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Written question asked by Lee Scott (Conservative) on Tuesday, 18 January 2011, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Thursday, 20 January 2011. It was answered by Damian Green (Conservative) on Wednesday, 26 January 2011 on behalf of the Home Office.

Immigrants: Detainees

Question
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many passengers have been detained at Britain's ports and airports while travelling on forged or stolen travel documents in each of the last three years.
Answer

The following table outlines the number of false travel documents detected by Border Force officers at UK ports and airports and juxtaposed controls for each of the last three calendar years.

Total
2008 2,745
2009 1,770
2010 1,589

We are unable to provide figures based on the number of passengers detained in possession of forged documents because the data are not centrally recorded in this way. In order to retrieve the information in the requested format we would have to refer to individual records at disproportionate cost.These figures do not include the number of inadequately documented passengers denied boarding by commercial carriers' overseas, who work in conjunction with UK Border Agency immigration liaison officers and managers (formerly airline liaison officers). Since 2004, the number of immigration liaison officer deployments to key travel hubs has more than doubled resulting in significant numbers of passengers being stopped with false documents before they travel to the UK. Greater numbers are also subject to visa controls and the safeguards and biometric capture involved also has a significant deterrent effect.

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
35310; 522 c350W
Session
2010-12
Subjects
Detainees Forgery Migrants Passports
Contains statistics
Yes
Link
View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk