Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of the timescales for businesses to prepare for the implementation of the Border Target Operating Model.

The government published the draft Border Target Operating Model in April. This sets out plans to introduce security and biosecurity controls from 31 October in a way which implements critical protections at the UK border, while ensuring these new controls are as simple as possible for businesses to comply with.

The relevant business stakeholders informed us before publication that they will need time to prepare for these changes, and our phased approach to implementation is designed to give them this time.

We are working closely with businesses to get this right - the current period of engagement helps us to gather views on our draft proposals from businesses in the UK and overseas, to explore the costs of implementing the new model, and to ensure importing is as smooth as possible where checks are needed.

The cost of preparing for regulatory change will vary from business to business, however the Government is working closely with businesses to help them understand what they need to do.

We are also using the engagement period to ensure that UK and international businesses and their supply chains are aware of and understand the new requirements and are ready for these changes.

We will publish a final version of the Border Target Operating Model, providing further detail where needed, in the summer.