Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what discussions she has taken with her French counterpart about identifying individuals responsible for knowingly putting overloaded and potentially unseaworthy vessels to sea from the French coast.

France is the UK's closest operational partner in tackling small boat crossings. The Home Secretary maintains regular engagement with her French counterpart on our shared objectives of saving lives, securing the border and disrupting the organised criminal gangs behind this vile trade.

Through joint law enforcement cooperation, intelligence sharing and coordinated operational activity, the UK and France work together to identify, investigate and bring to justice those who profit from putting migrants' lives at risk, including by facilitating departures in overcrowded and unseaworthy vessels.

Those involved in organising, enabling or facilitating illegal entry into the UK by small boat may be prosecuted under section 25 of the Immigration Act 1971, carrying a maximum penalty of life imprisonment. In addition, earlier this year the Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Act introduced a new offence of endangering another during a sea crossing, reflecting the seriousness with which the Government views conduct that creates or increases a risk of serious injury or death to those on board.

We continue to monitor and respond to the evolving tactics used by people-smuggling networks, working with the French authorities to target resources where they can deliver the greatest operational effect.