Asked by: Baroness Adams of Craigielea (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask His Majesty's Government what variation in normal customs rules are applied within each freeport in the UK.
Answered by Baroness Scott of Bybrook - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
Businesses authorised by HMRC to operate on specific, secure 'customs sites' within Freeports can take advantage of a special customs procedure which builds on facilitations available elsewhere in the UK. The details of this procedure can be found (attached) in HMRC's guidance on customs sites.
Asked by: Baroness Adams of Craigielea (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask His Majesty's Government what additional support they have provided to local governments to support additional needs following (1) job creation, and (2) the movement or growth of population, in the areas around freeports.
Answered by Baroness Scott of Bybrook - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
The Freeport policy model features a generous package of funding for local authorities to help them drive local regeneration, including by meeting local infrastructure and other needs. This encompasses £1 million of funding to support local capacity to deliver, £25 million of funding for local capital works, and potentially hundreds of millions of flexible funding through local retention of business rates, to be used in line with local priorities.
Asked by: Baroness Adams of Craigielea (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to address concerns of criminality relating to (1) money laundering, or (2) people trafficking, in instances where a freeport is located within an existing port approved location or within a freeport boundary with a variation from normal customs rules.
Answered by Baroness Scott of Bybrook - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
The Freeports Programme monitoring and evaluation strategy (attached) sets out how the effectiveness and impact of the Freeport programme will be measured.
A breakdown of the amount of jobs that English Freeports estimate they will contribute to can be found in the UK Freeports programme annual report (attached). In addition, we recently announced two new Green Freeports in Scotland, which estimate they will create over 75,000 new, high-skilled jobs. These forecasts will be reviewed through a baselining exercise in early 2024 and performance against them tracked and reported on through the Government's ongoing monitoring and evaluation of the programme (attached).
With the majority of English Freeports now fully up-and-running, we are starting to see them attract new investment to their regions. More information about how Freeports deliver for the UK economy can be found in the UK Freeports programme annual report (attached).
Freeport’s special customs status - which builds on facilitations available elsewhere in the UK - is available only on specific 'customs sites' within the wider Freeport footprint. These are secure sites administered by a specially authorised 'Customs Site Operator' or CSO. CSOs are required to obtain AEO(S) or equivalent authorisation from HMRC, an international gold standard for safety and security, and remain subject to robust ongoing oversight from HMRC. Freeports uphold the UK's high standards on security and preventing illicit activity.
Asked by: Baroness Adams of Craigielea (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many employees at freeports in the UK are excluded from employer National Instance contributions under the Freeport Upper Secondary Threshold.
Answered by Baroness Scott of Bybrook - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
There is a zero rate of secondary Class 1 national Insurance contributions on the earnings of new employees who spend 60% or more of their working time within Freeport tax sites. This rate can be applied on the earnings of all new hires up to £25,000 per annum from April 2022 and for 36 months per employee.
Asked by: Baroness Adams of Craigielea (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether existing trade union and labour relations laws will operate inside freeport zones in the same way they operate outside of them.
Answered by Baroness Scott of Bybrook - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
Freeports will maintain the UK's high standards with respect to workers' rights and Freeport areas are subject to the relevant legislation to ensure this, including relevant UK employment laws and protections.
Asked by: Baroness Adams of Craigielea (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many employees currently work in each UK freeport; and how many (1) full, and (2) part, time jobs have been created in existing freeports in the UK.
Answered by Baroness Scott of Bybrook - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
With the majority of English Freeports now fully up-and-running, we are starting to see them attract new investment to their regions. Following the construction of new facilities and infrastructure, this investment will deliver thousands of high-quality, long-term jobs for local communities. For example, SeAH Wind Ltd are investing £400 million in the Teesside Freeport to build an offshore wind manufacturing facility that will create around 1,500 jobs.
That is just one example: English Freeports expect to create 130,000 direct and over 80,000 indirect jobs. On top of this, we recently announced two new Green Freeports in Scotland, which estimate they will create over 75,000 new, high-skilled jobs. These forecasts will be reviewed through a baselining exercise in early 2023 and performance against them tracked and reported on as part of the UK Freeports Programme Annual Report (attached). The next Annual Report is due to be published towards the end of this year.