Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what proportion of the £4.2 billion he has made available for planning for the UK to leave the EU since 2016 has been (a) allocated to departments and agencies and (b) spent.

HM Treasury has allocated over £4.2 billion of additional funding to departments and the Devolved Administrations for EU exit preparations so far. This breaks down as:

• £412m of additional funding over the spending review period for the Department for Exiting the European Union, Department for International Trade and the Foreign & Commonwealth Office at Autumn Statement 2016.

• £286m of additional funding for 17/18 (a full breakdown of which can be found in Supplementary Estimates 17/18).

  https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/679738/PU2137_Supplementary_estimates_web.pdf.

• Over £1.5bn of additional funding for 18/19. A full breakdown of the allocations can be found in the Chief Secretary’s Written Ministerial Statement, HCWS540, laid on the 13th March (https://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-statement/Commons/2018-03-13/HCWS540/)

• Over £2bn of additional funding for 19/20. A full breakdown of the allocations can be found in the Chief Secretary’s Written Ministerial Statement, HCWS1205, laid on the 18th December (https://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-statement/Commons/2018-12-18/HCWS1205/)

  Whilst HM Treasury has oversight of policies with spending implications, the spending framework means the Treasury will not monitor each individual cost incurred to prepare for EU Exit.

  To ensure those closest to the decisions have the authority to manage public money efficiently and effectively, departments are set delegated spending limits. This means that where spend is not novel, contentious or repercussive, departments have autonomy to incur expenditure without seeking formal HMT clearance.