Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, If she will investigate reports by the Road Haulage Association that French authorities are turning off heartbeat monitors at the French border; and if she will make a statement.

Last year, Border Force successfully disrupted over 56,000 illegal attempts to enter the UK which shows our approach to securing the UK's border is working. "Despite our successes in preventing attempts to enter the UK illegally, we are not complacent. We will continue to work closely with our French counterparts to maintain border security and keep legitimate passengers and trade moving.”

All freight vehicles entering the UK through the juxtaposed controls are screened for people being smuggled using some of the most advanced detection technology around to find and stop migrants attempting to reach the UK illegally. This includes imaging equipment, carbon dioxide detectors and motion sensors as well as sniffer dogs to detect clandestine on board lorries.

Border Force regularly engages with French law enforcement partners and port operators to review its operational response to changing threats and pressures. We have invested tens of millions of pounds in new infrastructure to enhance border security.