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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how much his Department has spent on new IT capabilities to enable the (a) registration and (b) regulation of chemical substances in the UK market, after the UK leaves the EU.

Work has started on the delivery of new IT capability to enable the registration and regulation of chemical substances placed on the UK market. This forms part of our contingency planning for Day 1 readiness and will ensure continuity for businesses after the UK leaves the EU.

To date, Defra has spent has spent £330,000 on the Alpha development phase of a new IT system for the registration of chemical substances. No expenditure has been incurred to date on developing IT capability for the regulation of chemical substances as the initial phases of the project are focussed on registration.