Question to the Department for Exiting the European Union :

To ask Her Majesty's Government what expenditure, if any, they have incurred on developing potential technological solutions to issues relating to the Irish border after Brexit.

Consideration of policy options for the UK’s orderly withdrawal from the European Union have been resourced from Departmental budgets and no figures are available as to the cost of consideration of specific options.

The EU and the UK have agreed in the Political Declaration to work together to exchange information on facilitative arrangements and technologies. The Prime Minister is seeking legally binding changes to the Withdrawal Agreement that deal with concerns on the backstop, while guaranteeing no return to a hard border between Northern Ireland and Ireland.

There are a number of ways to secure a backstop that Parliament can support. We are engaging constructively with the details of proposals.