The Government has engaged extensively with ports and carriers to ensure they are ready for the end of staged customs controls. We are confident that arrangements are in place to ensure the continued flow of trade over the Christmas period.

​The Government has invested £470 million for new infrastructure to carry out customs and biosecurity checks, including £200 million Port Infrastructure Fund grants for ports to build infrastructure onsite and £270 million for Inland Sites.

My Lords, I am in regular contact with Vice-President Šefčovič about the full range of issues relating to the UK-EU relationship. Most recently, I met him in Brussels on 15 October for an initial discussion of the EU’s proposals. I expect to talk to him again very shortly. My teams and that of the EU have been in talks in Brussels this week about the detail of the proposals that the EU has put on the table.

The majority of Common Frameworks intersect with the policy areas covered in Northern Ireland Protocol. Common Frameworks contain the governance structures needed to manage divergence arising as a consequence of new or amended EU law applied through the Protocol. Reporting on any divergence arising from the Protocol will be a matter for the relevant Common Framework-owning departments and their Devolved Administration counterparts to consider.

The Northern Ireland Executive has provided provisional confirmation for 21 Common Frameworks. Of the remaining 32 active areas in which a Common Framework is required, 28 Common Frameworks have now been provisionally confirmed and one has been fully implemented. Once sufficiently progressed, the Northern Ireland Executive will be sharing their Frameworks with the Northern Ireland Assembly to allow for Parliamentary Scrutiny in the same way colleagues across the UK Government will be sharing the provisionally confirmed Frameworks with the UK Parliament.

The majority of Common Frameworks intersect with the policy areas covered in Northern Ireland Protocol. Common Frameworks contain the governance structures needed to manage divergence arising as a consequence of new or amended EU law applied through the Protocol. Reporting on any divergence arising from the Protocol will be a matter for the relevant Common Framework-owning departments and their Devolved Administration counterparts to consider.

The Northern Ireland Executive has provided provisional confirmation for 21 Common Frameworks. Of the remaining 32 active areas in which a Common Framework is required, 28 Common Frameworks have now been provisionally confirmed and one has been fully implemented. Once sufficiently progressed, the Northern Ireland Executive will be sharing their Frameworks with the Northern Ireland Assembly to allow for Parliamentary Scrutiny in the same way colleagues across the UK Government will be sharing the provisionally confirmed Frameworks with the UK Parliament.

My Lords, I have spoken to many businesses and business organisations in Northern Ireland about this issue. The reality is that Northern Ireland’s economic links are overwhelmingly with the rest of the UK, rather than with Ireland or other EU members. The way that the protocol is currently operating means that any economic benefits it may generate for some are more than counterbalanced in general by the barriers it currently creates between Northern Ireland and Great Britain.

Comprehensive guidance on what the Protocol means for people and businesses in Great Britain and Northern Ireland is available online. In particular, details of available support and of specific processes for different kinds of goods movements (whether by traders or individuals) is available at this link: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/trading-and-moving-goods-in-and-out-of-northern-ireland.

The Joint Consultative Working Group briefly convened for a very short period on 29 January to adopt the Rules of Procedure. This was not a full meeting so was attended by limited delegations of only three officials from each side.

The Working Group will continue to meet at dates decided by the co-chairs.

There have been challenges in the operation of the Protocol since the beginning of the year but the invocation of Article 16 on 29 January compounded those issues and undermined confidence across Northern Ireland.

Urgent progress is required to address outstanding concerns about the Protocol and restore confidence on the ground in Northern Ireland. Our discussions continue in the Joint Committee framework to take that forward. To provide space for those discussions without the threat of significant disruption for day-to-day lives in Northern Ireland, last week the Government set out several temporary operational measures to provide more time for businesses, such as supermarkets and their suppliers, to adapt to new requirements. These measures are lawful as part of a progressive and good faith implementation of the Protocol.

The Joint Consultative Working Group briefly convened for a very short period on 29 January to adopt the Rules of Procedure. This was not a full meeting so was attended by limited delegations of only three officials from each side.

The Working Group will continue to meet at dates decided by the co-chairs.