Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what (a) funding and (b) staffing his Department has provided to the French Government for the purposes of border security in each year since 2015.

The UK and France have for many years maintained close cooperation at our shared border and have worked to uphold high security standards. The UK has committed various funding packages to uphold these standards and support France in responding to the migration crisis. In 2015, both countries signed a Joint Declaration which committed £10 million towards security reviews of the juxtaposed controls and to moving migrants into reception centres across France. This was followed by payments in 2016 (£17 million) and 2017 (£36 million) to further strengthen the border and maintain the operation of the juxtaposed controls.

Most recently, in January 2018 both countries signed the Sandhurst Treaty, which demonstrates our ongoing commitment to prevent irregular migration and to the continued operation of the juxtaposed controls. As part of this package, a commitment of €50 million was made to joint work with France, of which a significant portion has been dedicated to improving border security infrastructure.