When is a crisis not a crisis? Perhaps when no one takes it seriously. The minister for crime, safeguarding and vulnerability, Victoria Atkins, fumbled for words in an interview when asked to explain the Home Office’s inability to tackle the rise in people using dinghies in an a bid to reach Britain from France.

The lack of clarity in Atkins’ response as to why border force boats were still in their respective ports three weeks after the crisis began was peppered with bouts of nervous laughter as she announced: “They are on their way!”

On Thursday, the Home Office continued in the same opaque vein. Britain has started returning migrants to France, it said – although it would not reveal how many, where they were from or if, indeed, they were the same ones who arrived during the recent spike in people using small boats.

The department did say it wanted to provide “a strong deterrent against the dangerous crossings”.

But the giggle-strewn interview between radio presenter Nick Ferrari and the parliamentary undersecretary of state, broadcast on Monday, raised concerns. Is the government taking the issue seriously? Or is too little proactive action – or none – being taken to protect UK borders and the lives of vulnerable migrants making the dangerous crossing?

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Victoria Atkins MP. Photograph: Rex/Shutterstock

In the live interview with London-based radio station LBC, Atkins not only failed to answer questions regarding the current whereabouts of two Border Force cutters, but also sought to downplay the number of asylum seekers entering the UK illegally by sea.

Last weekend, 16 people were detained in Kent having arrived from France in separate landings, and this weekend there will undoubtably be more. Pledges made last month by the home secretary, Sajid Javid, who said he would deploy Border Force and navy vessels to the English Channel, have yet to materialise.

Atkins sought to underplay the volume of those undertaking the perilous journey, saying: “We are very conscious that a small number of people are making the journey across the channel and we need to make sure that it is tackled and it’s all in train.”

Her “small number” does not match official figures published by the Home Office showing that 539 refugees attempted to travel to the UK on small boats in 2018, 80% of them in the last 12 weeks of the year. About 227 (42%) were intercepted by the French before they made it to the UK.

Official figures do not take into account how many boats have landed in the UK without authorities’ knowledge.

Atkins went on to first blame the Ministry of Defence and “other partners” for the delay in deploying the vessels, which, she finally admitted, were still in port in Malta and Gibraltar.

Pushed on who was to blame for the inaction, she conceded that the UK Border Force reports to the Home Office – her department. Atkins went on to say, in a curious sentence peppered with laughter: “We are getting the navy to help with patrols …[laughter] … We want to stop people making these journeys and ensure that they claim asylum in the first safe country in which they enter.”

Sources confirmed to the Guardian that people-smuggling activities between France and the UK continued unabated at the weekend.

Save for insisting that there must be increased dialogue with French counterparts, the home secretary and Atkins have thus far failed to detail how they intend to tackle the number of migrants trying to reach Britain from France.

The shadow home secretary, Diane Abbott, was not available for comment, and in the past has had little to add, calling for increased boats to help refugees who fall into danger.

Utilising a variety of techniques, from the naive to the sophisticated, smugglers are using riskier and riskier methods. People are being carried in the boots and underbodies of vehicles, inside lorries or in tiny dinghies, as well using clandestine plane flights. Charging anything from £2,000 to £10,000 a journey, criminal gangs are raking in cash while Atkins prevaricates and migrants risk their lives. The miserable camps at Calais and Dunkirk are estimated to be worth £33.5m at any given time in such profits, forming part of the estimated $35bn (£26bn) a year global human trafficking trade.

The 2017 survey by the Help Refugees organisation reported that the Calais camp contained 5,497 residents, while Dunkirk’s Grande-Synthe contained 1,200, a figure believed to have risen in recent months. Guardian sources say that gangs continue to attain a 100% success rate in smuggling migrants to the UK.

People smuggling and breaches of the UK border pose a threat not only to the lives of people who embark on such journeys but also to national security, demonstrating how easily our borders can be penetrated – not just by desperate migrants, but also by others who seek to do us harm. Which is no laughing matter.