§ Sir Dudley Smithasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will take steps to establish a separate channel for British nationals at passport control at the new Birmingham international airport.
§ Mr. WaddingtonNo. Channelling arrangements at United Kingdom ports and airports are made to ensure as speedy and effective clearance of all arriving passengers as can be achieved with the immigration service staff available. At Birmingham international airport, these considerations have pointed to one channel for United Kingdom and EC nationals and one channel for all other passengers. Provision of a separate channel for United Kingdom nationals would be wasteful of staff and would lead to lengthy delays for other passengers.
§ Sir Dudley Smithasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department why passport control arrangements at the new Birmingham international airport allow passengers from non-EEC countries to obtain clearance, on average, twice as quickly as British and other EEC country passengers.
§ Mr. WaddingtonAt present, three immigration officers are normally deployed to deal with arriving flights at Birmingham international airport. Two are allocated to the United Kingdom and EC nationals channel, and one 361W deals with all others. A difference in clearance rates of the order referred to by my hon. Friend would occur only when there were very few passengers in the latter category.