Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate he has made of the (a) number of officials to be employed by his Department and (b) his Department's payroll in (i) 2018, (ii) 2019, (iii) 2020, (iv) 2021 and (v) 2022 as a result of the UK leaving EU.

Over 80% of Defra’s agenda is affected by the UK’s departure from the European Union. We continue to keep our resourcing plans under review, focusing both on recruitment and increasing the capability of new and existing staff.

Since June 2016, Defra has recruited over 550 additional staff to support our preparations for leaving the EU. The majority of these new staff are employed in the central department where they are working on a range of projects identified to enable a successful withdrawal from the EU.