To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the extent to which the new border control facilities which were introduced to implement the regime that came into effect in April are being used.

The Government’s concern has been to ensure that the infrastructure required to facilitate trade are in place, while respecting the discretion of port operators and other stakeholders to make decisions on a commercial basis about the use of their infrastructure and facilities.

We recognise that ports are in the best position to determine how to utilise facilities which meet the standards required for checks to be undertaken. Where any port has more capacity for checks than required under the Border Target Operating Model (BTOM), they are free to put their facilities to alternative use, provided they retain sufficient capacity to conduct the volume of checks required under the BTOM.

One of the reasons for not introducing the checks on EU imports in July 2023 was so that we could introduce a simplified, risk-based and data-driven regime of checks on goods that applies equally to EU and ‘rest of the world’ goods. Facilities for checks and controls can therefore be used flexibly for any imported goods, regardless of origin.

The BTOM sets outs out a risk-based, proportionate regime of controls which assesses the inherent biosecurity or public health risk presented by an import, together with the prevalence of relevant pests and diseases and our confidence in the exporting country’s production standards and health controls.

This assessment allows us to set controls at the most appropriate level and focus on the areas of highest risk to the UK. The goods posing the highest biosecurity risk are being prioritised as we build up to full check rates and high levels of compliance.