EU Borders: Hand and Face Scanning Debate

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Department: Home Office

EU Borders: Hand and Face Scanning

Baroness McIntosh of Pickering Excerpts
Wednesday 17th April 2024

(6 months, 3 weeks ago)

Lords Chamber
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None Portrait Noble Lords
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Oh!

Baroness McIntosh of Pickering Portrait Baroness McIntosh of Pickering (Con)
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My Lords, given that airports have failed to meet the deadline that the Government suggested for introducing the rule about being able to carry liquids on board, and that there are long delays at Dover every possible bank holiday weekend, how confident is my noble friend that this deadline will be reached? What will happen if the delays are insufferable? Will additional staff be in place to assist passengers in this regard?

Lord Sharpe of Epsom Portrait Lord Sharpe of Epsom (Con)
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My Lords, considerable investment is going into the queues at Dover. Noble Lords may be aware that the Department for Transport has provisionally awarded £45 million of levelling-up fund money to Kent County Council for the Dover border improvement project, which aims to substantially reduce outbound queues at the port. Ferry operators have previously been very pragmatic about allowing vehicles on to ferries if crossings are missed due to disruption, but we recognise the impact of disruption. The Kent Resilience Forum has a package of well-tested traffic management plans to manage disruption to keep passengers and freight traffic flowing.