The Government has undertaken a comprehensive programme of work to promote preparedness in the event the UK leaves the EU without a deal, which is continuously reviewed and updated to adapt and reflect to changing priorities. This has included advice to hauliers and shippers on border readiness. No further test exercises are planned between now and 31 October.

In relation to Operation Yellowhammer, may I ask the Secretary of State what role the 300 troops and 180 police officers who are to be put on standby will play in policing the transport network in and around the port of Portsmouth, and how many other troops and police may be deployed at other ports?

The aim of the Port Infrastructure Resilience and Connectivity (PIRC) Fund is to secure, by way of a grant, investment in English maritime ports that improves the resilience of the relevant ports to handle potential disruption from a no deal EU exit on 31 October, and also enhance ports’ resilience capabilities to maximise post-EU exit trade opportunities.

The bids received from ports for grants from the Fund were carefully assessed by officials at the Department for Transport and technical advisers against the following pre-determined criteria:

• Delivery date of the project

• Capacity & capability to be delivered

• Project deliverability & cost

• Longer term resilience benefits.

The 16 bids that performed best against these criteria were duly selected for grant funding, as announced by the Secretary of State on 26 September.

The bid assessment process should ensure that bids selected represent value for money. Further, the Department will now be monitoring successful bidders under the terms of grant agreements to make sure that the projects are delivered on time and on budget, so that grants are spent effectively and appropriately. Grants will only be paid in arrears following evidence that the work has been completed. Further, as per best practice for HMG grants, a review will be carried out at an appropriate time to assess the benefits of the scheme.

The aim of the Port Infrastructure Resilience and Connectivity (PIRC) Fund is to secure, by way of a grant, investment in English maritime ports that improves the resilience of the relevant ports to handle potential disruption from a no deal EU exit on 31 October, and also enhance ports’ resilience capabilities to maximise post-EU exit trade opportunities.

The bids received from ports for grants from the Fund were carefully assessed by officials at the Department for Transport and technical advisers against the following pre-determined criteria:

• Delivery date of the project

• Capacity & capability to be delivered

• Project deliverability & cost

• Longer term resilience benefits.

The 16 bids that performed best against these criteria were duly selected for grant funding, as announced by the Secretary of State on 26 September.

The bid assessment process should ensure that bids selected represent value for money. Further, the Department will now be monitoring successful bidders under the terms of grant agreements to make sure that the projects are delivered on time and on budget, so that grants are spent effectively and appropriately. Grants will only be paid in arrears following evidence that the work has been completed. Further, as per best practice for HMG grants, a review will be carried out at an appropriate time to assess the benefits of the scheme.

It was announced on 26 September that sixteen ports across England will receive a share of a multimillion-pound funding pot to help their preparations for Brexit on 31 October and beyond. The successful bidders of the £10 million Port Infrastructure Resilience and Connectivity (PIRC) competition offers ports up to £1 million each to deliver important infrastructure upgrades to help keep traffic and trade flowing smoothly across the border.

The fund is part of a wider £30 million government package to support ports across England to operate efficiently post-Brexit of which DfT is providing up to £5 million to four Local Resilience Forums (LRF) outside Kent with the highest volumes of accompanied road freight traffic with EU ports. A further £15 million will go towards the development of longer-term projects to boost road and rail links to ports.

It is for the relevant LRFs to consider how this impacts on port infrastructure and local traffic management plans. DfT will continue to support this work.

The Department for Transport has put in place £30M of funding for ports, Local Resilience Forums, and road & rail links.

Financial support is provided for sixteen ports across England who will receive a share of funding to help their preparations for Brexit on 31 October and beyond. The successful bidders of the £10m Port Infrastructure Resilience and Connectivity (PIRC) competition offers ports up to £1m each to deliver important infrastructure upgrades to help keep traffic and trade flowing smoothly across the border.

The fund PIRC is part of a wider £30m government package to support ports across England to operate efficiently post-Brexit. DfT is providing up to £5m to four Local Resilience Forums (LRF) outside Kent with the highest volumes of accompanied road freight traffic with EU ports. A further £15m will go towards the development of longer-term projects to boost road and rail links to ports.

Arrangements and support for Port Health and border operations are a matter for the responsible Government Departments.

The Department has been liaising with ports and local partners on Brexit preparedness, for some time. In Kent, along with Highways England and other partners, the Department has been working closely to develop Operation Brock, which is intended to provide the resilience and flexibility required to deal with any disruption to cross-Channel travel from Kent ports. As well as keeping freight moving through our ports, the contingency measures of Operation Brock are designed to keep Kent’s road network moving for local people, businesses and visitors.

The Department has also engaged closely with localities outside Kent, and has recently shared revised analysis of the potential impact of a no deal Brexit on key ports with the Local Resilience Forums (LRFs) in Humber, Hampshire and Isle of Wight, Merseyside, Lancashire, Essex and North Wales. It is now for those LRFs to consider how this impacts on their traffic management contingency plans and whether any amendments are required.

On 30 August, the Secretary of State for Transport announced the £10M Port Infrastructure Resilience and Connectivity (PIRC) fund with the intention of supporting Brexit resilience preparations at English ports. Ports in the South West will be eligible to apply for PIRC funding, and any bid will be subject to a competitive assessment process against applications from other ports.

The Government is engaging closely with the Wales Office and Welsh Government as part of the programme to ensure that all UK ports are prepared for the UK leaving the EU, including the possibility of a no-deal exit.

Significant progress has been made on the Withdrawal Agreement, including reaching agreement at the March European Council on the legal text relating to the terms of an implementation period. This will start on 30 March 2019 and last until 31 December 2020. During the implementation period, the UK will no longer be a Member State of the European Union, but market access will continue on current terms. Common rules will remain in place until the end of the period meaning businesses will be able to trade on the same terms as now up until the end of 2020.

The Government recognises the importance to the country’s economy for trade fluidity through the UK’s key ports. We want to ensure that traders, intermediaries and freight forwarders can continue to move goods through ports as quickly and seamlessly as they do now. We have set up a Border Delivery Group to bring together individual departmental plans, forming an overall picture and plan of what we need to do at borders.

As any responsible government should we are continuing to prepare for a range of outcomes, including the unlikely scenario in which no mutually satisfactory agreement can be reached.

We have been clear in our objective to ensure that movement through ports remains as frictionless as possible, whatever the outcome of the negotiations with the EU. As the Prime Minister and Secretary of State set out in Parliament on 18th July, the government will be publishing a set of technical notices throughout August and September to help businesses and citizens prepare for March 2019 in the event of a ‘no deal’ scenario.