Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to address concerns of criminality relating to (1) money laundering, or (2) people trafficking, in instances where a freeport is located within an existing port approved location or within a freeport boundary with a variation from normal customs rules.

The Freeports Programme monitoring and evaluation strategy (attached) sets out how the effectiveness and impact of the Freeport programme will be measured.

A breakdown of the amount of jobs that English Freeports estimate they will contribute to can be found in the UK Freeports programme annual report (attached). In addition, we recently announced two new Green Freeports in Scotland, which estimate they will create over 75,000 new, high-skilled jobs. These forecasts will be reviewed through a baselining exercise in early 2024 and performance against them tracked and reported on through the Government's ongoing monitoring and evaluation of the programme (attached).

With the majority of English Freeports now fully up-and-running, we are starting to see them attract new investment to their regions. More information about how Freeports deliver for the UK economy can be found in the UK Freeports programme annual report (attached).

Freeport’s special customs status - which builds on facilitations available elsewhere in the UK - is available only on specific 'customs sites' within the wider Freeport footprint. These are secure sites administered by a specially authorised 'Customs Site Operator' or CSO. CSOs are required to obtain AEO(S) or equivalent authorisation from HMRC, an international gold standard for safety and security, and remain subject to robust ongoing oversight from HMRC. Freeports uphold the UK's high standards on security and preventing illicit activity.