Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate his Department has made of the number of businesses that are prepared for the completion of customs paperwork for export to the EU.

The Government has been working for over a year to help businesses to understand and prepare for their new obligations, including customs paperwork for export to the EU.

The Government undertook significant readiness activity prior to 1 January, identifying key customer groups and delivering a high volume of targeted communications and engagement, including sending over 11 million letters and emails and hosting 50 webinars with over 30,000 attendees to date, preparing businesses for the new rules.

Through the cross-Government campaign since August the Government has reached 41m adults (15+) and 16m business decision makers through radio, and 18m adults (15+) and 3.5m business decision makers through print and digital articles, promoting key readiness messaging for importers and exporters.

The Government will continue to assess carefully how traders are adapting to the new customs arrangements over the next few weeks and months.