Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government, following the comments made by Sir David Lidington on 22 April, what assessment they have made of the available capacity of the Civil Service; and whether that capacity is sufficient to conclude a trade agreement with the EU at the same time as responding to COVID-19.

At this time of national crisis, resources have been redirected to work on Covid-19. There is a robust resourcing process in place that can be used to increase resource capacity on EU exit related work if departments require. This is a temporary arrangement, and at all times consideration has been given to ensuring that sufficient resource remains in place to support negotiations and readiness in line with the end of the transition period on 31 December.