Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment her Department has made of the potential merits of establishing a special volunteer force to support Border Force.

The Home Office is in the process of taking advice on a range of options from other law enforcement bodies such as police forces, which have successfully deployed well-trained, high calibre Special Constables for many years, to examine whether a Special Volunteer force within Border Force would provide benefits and bolster existing activity. No decision has been made on whether BF specials should proceed to a pilot.