Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of her Department's progress on reducing unauthorised migration across the English Channel.

The Government has taken significant steps to address illegal migration and its Plan for Change sets out our ambition to secure borders and control immigration. We are committed to tackling illegal migration and the criminal networks which facilitate it. Since July 2024, nearly 50,000 individuals without lawful status have been removed from the UK. Our agreement with France means that those arriving by small boats can be detained and returned to France.

The Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Act 2025 has now received Royal Assent and the overarching impact assessment for this can be found here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/border-security-asylum-and-immigration-bill-2025-impact-assessment/border-security-asylum-and-immigration-bill-2025-impact-assessment-accessible#impact-assessment(opens in a new tab)

The Government is continuously monitoring and evaluating the effectiveness of our measures in place to tackle small boats. As stated in the Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Act, the Border Security Command will be publishing an annual report, which must state the Commander’s views on the performance in the financial year of the border security system. This is set out in the Act here:

https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2025/31/section/4/enacted(opens in a new tab)

Border security is fundamental to both our national security and economic security and evaluating our approach is a critical part of that.