Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, on how many days Border Force would have implemented a red rating for expected numbers of small boat crossings in the Channel in (a) 2021-22, (b) 2022-23, and (c) 2023-24, if the existing methodology for implementing a red rating had been in place for the duration of those previous financial years.

The Home Office has interpreted the question to mean the periods 6 April – 5 April for the years quoted. The Met Office changed its assessment criteria for likelihood of crossings in May 2023. The following figures set out the numbers of days per financial year that would have been assessed as likely for crossings (so called ‘red days’) had the post-May 2023 definition been applied at that time.

(a) 2021-22 – 164

(b) 2022-23 – 159

(c) 2023-24 – 108