Asked by: Stella Creasy (Labour (Co-op) - Walthamstow)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 29 January 2024 to Question 11319 on Import Controls, whether the 17.4m additional safety and security declarations projected to be required is inclusive of the 4.5m consignments subject to sanitary and phytosanitary checks.
Answered by Steve Baker - Minister of State (Northern Ireland Office)
The forecast number of Safety & Security (S&S) declarations includes declarations for those goods which will also be subject to sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) requirements. The numbers referred to by the Hon Lady are not directly comparable, as a single S&S declaration may correspond with multiple SPS requirements for the same shipment.
All goods, including those not subject to SPS requirements, will be subject to occasional intelligence-led checks by Border Force. S&S declarations are an important part of Border Force’s frontier risk assessment processes. The data gathered informs intelligence-based checks to identify and seize illicit goods. Increased S&S data will help us better target illicit goods, and allow legitimate goods to continue to move freely.
If a consignment is not subject to SPS requirements, it will not be subject to the Common User Charge.
Asked by: Stella Creasy (Labour (Co-op) - Walthamstow)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 29 January 2024 to Question 11319 on Import Controls, whether consignments requiring a Safety and Security declaration but not subject to SPS requirements will be required to pay the Common User Charge.
Answered by Steve Baker - Minister of State (Northern Ireland Office)
The forecast number of Safety & Security (S&S) declarations includes declarations for those goods which will also be subject to sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) requirements. The numbers referred to by the Hon Lady are not directly comparable, as a single S&S declaration may correspond with multiple SPS requirements for the same shipment.
All goods, including those not subject to SPS requirements, will be subject to occasional intelligence-led checks by Border Force. S&S declarations are an important part of Border Force’s frontier risk assessment processes. The data gathered informs intelligence-based checks to identify and seize illicit goods. Increased S&S data will help us better target illicit goods, and allow legitimate goods to continue to move freely.
If a consignment is not subject to SPS requirements, it will not be subject to the Common User Charge.
Asked by: Stella Creasy (Labour (Co-op) - Walthamstow)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 29 January 2024 to Question 11319 on Import Controls, what checks will be carried out on consignments which require a safety and security declaration but which are not subject to sanitary and phytosanitary requirements.
Answered by Steve Baker - Minister of State (Northern Ireland Office)
The forecast number of Safety & Security (S&S) declarations includes declarations for those goods which will also be subject to sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) requirements. The numbers referred to by the Hon Lady are not directly comparable, as a single S&S declaration may correspond with multiple SPS requirements for the same shipment.
All goods, including those not subject to SPS requirements, will be subject to occasional intelligence-led checks by Border Force. S&S declarations are an important part of Border Force’s frontier risk assessment processes. The data gathered informs intelligence-based checks to identify and seize illicit goods. Increased S&S data will help us better target illicit goods, and allow legitimate goods to continue to move freely.
If a consignment is not subject to SPS requirements, it will not be subject to the Common User Charge.
Asked by: Stella Creasy (Labour (Co-op) - Walthamstow)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 21 February 2024 to Question 14056 on Customs: Digital Technology, when he will publish the Government's response to the UK Single Trade Window: Consultation on Features to Inform Design and Legislation.
Answered by Steve Baker - Minister of State (Northern Ireland Office)
The Government published full details of the Border Target Operating Model in August 2023 and the third stage, which involves the single trade window, is scheduled for 30 October, with the arrangements being made by Statutory Instrument rather than primary legislation. The Cabinet Office is considering whether a response to the UK Single Trade Window: Consultation on Features to Inform Design and Legislation should be published and when that would be most useful to all concerned.
Asked by: Stella Creasy (Labour (Co-op) - Walthamstow)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, when he plans to publish his response to the Government's consultation on the UK Single Trade Window.
Answered by Alex Burghart - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The Cabinet Office will look to publish the government’s response to the UK Single Trade Window: Consultation on Features to Inform Design and Legislation in the coming weeks.
Asked by: Stella Creasy (Labour (Co-op) - Walthamstow)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to paragraph 56 of The Border Target Operating Model, published in August 2023, what costs are within the scope of the estimated £330 million per year overall cost of the new model.
Answered by Alex Burghart - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The estimated £330 million per year new costs to EU imports covers the costs to industry and traders for both Safety and Security and Sanitary and Phytosanitary aspects of the Border Target Operating Model (BTOM).
Asked by: Stella Creasy (Labour (Co-op) - Walthamstow)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 29 January 2024 to Question 11319 on Import Controls, what the cost to business will be of an individual Safety and Security declaration made using the single trade window scheme; and whether this cost will cover (a) the cost of sanitary and phytosanitary checks and (b) the Common User Charge.
Answered by Alex Burghart - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
There will be no charge for businesses to submit Safety and Security information through the Single Trade Window.
Asked by: Stella Creasy (Labour (Co-op) - Walthamstow)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what estimate he has made of the number of additional declarations that businesses will need to make following the implementation of the Border Target Operation Model.
Answered by Alex Burghart - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The Border Target Operating Model sets out our new approach to Safety and Security controls (applying to all imports and standardising controls applied to Rest of World and EU trade), and Sanitary and Phytosanitary controls (applied to imports of animal products, germinal products, plants and plant products and live animals) at the border. It also outlines how we will reduce the administrative burden of traders providing this information through the UK Single Trade Window.
Future trade flows are of course subject to factors beyond government policy including changes to consumer and trader behaviour.
Our modelling estimates 17.4m additional Safety and Security declarations will be required following implementation of the Border Target Operating Model. We also estimate a total of up to 4.5m consignments that are imported into the UK from the EU will be subject to Sanitary and Phytosanitary requirements. These requirements depend on the risk of the commodity within the consignment as outlined in the published Border Target Operating Model.
These estimates are based on data sourced from a range of government agencies, including Safety and Security declarations for non-EU trade, customs declaration data and transit data. The Government will continue to assess the latest estimates based on more recent data.
Asked by: Stella Creasy (Labour (Co-op) - Walthamstow)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will publish the data sources used by his Department to estimate the impact on inflation of non-tariff measures under the the border target operating model as 0.2% over three years.
Answered by Alex Burghart - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The Government’s modelling of the inflationary impact of the Border Target Operating Model has been undertaken through a peer-reviewed econometric model. The data input into the model includes a mix of published and unpublished commercially sensitive data sources.
Our estimates on the impact on consumer food price inflation have been developed alongside academics, through a model trusted by organisations across government such as His Majesty’s Treasury. The model can be found here:
In developing the new Border Target Operating Model, our goal has been to design a modern border with a simplified but effective system of Sanitary and Phytosanitary controls. This is a border that optimises the balance between maintaining, or improving, biosecurity, public health and food safety and sets a proportionate approach to controls.
Asked by: Stella Creasy (Labour (Co-op) - Walthamstow)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to the Retained EU Law Bill, whether he plans to (a) revoke (b) retain or (c) replace the Utilities Contracts Regulations 2016.
Answered by Alex Burghart - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The Utilities Contracts Regulations 2016 (along with the Public Contracts Regulations 2015, Concession Contracts Regulations 2016 and the Defence and Security Public Contracts Regulations 2011) will be replaced by the new public procurement regime being put in place by the Procurement Bill, currently being debated in Parliament.
The Bill will create simpler, more flexible and less complicated rules, and will open up more government procurement for small businesses and voluntary and community groups. The Bill also takes advantage of post-Brexit opportunities, allowing the UK to shape its own procurement rules, while complying with international obligations.
This is one of the ways we are helping grow the economy, creating better-paid jobs and opportunity right across the country - one of the Government’s five key priorities.