying that M. Cazeneuve was in fact making reference to British "officials" and not police.
The UK will not be posting any British police in Calais.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Conservative - Romford)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent steps she has taken to reduce the numbers of illegal migrants arriving in the UK from Calais.
Answered by James Brokenshire
Security of the UK border is a top priority. Basing UK immigration controls in France enables Border Force to stop illegal migrants before they reach our shores.
Since 2010, this Government has invested millions in strengthening the security of our border in Calais and at other key ports. We have bolstered physical security in Calais, upgraded technology and equipment and increased joint intelligence work with the French.
The Home Secretary and French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve recently reaffirmed their commitment to further joint action at Calais, including a £12 million contribution from the UK Government towards bolstering security and infrastructure.
The priority now is to implement the practical solutions that have been agreed. Work has started on installing the security fences we provided and should be completed over the coming weeks. This will build on the sustained UK support and investment in improving physical security and upgrading technology at Calais.
We are also working to deliver longer term solutions. This includes improving the infrastructure and flow of traffic at Calais in order to reduce the risk of queuing vehicles on the approach roads which are targeted by migrants.
But we recognise that the problem does not begin in Calais. That is why we are enhancing joint work with France and other European partners to clamp down on the organised crime groups behind people smuggling. This is in addition to broader work with European and International partners to address the wider problem of illegal migration, of which Calais is just one visible sign.