§ Mrs. Curtis-ThomasTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what measures are in place to ensure that passengers with inadequate documents are intercepted on their arrival in the UK. [159528]
§ Beverley HughesMeasures to intercept passengers with inadequate documents on their arrival in the UK include risk-assessing all incoming flights, conducting intelligence-led document checks, observing passengers as they disembark from aircraft and ad hoc special exercises sometimes involving other agencies and at certain locations using CCTV.
At the main arrivals control, passengers are interviewed and their documents examined to detect impostors and to identify forged or counterfeit passports or passengers without the requisite entry clearance.
In addition we have strategies in place to prevent passengers with inadequate documents arriving in the UK. These include the use of pre-entry controls in France (Juxtaposed controls), new detection technology screening equipment to detect clandestine entrants and Airline Liaison Officers (ALOs) who offer advice to airlines on the validity of travel documents held by passengers.
The Asylum and Immigration (Treatment of Claimants etc) Bill, currently before Parliament, includes proposals to make disposing of travel documents without reasonable excuse a criminal offence.
§ Mrs. Curtis-ThomasTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on the evaluation of the Netherlands' powers to require carriers to copy travel documents; and how this has influenced the Department's proposals. [159530]
§ Beverley HughesOfficials have been in contact with colleagues in The Netherlands and will continue to liaise with them as necessary. The system in The Netherlands works differently from the system the Government are proposing; a separate evaluation would, therefore, be of limited value at present. We will, however, consider the 357W comparative effectiveness of the system in The Netherlands as part of the evaluation process of the Home Office trial.