Asked by: Stella Creasy (Labour (Co-op) - Walthamstow)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to the Border Target Operating Model, if he will establish a (a) complaints and (b) appeals process for importers who feel they have been charged a higher sum under the Common User Charge than they are liable for.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Businesses who must pay the Common User Charge will be guided by appropriate advice and support.
Shared Services Connected Ltd. (SSCL) will issue invoices on behalf of Defra. As part of their service, SSCL will be the first point of contact for any invoice related queries, including where a customer has a query about the amount they have been charged. SSCL also have an established complaints procedure. SSCL’s contact details will be provided on the invoices. Where required, SSCL can escalate queries, issues and complaints to a dedicated team within Defra for further consideration, investigation and resolution.
In addition, where a customer is not satisfied with any aspect of the service, they can follow Defra’s standard complaints procedure, as detailed in the CUC terms and conditions.
Asked by: Stella Creasy (Labour (Co-op) - Walthamstow)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 12 March 2024 to Question 13303 on Import Controls: Disease Control, when he will publish an economic impact assessment of the legislative measures required to introduce the Border Target Operating Model.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Analysis has been and will continue to be produced for statutory instruments in accordance with the Better Regulation Framework.
An Impact Assessment was produced for The Official Controls (Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations 2024 and was published on 22 April on legislation.gov.uk.
Asked by: Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Douglas-Miller on 12 March (HL2920), whether they will forecast the impact of different charges at different border control posts on traffic volumes, queues and emissions once the commercial ports have set their own fees.
Answered by Lord Douglas-Miller - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
It is up to individual commercial ports to determine their own charging structure and rates. This will allow ports to ensure costs cover their expenses while remaining viable for both industry and businesses.
Border Control Posts are designed to handle high volumes of imported sanitary and phytosanitary goods and offer extended opening hours with staff working shifts on site to carry out reliable checks which minimise friction on traffic flow.
The Government has worked with port and airport operators, traders, Port Health Authorities and the Animal and Plant Health Agency to make sure we have the right infrastructure, systems and resources in place.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to support small businesses in adapting to additional costs for post-Brexit border checks.
Answered by Lord Douglas-Miller - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
To support SMEs, Defra has identified and issued guidance on a number of facilitations and mitigations to reduce the burden of sanitary and phytosanitary import requirements using groupage.
The Common User Charge is designed to spread the costs to be recovered across the maximum number of imports. This approach distributes the cost across business of all sizes and sectors and provides a high level of predictability on costs for all importers.
The impact of the Common User Charge on businesses, and especially on small businesses, will be kept under monthly and quarterly reviews, with rates reviewed and updated annually.
Asked by: Stella Creasy (Labour (Co-op) - Walthamstow)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will make an estimate of the number of physical checks that will take place under the Border Target Operating Model on consignments containing only medium- and low-risk goods entering the UK through the short straits in the week commencing 6 May 2024; and what estimate he has made of the proportion of all such eligible consignments this would represent.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Estimates of the operational capacity of Sevington have been based on a throughput model that seeks to model the flow of goods into the site based on the volumes, seasonal trends, timetabling of ferries and operational assumptions around the number of bays in use, and the duration of inspections including marshalling time and cleaning.
Our checks are intelligence-led and based on biosecurity risk. It would be inappropriate for us to set out operational details like the exact inspection details from 30 April. Traders should continue to follow the published guidance which sets out BTOM inspection rates.
DEFRA will gradually increase changes in controlled stages to balance biosecurity risk and maintain trade flows whilst minimising disruption at the border.
This will allow the level of goods inspected at the border to be operationally manageable over the introductory stages.
Asked by: Stella Creasy (Labour (Co-op) - Walthamstow)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will make an estimate of the number of physical checks that will take place under the Border Target Operating Model on consignments containing only high-risk goods entering the UK through the short straits in the week commencing 6 May 2024; and what estimate he has made of the proportion of all such eligible consignments this would represent.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Estimates of the operational capacity of Sevington have been based on a throughput model that seeks to model the flow of goods into the site based on the volumes, seasonal trends, timetabling of ferries and operational assumptions around the number of bays in use, and the duration of inspections including marshalling time and cleaning.
Our checks are intelligence-led and based on biosecurity risk. It would be inappropriate for us to set out operational details like the exact inspection details from 30 April. Traders should continue to follow the published guidance which sets out BTOM inspection rates.
DEFRA will gradually increase changes in controlled stages to balance biosecurity risk and maintain trade flows whilst minimising disruption at the border.
This will allow the level of goods inspected at the border to be operationally manageable over the introductory stages.
Asked by: Stella Creasy (Labour (Co-op) - Walthamstow)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will make an assessment of the impact of current operating hours of privately-run Border Control Posts on just-in-time supply chains.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
BCPs are designed to handle high volumes of imported SPS goods and offer extended opening hours with staff working shifts on site to carry out reliable checks which minimise friction on traffic flow.
The Government has worked with port and airport operators, traders, Port Health Authorities and APHA to make sure we have the right infrastructure, systems and resources in place.
Asked by: Alicia Kearns (Conservative - Rutland and Melton)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether the UK has imported fertiliser from Russia since its invasion of Ukraine.
Answered by Alan Mak - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade) (jointly with the Cabinet Office)
In March 2022, the UK introduced additional duties of 35% on Russian fertilisers, excluding urea which is subject to a tariff of 6%. In July 2022, the UK also introduced bans on certain kinds of fertiliser.
HMRC data shows that UK imports of fertiliser from Russia in 2023 were down 80% compared to 2022 import values, demonstrating the impact of sanctions and additional tariffs.
We will continue to apply pressure, and coordinate with our international partners to do so, until Ukraine prevails or Putin ends his war of choice.
Asked by: Stella Creasy (Labour (Co-op) - Walthamstow)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether the basis on which the Common User Charge is levied will be set out in (a) regulations or (b) guidance.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Common User Charge will recover the full costs of operating the government-run BCP facilities in Sevington Kent, serving the Port of Dover and Eurotunnel in line with legislation: Article 79 to 85 of the retained Official Controls Regulations 2017; and in guidance as set out on GOV.UK at: Common user charge: rates and eligibility - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
Asked by: Stella Creasy (Labour (Co-op) - Walthamstow)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to the Border Target Operating Model, whether he has issued guidance to border control staff on the acceptable level of errors in a customs declaration for goods coming in to the UK.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra has worked closely with local authorities and port health authorities to develop an implementation plan for the BTOM. Guidance on new processes and how to approach enforcement has been provided to these competent authorities.