Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the roll-out of Electronic Travel Authorisation requirements on (a) processing times for non-UK based passengers transiting through airports in the UK and (b) queuing times.

The UK Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA) scheme was launched to secure our borders and make the UK safer, by enhancing our ability to screen travellers upstream. The scheme will apply to passengers from eligible countries who are transiting the UK. ETAs form part of our long-term plan for a slicker, more efficient border, with a greater number of passengers able to benefit from automation at the border, enabling our highly skilled Border Force officers to focus on those who pose the most harm or are at the most risk.

We continue to engage positively with industry, and support the aviation sector in understanding what ETAs and wider digitisation will mean for passengers.