To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has taken of the effectiveness of the Government's ability to tackle the trade in illicit goods being contingent on the introduction of safety and security declarations on goods traded between the UK and EU.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the effectiveness of the Government being able to tackle the trade in illicit goods being contingent on the introduction of safety and security declarations on goods traded between the UK and EU.

Advance goods data is fundamental to our approach to securing the UK border against goods of concern. It enables us to target our interventions against those consignments most likely to be harmful, while facilitating the flow of legitimate goods, and is typically made available in the form of safety and security declarations. In the absence of advance goods data, Border Force officers use a combination of intelligence, expertise and professional judgement to select goods for inspection. From 1 July 2022 we will receive advance data on EU goods as we currently receive for goods from the Rest of the World.