Question to the Home Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government how many individuals were on board UK deportation flight Esparto 11; and to which countries they were deported.

The Operation Esparto 11 returns charter flight departed on 12 August 2020. Fourteen people in total were returned under the Dublin Regulation to Germany and France on this flight.

The Government’s efforts to facilitate entirely legitimate and legal returns of people who have entered the U.K. through illegal routes are too often frustrated by last minute challenges submitted hours before a scheduled flight. These claims are very often baseless and entirely without merit, but are given full legal consideration, leading to removal being rescheduled.

This Government’s priority is keeping the people of this country safe, and we make no apology for seeking to remove dangerous foreign criminals and other immigration offenders.