Asked by: Baroness Hoey (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to ensure that those flying from Belfast airports to the EU can buy duty-free goods.
Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
The government has no plans to reform duty-free shopping between Northern Ireland and the EU, which would require border controls between Northern Ireland and Ireland and would run counter to the principles of the Windsor Framework.
Asked by: Baroness Hoey (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many checks took place on goods moving between Great Britain to Northern Ireland via the UK Internal Market Scheme between 1 February and 10 March.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton
Full information on the goods moved under the UK Internal Market scheme between 1 February and 10 March 2024 is not currently available. The UK Internal Market Scheme is currently live with over 7700 businesses in the scheme as of 11 March 2024, which includes over 3000 new businesses that did not benefit from the previous UK Trader Scheme.
Asked by: Baroness Hoey (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government what specific information must be provided for authorisation to access the UK Internal Market Scheme, and whether this includes information to be declared “for customs purposes” in accordance with Article 9(2) of a Joint Committee Decision No 1/2023.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton
The UK Internal Market Scheme (UKIMS) replaced the UK Trader Scheme on 30 September 2023, allowing a much wider range of businesses to move goods into Northern Ireland under the existing ‘not at risk’ arrangements, with over 3,000 new businesses now authorised.
From 30 September 2024, these traders will also be able to benefit from the new simplified processes for UK internal market movements which will scrap burdensome supplementary declarations and use a much shorter, simpler dataset containing standard commercial information.
The specific information to be provided in respect of UKIMS authorisation is set out on GOV.UK[1].
[1] https://www.gov.uk/guidance/apply-for-authorisation-for-the-uk-internal-market-scheme-if-you-bring-goods-into-northern-ireland
Asked by: Baroness Hoey (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether customs paperwork is needed for goods moving from Great Britain to Northern Ireland via the UK Internal Market Scheme.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton
The UK Internal Market Scheme (UKIMS) replaced the UK Trader Scheme on 30 September 2023, allowing a much wider range of businesses to move goods into Northern Ireland under the existing ‘not at risk’ arrangements, with over 3,000 new businesses now authorised.
From 30 September 2024, these traders will also be able to benefit from the new simplified processes for UK internal market movements which will scrap burdensome supplementary declarations and use a much shorter, simpler dataset containing standard commercial information.
The specific information to be provided in respect of UKIMS authorisation is set out on GOV.UK[1].
[1] https://www.gov.uk/guidance/apply-for-authorisation-for-the-uk-internal-market-scheme-if-you-bring-goods-into-northern-ireland
Asked by: Baroness Hoey (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government what authorisations are required, and what customs information needs to be provided, by a trader moving goods from Liverpool to Glasgow or between any other two locations in Great Britain.
Answered by Baroness Penn
There is usually no requirement for authorisations or customs declarations for goods being moved between locations within Great Britain. In certain circumstances customs formalities may be required for movements between two locations in GB, for example non-domestic goods that have been imported but are not yet released into the UK market.
Additionally, where a business moves goods within GB, it is likely to have to provide ordinary commercial information about what is being moved to any courier, haulier or parcel operator contracted to move the goods, which could include, for example, a description of the goods, their value and their destination.
Asked by: Baroness Hoey (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government what has been the total cost so far of setting up (1) the UK Internal Market Scheme, and (2) the Trader Support Service.
Answered by Baroness Penn
(1) The UK Internal Market Scheme (UKIMS) will replace the UK Trader Scheme (UKTS) on 30 September 2023. The launch of the UKIMS is an operational activity and delivered through resources in place to manage the UKTS
(2) The total cost of setting up and running TSS (August 2020-August 2023) is £411.6m. The TSS cost figures quoted do not include any HMRC operational spend on UKIMS, however they may include some spend on the TSS's own readiness activities for UKIMS.
We are not able to provide a figure for spend on UKIMS because we do not hold the information at that granular level, where the scheme has been delivered as part of a wider programme of work. For example, operational staff will be trained to work on UKIMS as well as other related areas and trying to estimate exact cost could lead to inaccuracies in reporting.
Asked by: Baroness Hoey (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government what level of responsibility hauliers have in ensuring that commodity codes are correct on consignments going from Great Britain to Northern Ireland.
Answered by Baroness Penn
When fully implemented from 30 September 2024, the new Windsor Framework arrangements will remove the need to provide a commodity code for each movement of goods from Great Britain to Northern Ireland, for traders who are part of the UK Internal Market Scheme (UKIMS). Instead, traders will be able to provide a simple goods description to the Trader Support Service (TSS) or their customs agent.
When making a goods movement, most traders will provide data about the movement either to their haulier or directly to the TSS or their customs agent, who will submit the required data to HMRC. The trader will be responsible for ensuring that this data is correct. It is a commercial choice for the parties involved whether they make further contractual arrangements to manage liability.
Asked by: Baroness Hoey (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Penn (HL5751), for what reasons they consider that introducing duty free at airports in Northern Ireland for passengers flying to the EU would undermine their commitment to maintaining frictionless trade.
Answered by Baroness Penn
Introducing duty free shopping between Northern Ireland and the EU (which includes the Republic of Ireland) would require implementing allowances for the movement of these goods, to stop the uncontrolled flow of tax-free goods into either Northern Ireland or the EU (including the Republic of Ireland). These allowances would require enforcement. Therefore, if this were to be implemented, controls on the movement of goods between NI and the Republic of Ireland would be required, contravening the shared ambitions of the UK, Ireland and the EU.
Asked by: Baroness Hoey (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Vere of Norbiton on 3 July (HL8800), why airports in Northern Ireland are not able to avail of the duty free sales for passengers travelling to the EU now available at all airports in England, Wales and Scotland.
Answered by Baroness Penn
Northern Ireland enjoys frictionless trade with both the rest of the United Kingdom and the EU – the Government is committed to ensuring that remains the case.
Enabling duty-free shopping between Northern Ireland and the EU would undermine frictionless trade with the EU.
Asked by: Baroness Hoey (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the number of smaller companies in Northern Ireland becoming unviable because of customs formalities, checks and paperwork in the ‘red lane’.
Answered by Baroness Penn
The implementation of the green and red lane approach for the movement of goods outlined under the Windsor Framework represents a very significant improvement for traders in Northern Ireland compared to the old Northern Ireland Protocol.
In respect of the Windsor Framework specifically, Government will continue to provide the free-to-use Trader Support Service (TSS) for movements into Northern Ireland via both the red lane and the green lane, mitigating any potential administrative impact on smaller companies who will still move some goods via the red lane.