Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what progress has been made on introducing automated exit checks for people departing the UK; and whether exit checks will be carried out on (a) all travellers and (b) at all ports from 1 January 2021.

We re-introduced exit checks in April 2015 to further complement our work on border security, plus support the Home Office’s wider work to deal with illegal immigration.

The vast majority of passengers leaving the country on scheduled commercial international air, sea and rail routes now go through exit checks. The data collected is already providing the police and security services with information to help track the movements of known criminals and terrorists.

Border Force hold data for outbound alerts issued by Border Force at the National Border Targeting Centre (NBTC). However, we do not hold a breakdown of the data in the format requested.

A variety of agencies, including Border Force, undertake in person outbound interventions, as a result of this activity there is no single record held on their respective outcomes.

Government is working to ensure all parties including other government departments, traders, industry and passengers are prepared for the changes which will come into effect at the UK border on 1 January 2021.