Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, with reference to the Answer of 23 November 2022 to Question 90759 on Trader Support Service, what the cost to the public purse was of (a) Trader Support Services operations and (b) other costs associated with implementing the Northern Ireland protocol, between August 2020 and February 2023.

The Government took significant steps to make the Protocol work in its current form - committing to over £500 million in support to businesses since January 2021, including; delivering an unprecedented Trader Support Service (TSS) and Movement Assistance Schemes to help traders manage these new requirements (costing £346.2 million cost of running the TSS between August 2020 and February 2023) delivering four major IT systems, including the declaration, transit, safety and security and goods movement systems. The Movement Assistance Scheme, in place until December 2023, has already provided more than £10 million of support to businesses, covering the cost of more than 60,000 certificates and almost 3,000 inspection hours. The Government has pledged a further £150 million for a Digital Assistance Scheme to provide an end-to-end digital solution for agrifood certification.