Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the recommendations of the Global Travel Taskforce report, published in April 2021, what progress has been made on rolling out full e-gate integration across all UK ports of entry to reduce waiting times at the border.

Border Force continues to work, including with UK Port Operators, to increase the number and effectiveness of ePassport gates

Annual passenger transactions at the e-Passport gates have grown rapidly since the 1 million recorded in the 12 months of 2009. In the 12-month period from March 2020 to February 2021, the number of passenger transactions at e-Passports gates was 8 Million (8,092,175). This compares to 63 Million (63,095,660) passengers in the corresponding period last year (March 2019 to February 2020), a decrease of 55 Million (55,003,485) due to the current COVID-19 travel restrictions

In addition to our work on e-Gates referenced in the report, we are also developing Border Crossing systems so Border Force can scan passenger passports and immediately identify whether the passenger has a completed Passenger Locator Form.

This is to protect the public and the UK's vaccine rollout, as international travel resumes.