Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps he is taking to increase information technology skills in the HM Revenue and Customs needed for the planned introduction of the CHIEF system and the extension of existing customs processing systems?

Introducing the Customs Declaration Service (CDS) Programme is a key priority for HMRC, and we are ensuring that it has the resources that it needs for both the development and subsequent operation. This includes active recruitment, reprioritising resources and adapting existing supporting organisations within the department. We are migrating customers from the current CHIEF system to CDS between August 2018 and January 2019, when CDS is due to be fully rolled out.