Asked by: Roger Williams (Liberal Democrat - Brecon and Radnorshire)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many Border Force sniffer dogs operate at (a) Heathrow Airport and (b) other airports and seaports in the UK to detect illegally imported meat.
Answered by James Brokenshire
Border Force currently has four detector dogs in use at ports and airports in Great Britain trained to detect meat and other animal products illegally imported from non EU countries. This number can fluctuate as dogs are replaced through ill health or retirement and new dogs and handlers are trained.
The dogs are deployed on a mobile and flexible basis according to risk and where they will have the most impact. They are deployed at key border locations such as Heathrow Airport and can be utilised at any port, airport or other point of entry into Great Britain.
The Department of Agriculture and Rural Development in Northern Ireland is responsible for detecting illegal imports of meat and other animal products at ports and airports in Northern Ireland.
Asked by: Roger Williams (Liberal Democrat - Brecon and Radnorshire)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to seek a reduction in the incidence of deaths among refugees crossing the Mediterranean by boat.
Answered by James Brokenshire
The Government is working with EU partners to prevent the deaths of people crossing the Mediterranean through joint efforts under the EU’s Task Force Mediterranean, established following the Lampedusa tragedy inOctober 2013.
While the UK is providing support for the new Frontex (EU External Border Agency) Operation ‘Triton’, an enhanced maritime border management operation that intercepts migrants in the Mediterranean, we believe that the only
sustainable means of addressing this issue is to take action to dissuade migrants from making these perilous and illegal journeys in the first place, enhance protection in refugees’ region of origin, and combat the criminal facilitators who place migrants’ lives at risk. This is why we support the EU’s focus on action ‘upstream’ in third countries of origin and transit.
For instance, we are playing a leading role in the new ‘Khartoum Process’ under which the EU countries and countries in the Horn of Africa will work together to combat people smuggling and human trafficking in that region. We also
support the EU’s proposals for Regional Development and Protection Programmes (RDPPs) to provide sustainable protection for refugees in North and East Africa. The UK also continues to work with EU partners and international organisations to develop information campaigns in North and East Africa, aimed at dissuading migrants from risking dangerous Mediterranean and Saharan crossings and countering the work of criminal facilitators.