Sir Nicholas Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent assessment she has made of the adequacy of levels of Border Control officers at Heathrow Airport; and what steps she is taking to increase those levels.

Mr Robert Goodwill, Minister of State for Immigration: Border controls at Heathrow are among the most stringent in the world. Border Force employs a rigorous and effective control regime at the UK’s borders, predicated on a policy of carrying out full checks of all arriving passengers and an intelligence-led approach to searching for contraband goods that ensures resources are used as effectively as possible. Border Force Heathrow has transformed its working practices, command and control and leadership in order to keep the UK safe.

We have also invested in new technology to enhance security and improve the service delivered to legitimate passengers and deliver efficiencies. 55 ePassport Gates are operational across Heathrow terminals. A total of 8.8 million passengers used the ePassport gates at Heathrow in the past year (to end of October 2016), which represents 64.3% of eligible passengers. This is a 27% increase from the same period ending October 2015.

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