PARLIAMENTARY WRITTEN QUESTION
Department for Exiting the European Union: Brexit (19 December 2018)

To ask the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, how much funding from the public purse has been allocated to his Department for financial year 2018-19 for planning for the UK leaving the EU without a deal; and how much of that funding has been spent.

Asked by:
Esther McVey (Conservative)

The Department is tasked with successfully delivering the UK’s exit from the European Union. A key element of this is ensuring preparation for all possible scenarios, including leaving the EU without a deal.

Budget 2018 confirmed an additional £500 million of funding from the reserve for 2019-20, meaning the government will have invested over £4 billion in preparing for EU exit since 2016.

It is not however possible to attribute the Department’s costs to specific scenario planning such as “no deal”. This is because the Department does not record expenditure or forecasts against potential outcomes; it records expenditure and forecasts on a functional basis.

The Main Estimate for 2018-19, which details the budgetary limits for the Department, can be found on GOV.UK. The Department has been allocated a delegated expenditure limit of £93.0m for 2018-19, which covers both ‘deal’ and ‘no-deal’ scenarios. This is just one element of cross-Whitehall spend.

Answered by:
Chris Heaton-Harris (Conservative)
14 January 2019