Asked by: Chris Philp (Conservative - Croydon South)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she has had discussions with the security services on the monitoring of foreign offenders who may be crossing the Channel to avoid justice for crimes they have committed in other European countries.
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
We have launched the Border Security Command (BSC) whose work is imperative not only to stop criminals from entering the UK via small boats in the first place but to stop anyone from making these dangerous journeys. This is why the BSC is working with partners internationally to tackle and disrupt organised immigration crime gangs.
All individuals arriving in the UK via small boats undergo a comprehensive screening process. This is designed to gather key information about each person, including any indicators of criminality.
As part of this process, the Home Office collects biometric data—such as facial images and fingerprints—to verify identity. These biometrics are checked against Home Office systems and other law enforcement databases, including Interpol’s wanted list. This enables us to identify individuals, assess whether they pose a risk to public safety, and determine any breaches of immigration law. These checks are essential to maintaining a secure, fair, and effective immigration system.
In line with the Refugee Convention, refugee status will be denied to those who have committed serious crimes, pose a danger to the community, or present a threat to national security.
For further details on security checks during the asylum screening process, please refer to: Screening and routing
This process also ensures that individuals who should not be granted bail are identified promptly.
I am unable to comment specifically on discussions with the Security Service given that, for reasons for national security, it has been a long-standing position that the Government does not comment on intelligence matters.
Asked by: Ben Obese-Jecty (Conservative - Huntingdon)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 24 October 2025 to Question 82448 on Undocumented Migrants: English Channel, what the cost is of (a) charter and (b) regularly scheduled flights to conduct returns under the new UK-France agreement.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
I have been clear that we do not comment on costs for scheduledflights or charter flights, and this was made explicit in the answer to the original Question. These are commercially sensitive arrangements that can provide an insight into pricing structure. To do otherwise could deter the private sector from entering into contracts with the Home Office.
Asked by: Ben Obese-Jecty (Conservative - Huntingdon)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 27 October 2025 to Question 83507 on Undocumented Migrants: English Channel, whether that figure refers to the number of people prevented from crossing.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
9,686 refers to the number of attempts by people prevented from crossing in that time period.
Asked by: Chris Philp (Conservative - Croydon South)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department is taking steps to track people crossing the Channel who might pose a security risk.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
We have launched the Border Security Command (BSC) whose work is imperative not only to stop criminals from entering the UK via small boats in the first place but to stop anyone from making these dangerous journeys. This is why the BSC is working with partners internationally to tackle and disrupt organised immigration crime gangs.
All individuals arriving in the UK via small boats undergo a comprehensive screening process. This is designed to gather key information about each person, including any indicators of criminality.
As part of this process, the Home Office collects biometric data—such as facial images and fingerprints—to verify identity. These biometrics are checked against Home Office systems and other law enforcement databases, including Interpol’s wanted list. This enables us to identify individuals, assess whether they pose a risk to public safety, and determine any breaches of immigration law. These checks are essential to maintaining a secure, fair, and effective immigration system.
In line with the Refugee Convention, refugee status will be denied to those who have committed serious crimes, pose a danger to the community, or present a threat to national security.
For further details on security checks during the asylum screening process, please refer to: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/66a0e95e49b9c0597fdb03dd/Screening+and+routing.pdf
This process also ensures that individuals who should not be granted bail are identified promptly.
Asked by: Lord Empey (Ulster Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the effectiveness of the 'one in, one out' scheme agreed with the government of France in deterring asylum seekers from entering the United Kingdom in small boats.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
The UK-France Treaty on the Prevention of Dangerous Journeys is a pilot scheme, and evaluation is a crucial part of its success. We will continuously monitor and evaluate the pilot as it progresses, with a full evaluation to be completed at the end of the pilot period.
Asked by: Ben Obese-Jecty (Conservative - Huntingdon)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 11 September 2025 to Question 75431 on Undocumented Migrants: English Channel, how many migrants were (a) exchanged with France and (b) prevented from illegally entering the UK from France between 11 June 2025 and 11 October 2025.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
As of 20 October 2025, 42 individuals have been returned to France and 23 have been brought to the UK via the new safe and legal route. Between the two dates specified, a total of 9,686 of these dangerous and unnecessary crossing attempts were prevented as a result of our joint work with France.
Asked by: Adam Jogee (Labour - Newcastle-under-Lyme)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she has taken to help reduce the number of small boat crossings since her appointment.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Border Security Command (BSC) continues to focus on tackling the organised immigration crime gangs that are facilitating small boat crossings, working with domestic partners such as the National Crime Agency and the OIC Domestic taskforce, and overseas counterparts in a range of countries, to dismantle the gangs and disrupt their supply chains. This work has already led to a number of widely publicised raids and arrests, as well as agreements with France, Germany, Italy, Iraq and other key partners which will increase enforcement activity and cooperation further over the coming months.
The UK-France pilot has also been put into action meaning that anyone entering the UK on a small boat can be detained on arrival and returned to France. So far 42 individuals have been returned to France under this pilot and further flights to France are scheduled to take place over the coming days and weeks. Through our joint working with France, more than 19,000 crossing attempts have been prevented this year.
The BSC is working closely with delivery partners across Whitehall who tackle organised immigration crime, collecting key data across the system such as organised immigration crime disruptions, with the ambition to track long-term impact and support the delivery of operational activity. This will support the BSC’s ability to drive cohesive delivery across the system and ensure a secure and effective border. Working collaboratively in this way will allow us to increase the number of organised immigration crime groups which we break up and subsequently reduce small boat crossings. These numbers will be monitored to ensure we make changes to our approach when needed.
And as most recently as last week, the Home Secretary hosted Interior Ministers in London as part of the Western Balkans Summit. She hosted her ministerial counterparts from Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, and Serbia – all of which are key transit countries for people being smuggled illegally to the UK.
Ensuring we have the right legislation in place to take robust, meaningful action to address these challenges is crucial. With this in mind, the UK’s Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill, currently going through Parliament, creates new powers for law enforcement through new criminal offences, expanded data-sharing capabilities and an improved intelligence picture to identify, intercept, disrupt and prevent serious and organised crime.
Asked by: Ben Obese-Jecty (Conservative - Huntingdon)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to her Department's news story entitled First illegal migrants returned under new UK-France agreement, published on 18 September, what was the cost of each flight.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office has made returns under the new UK-France agreement utilising both charter flights and regular scheduled flights. This approach allows the Home Office to maximise value for money and best satisfy operational requirements.
We do not comment on individual charter flight costs as these are commercially sensitive arrangements that can provide an insight into pricing structure. To do otherwise could deter the private sector from entering into contracts with the Home Office.
Asked by: Steve Barclay (Conservative - North East Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will publish a list of all the instances between 4 July 2024 and 14 October 2025 when 100 or more migrants have crossed the Channel in a single small boat, including (a) the date of the crossing, (b) the number of migrants on board and (c) the approximate dimensions of the boat.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
There have been 5 occasions over this period where over 100 migrants have crossed the Channel in a single small boat. These are listed below.
Date | Number of persons onboard |
13/08/2025 | 106 |
19/09/2025 | 102 |
19/09/2025 | 106 |
27/09/2025 | 125 |
08/10/2025 | 101 |
Information about the dimensions of boats is operationally sensitive, and its release could prejudice the interests of law enforcement.
Asked by: Ben Obese-Jecty (Conservative - Huntingdon)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people who illegally crossed the English Channel were brought ashore by (a) Border Force, (b) the Royal Navy and (c) Royal National Lifeboat Institution since 5 July 2024.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
Information of this kind is only readily available for whole calendar years and the current year to date, rather than the part year commencing 5 July 2024 when the present Government came into office. The specific information requested could therefore only be obtained at a disproportionate cost as it would require a manual trawl of case records to retrieve.
The Royal Navy does not, and has never, rescued migrants from small boats. The vast majority of rescues of migrants in small boats in the Channel have been made by Border Force vessels, including during the period when MOD had primacy for the operational response to Channel crossings in 2022-23. The split between Border Force rescues and those made by RNLI in the years 2023, 2024, and to date in 2025 is:
| % of Migrants recovered on RNLI Vessels | % of Migrants recovered on BF Vessels |
2025 | 6% | 94% |
2024 | 7% | 93% |
2023 | 8% | 92% |
It should be noted that these figures come from management information, and should be viewed as indicative only and not assured data.