Emily Thornberry – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emily Thornberry on 2016-03-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many patrols of UK waters have been conducted by Border Force Cutters in each year since 2010.

James Brokenshire

Border Force does not record individual vessel patrols as a measure of productivity, as this does not represent the full activity of a Border Force vessel. The Border Force vessels operate 365 days per year and in accordance with the vessel capability in force at the time. Deployments include:

– being at sea;

– being at 30 minutes notice for sea;.

– law enforcement work whilst in port, e.g. rummage of moored vessels; road deployments to remote wharfs and marinas

It is not in the public interest for Border Force to disclose vessel working patterns further, as this is likely to compromise border security.