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 checks on goods being imported to the UK from the EU under the Trade and Cooperation Agreement and (b) cost of recruiting additional civil servants for that purpose.
Checks on goods being imported to the UK from the EU are carried out by HMRC, Defra and local Port Health Authorities. Full import controls are being introduced in a phased approach between October 2021 and March 2022. Defra and HMRC continue to review the number of staff required to conduct these checks and ensure that there are sufficient civil servants in post. Once the import controls, as set out under the Trade and Cooperation Agreement, have been fully implemented, an accurate estimate of additional staffing required and the cost of this recruitment can be made.