Asked by: Angus Brendan MacNeil (Independent - Na h-Eileanan an Iar)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he plans to take steps to reduce customs border requirements.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
The 2025 UK Border strategy sets out the Government’s vision for the UK border to be the most effective border in the world. At its core, that strategy is about making it as straightforward as possible for businesses to comply with customs requirements whilst keeping the UK safe and protecting our fiscal interests. To do that, we are embracing innovation and technology, including by investing £180 million to build a UK Single Trade Window which will streamline how traders share information with the Government.
Asked by: Angus Brendan MacNeil (Independent - Na h-Eileanan an Iar)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether the Government plans to take steps to regulate customs intermediaries.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
The customs intermediary sector has significantly increased their capacity to meet demand following the introduction of full customs controls from 1 January 2022. It is a government priority to ensure that there is sufficient capacity in the customs intermediary market to support UK traders.
Following the recent period of significant change to and scaling of the customs intermediary sector, we want to understand how the sector is performing and ensure that all traders, including Small and Medium-Sized enterprises, are able to access a customs intermediary at an affordable cost and that the service they receive is of high quality. To gather insight from industry, HMRC and HM Treasury have recently published a call for evidence which includes a section on the customs intermediary sector. The call for evidence opened on Monday 7 February 2022 and closes on Monday 2 May 2022.
Asked by: Angus Brendan MacNeil (Independent - Na h-Eileanan an Iar)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of trends in the level of demand for trade compliance professionals following the UK’s departure from the EU.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
The customs intermediary sector has significantly increased their capacity to meet demand following the introduction of full customs controls from 1 January 2022.
HMRC is closely monitoring the capacity of the sector, and its ability to respond to demand, through regular engagement and surveys. HMRC continue to engage closely with the sector to understand how it is responding and keep their support measures under constant close review.
HMRC publishes an intermediary register to make traders aware of businesses offering customs services. The register shows whether the intermediary is taking on clients and the services they offer including out of hours support. As of 26 April 2022, there are 1622 intermediaries. 987 say they have capacity to take on new business.
Asked by: Angus Brendan MacNeil (Independent - Na h-Eileanan an Iar)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps the Government is taking to tackle the shortage of qualified customs professionals.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
The customs intermediary sector has significantly increased their capacity to meet demand following the introduction of full customs controls from 1 January 2022.
HMRC is closely monitoring the capacity of the sector, and its ability to respond to demand, through regular engagement and surveys. HMRC continue to engage closely with the sector to understand how it is responding and keep their support measures under constant close review.
HMRC publishes an intermediary register to make traders aware of businesses offering customs services. The register shows whether the intermediary is taking on clients and the services they offer including out of hours support. As of 26 April 2022, there are 1622 intermediaries. 987 say they have capacity to take on new business.
Asked by: Angus Brendan MacNeil (Independent - Na h-Eileanan an Iar)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many businesses made use of HMRC's Customs Training Grants in (a) 2020 and (b) 2021.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
3542 grants to support training were offered through the Customs Grant Scheme in the 2019-21 period, from a wider cohort of 8,274 unique businesses that were supported with grants made available to invest in training, IT, and recruitment as part of this scheme.
Additionally, in 2021, the Small Business Brexit Support Fund offered 3,034 grants to support Small and Medium-Sized enterprises with training, from a total of 4,174 businesses that were helped to invest in either training or professional advice.