Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many civil servants in his Department are currently working on planning for the UK leaving the EU without a deal; and how many have been moved from other projects to work on those plans.

Departments continually review workforce plans, reprioritise and assess changing needs, which includes identification and cessation of non-priority work where appropriate. We have accelerated our plans, and at the same time, the Civil Service as a whole is working to ensure that EU Exit Implementation is carried out to high quality without impacting public service delivery across the whole of government. The Cabinet Office has staff working on EU exit implementation for a range of scenarios in the interests of preparedness, however the percentage of time spent on exiting the EU without a deal is not recorded or easily accessible.