Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps his Department is taking to ensure the adequacy of security at passport e-gates.

It has never been Government practice, for reasons of law enforcement, to comment on operational issues relating to border security and immigration controls. This includes offering commentary on the performance of border systems and of ePassport Gates data specifically.

The Home Office has a number of contingency arrangements in the event of a system failure, including technical and business contingency measures.

In the UK, all arriving passengers need to establish their eligibility for admission. Every passenger is required to establish their nationality and identity. To maintain a safe and secure border, a passenger’s passport or national identity card is checked electronically.

The eGates and face-to-face checks are two methods of conducting the same process.