Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps the UK Border Force is taking to reduce queuing and improve the passenger experience at Stansted Airport.

This year, Border Force increased the number of e-passport gates at Stansted from 5 to 15 which allows for a more efficient flow of passengers through the primary arrivals control. Alongside this, Border Force is working closely with Stansted Airport to reduce queues and improve the passenger experience. It has increased the number of Border Force officers at the port, including seasonal workforce to deal with the large volumes of passengers through the summer; introduced a new resourcing tool using live arrivals data and transit times to schedule the right number of officers at passport control for each flight; improved signage; and introduced a new style queuing system which feeds to multiple desks and allows for a continuous movement of passengers.

According to Border Force data, the performance at Stansted has been consistently above service level agreements throughout the summer, and has shown significant further improvement since the introduction of the new eGates on 15 August in time for the August Bank Holiday weekend (the busiest weekend of the year). The targets are to clear 95% of passengers within 25 minutes for EU/EEA nationals, and 45 minutes for non EU/EEA nationals.