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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, which organisations will be responsible for billing for (a) the common user charge and (b) other charges arising from the Border Target Operating Model.

Defra consulted last year on the proposed Common User Charge (CUC) to recover operating costs at Government-run Border Control Posts (BCPs). It invited views on the principles, methodology and indicative rates for the CUC to determine fair and reasonable charges. Defra will use feedback to inform the final policy, which we expect to publish shortly. Port Health Authorities (PHAs) have charging mechanisms in place for covering the costs of checking sanitary and phytosanitary consignments, and the Government, in conjunction with devolved administrations, is working with PHAs to review fee levels and support the implementation of new checks of imports from the EU in early 2024.

Commercial BCP fees are a business decision for the operators of those sites.