Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what the cost to the public purse has been of his Department hiring additional staff to cover issues related to the UK leaving the EU.

In the financial year 2017/18, HM Treasury allocated nearly £300m across a number of departments from the Reserve - BEIS received £35.1m of this funding, of which the majority related to staff costs.

In the financial year 2018/19, HMT allocated BEIS a supplementary £185.1m for EU exit work, of which £57.3m has been identified for staff. BEIS will keep these costs under review over the course of the current financial year.

As the negotiations continue, BEIS will reassess its requirements accordingly. Like other departments, BEIS will be invited to bid for 2019/20 EU exit funding from HMT later in the year with details of timings and process to be announced in due course.