Lord Marlesford – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Marlesford on 2016-03-10.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what proportion of passengers departing overseas from each British (1) airport, (2) port, or (3) railway station, are currently having their passports checked by Border Force officers, and when they expect to reach 100 per cent checking for each departure point.

Lord Bates

Exit checks have been in place since April 2015 across all scheduled commercial services departing the UK from air and sea ports and from international rail stations, except those services not within scope such as, for example, journeys within the Common Travel Area. Departure data is collected by carriers and port operators and transmitted to Home Office systems, where work takes place to match it to arrival data, visa conditions and other information as appropriate.

Exit checks are not conducted by Border Force officers; however Border Force officers do from time to time carry out intelligence led operations and interventions which are not part of the exit checks procedures.