Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, what estimate his Department has made of the (a) number of additional civil servants required to administer the requirements of the Northern Ireland Protocol relating to the flow of goods between Northern Ireland and Great Britain and (b) cost of recruiting additional civil servants for that purpose.

Border Force has recruited fifty full-time equivalents for the purpose of implementing the Northern Ireland Protocol at a total cost of approximately £1.4m.

Other Departments have recruited small numbers of additional staff but have generally managed the requirements of the Protocol through reprioritization.