Border management is fundamentally important to effective trade, tourism, national security and well-managed migration. It requires many parts of government to coordinate and make often complex decisions to permit people or goods to cross the border. This publication sets out how government works at the border and the challenges that it needs to tackle to manage the border effectively. It then looks ahead to the implications for border management that might arise from the UK’s departure from the European Union.
There are four parts to this publication.
Part One describes the UK’s border. We show that the border is a complex concept and is more than the traditional line on a map. We also show that the border can be crossed at many locations, and under a wide array of circumstances.
Part Two sets out the main organisations and activities involved in border management. We describe government’s overarching goals for border management and set out high level process flows.
Part Three brings together our view of the issues and challenges to consider in managing the border. To inform this part, we reviewed previous reports written by the NAO dating back to 2001 and synthesised relevant findings.
Part Four looks ahead to the UK’s departure from the EU and sets out some key implications for government. We highlight existing challenges to border management and describe a number of existing border-related programmes. We then look ahead to the implications for border management that might arise from the UK’s departure from the European Union.