Recommendation 29

HMRC told us that it had introduced the Trader Support Service as a free to use service to make customs declarations on behalf of affected businesses and is planning to spend £360 million on this over two years. HMRC stated that the majority of businesses moving goods from Great Britain to Northern Ireland are using this service, and that HMRC has 81 C&AG’s Report, paras 1.10, 3.7, Figure 4 82 Committee of Public Accounts, Challenges in implementing digital change, Thirtieth Report of Session 2021–22, HC 637, 10 December 2021 83 Committee of Public Accounts, The National Law Enforcement Data Programme, Twenty-Ninth Report of Session 2021–22, HC 638, 8 December 2021 84 Q 91; C&AG’s Report, paras 3.39, 3.40 85 C&AG’s Report, paras 3.39–3.41 86 Q 201 87 C&AG’s Report, para 19 88 Q 73 89 C&AG’s Report, para 4.17 90 Q 78 EU Exit: UK Border post transition 19 received good feedback from them.91 Defra is also providing up to £200 million by the end of 2023 for the Movement Assistance Scheme to help cover certification costs for the movement of agri-goods between Great Britain and Northern Ireland.92 Defra told us that so far £10 million of that money has been spent.93 Despite this support, Cabinet Office told us that an April 2021 survey by Manufacturing Northern Ireland showed that 55% of businesses were still struggling with Protocol processes and 36% thought these difficulties were likely to persist.94