Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what (a) financial and (b) logistical support (i) has been and (ii) will be provided to port operators and port health authorities for potential changes in (A) throughput and (B) volume of trade at UK border control posts after the UK leaves the EU.

The Department for Transport has put in place £30M of funding for ports, Local Resilience Forums, and road & rail links.

Financial support is provided for sixteen ports across England who will receive a share of funding to help their preparations for Brexit on 31 October and beyond. The successful bidders of the £10m Port Infrastructure Resilience and Connectivity (PIRC) competition offers ports up to £1m each to deliver important infrastructure upgrades to help keep traffic and trade flowing smoothly across the border.

The fund PIRC is part of a wider £30m government package to support ports across England to operate efficiently post-Brexit. DfT is providing up to £5m to four Local Resilience Forums (LRF) outside Kent with the highest volumes of accompanied road freight traffic with EU ports. A further £15m will go towards the development of longer-term projects to boost road and rail links to ports.

Arrangements and support for Port Health and border operations are a matter for the responsible Government Departments.