UK Internal Trade: Northern Ireland
(asked on 6th March 2025) - View Source
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many people are employed or contracted to work by (1) the Trader Support Service, (2) the Movement Assistance Scheme, and (3) any other services or schemes providing support and assistance in relation to trading between Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
The Government is committed to supporting industry in moving goods smoothly between Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Support to industry is offered through schemes such as the Movement Assistance Scheme (MAS) and the Trader Support Service (TSS). The costs of the MAS, TSS and Digital Assistance Scheme (DAS) are set out below:
| FY 2020/21 | FY2021/22 | FY2022/23 | FY2023/24 | FY2024/25 |
MAS | £3.53 million | £9.78 million | £8.75 million | £9.64 million | £8.30 million (up to 30/01/2025) |
TSS | £100.62 million | £148.80 million | £114.68 million | £105.19 million | £73.18 million (up to 30/01/2025) |
DAS | £3.45 million | £13.73 million | £16.6 million | £18.4 million | £15.2 million (up to 28/02/2025) |
In addition to the MAS, TSS, and DAS, the Government awarded £1.4m in grants from the Transitional Labelling Financial Assistance Scheme in FY2023/24.
The budget for the MAS currently covers the following FTE staff: 18.5 in Animal and Plant Health Agency, 2.0 in the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs, and 1.0 contractor. The TSS is overseen by HMRC and operated by a consortium led by a private contractor. There are currently 267 FTE staff employed by the consortium. Figures on the number of staff working on the Transitional Labelling Financial Assistance Scheme and Digital Assistance Scheme are not available, as these cannot be disaggregated from the wider teams in which they worked.