Brexit: Border Control

Lord Paddick Excerpts

Monday 29th October 2018 Lords Chamber

[Lord Davies of Stamford]

My Lords—

[Lord Paddick (LD)]

My Lords—

[Noble Lords]

Order.

[Baroness Evans of Bowes Park]

My Lords, this is really not appropriate during Questions. We will hear quickly from the Liberal Democrat Benches.

[Lord Paddick]

My Lords, the Minister talked about an additional 600 staff being recruited in 2018-19. Does she not agree that there were in fact 450 fewer full-time equivalents in Border Force in 2017-18 than there were five years ago, despite a significant increase in the number of people coming across the border?

[Baroness Williams of Trafford]

I did not actually talk about 600 staff; I talked about 900 in three lots of 300. In fact, the number permanently employed in Border Force at the end of 2017-18 was 7,700, and the forecast for 2019 is 8,600.