Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to reports of the impact of the UK’s departure from the EU on ports, how many customs officers are employed at each such port in the UK; how many vacancies there are for such posts; what assessment they have made of the number of such officers required to address such an impact; and what steps they are taking to meet any shortfall in the number of customs officers required.

Border Force are responsible for customs controls at the UK border, and for the resources necessary to meet those responsibilities. HMRC are responsible for customs matters inland, and for overall revenue and customs policy. Border Force undertook a large scale recruitment and training exercise in order to be able to respond flexibly to requirements at the border after transition. The latest published staffing and finance figures for Border Force can be found in the Home Office Annual Report for 2019-2020.

The Government is monitoring freight flow across UK ports through the Border Operations Centre in the Cabinet Office and freight levels have been increasing over recent weeks.