Today's Home Office related coverage includes yesterday's publication of the Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration report on east coast ports and of the written ministerial statement on the Home Office's internal review of extremist funding in the UK.
East coast ports report
There has been prominent coverage of the Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration report on east coast ports, which was published yesterday. The Daily Express has run the story on its front page, while the Guardian, Times, Daily Mail and Sun have also covered the report.
While the report does acknowledge that Border Force operations at major seaports are generally efficient and effective, we accept that improvements can be made and will be taking forward the recommendations. Our statement on this is below.
A Home Office spokesperson said:
We are pleased that this report acknowledges that Border Force operations at major seaports are generally efficient and effective. However, we accept that improvements can be made and will be taking forward the recommendations.
We are already improving our visibility and intelligence-gathering at smaller ports by doubling the number of coastal patrol vessels operating, increasing the focus of our field intelligence officers on maritime and, through Project KRAKEN, helping maritime communities to report suspicious activity.
Extremist funding review
The Written Ministerial Statement (WMS) announcing the main findings from the Home Office’s internal review into the nature, scale and origin of the funding of Islamist extremist activity in the UK was laid before Parliament by the Home Secretary yesterday (Wednesday 12 July). The WMS has been widely reported in today’s newspapers, including The Times, Daily Mail, Sun and Telegraph. A Home Secretary statement on this is below.
Home Secretary Amber Rudd said:
This Government is committed to stamping out extremism in all its forms and cutting off the funding that fuels it.
The Commission for Counter-Extremism, which the Prime Minister announced earlier this year, will have a key role to play in this fight.
We are determined to cut off all funding that fuels the evils of extremism and terrorism, and will work closely with international and domestic partners to tackle this threat.