Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment his Department has made of the level of resources and staffing required by Border Force to reduce passport queues at airports.

Border Force has taken a number of steps to help make the customer journey as smooth as possible while continuing to protect and secure the border. This includes proactive planning alongside airport operators and airlines, and new passenger-facing communications tools that are designed to promote faster ways to travel.

We have also increased resources that are available to the busiest ports. For example, Border Force is putting in 200 additional staff to help process passengers at Heathrow this summer. They will remain at Heathrow throughout the busiest summer-period to help ensure Border Force delivers an excellent service while continuing to protect the security of the border.

The experience for British and other EEA nationals is further enhanced where those passengers travel using biometric passports as they can use our ePassport gates.