Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many additional staff will be required in (a) Government Departments and (b) Border Security Command for that organisation to reach full operational (i) readiness and (ii) effectiveness.

The Border Security Command (BSC) has been launched and will sit as a new bespoke command led by Martin Hewitt and within the Home Office, working collaboratively with colleagues across the department and beyond. Staff will have the same opportunities for career progression as all other Home Office staff in their respective agencies and Department.

Capabilities from across the Home Office have come together to build the foundational operating model of BSC. Wider recruitment is ongoing as part of the broader organisational design and any external opportunities for the BSC will be advertised on Civil Service Jobs as per existing processes.

The BSC will be appropriately resourced to ensure we can disrupt organised criminal gangs and respond to a range of threats across the border security system. The Command will collaborate with a wide range of agencies, recruiting hundreds of new specialist staff across these organisations, including investigators, to smash the criminal gangs and strengthen our borders. Our new Border Security Command is gearing up so that we can dismantle the criminal smuggling gangs who undermine our border security and put lives at risk.