To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of (1) whether France has taken effective action to apprehend those who accommodate illegal migration to the UK, and (2) how many arrests and convictions of such people traffickers have been recorded and reported by France over the past two years.
Answered on
16 June 2020
The Home Office liaises directly with the French Interior Ministry on addressing the issue of illegal migration, engaging at an official, diplomatic level and supported at an operational level through regular UK-French Migration Committees.
Through joint-working with France, the UK has funded the continued deployment of French law enforcement along the coast of northern France, who are patrolling constantly in order to detect attempted crossings by migrants. Funding has been allocated, among other projects, for further security improvements at ports in northern France and on the ground, which includes drones, specialist vehicles and detection equipment to stop small boats leaving European shores.
Intelligence flows are also key to dismantling the organised crime groups behind crossings. We have restructured and repurposed our approach to support to better inform and direct how and where law enforcement is deployed.
We do not hold data on French arrests and convictions.