PRESS RELEASE : Baroness Neville-Rolfe’s speech to the London Chamber of Commerce [December 2023]

The press release issued by the Cabinet Office on 5 December 2023.

Baroness Neville-Rolfe, Minister of State, delivered a speech to the London Chamber of Commerce on new border policies and innovations.

Ladies and gentlemen, it’s a pleasure to be here with you all today.

I feel very fortunate to be at the London Chamber of Commerce, discussing our plans for borders, in the very heart of historic London.

The City of London is, arguably, the very first border that existed on this island…

…a border which acted as the perimeter of a thriving Roman market.

Antiquity bequeathed these borders to the Middle Ages…

…and the gates throughout the City – Cripplegate, Bishopsgate, Moorgate and so on – checked which goods could enter and leave this market.

Today, this square mile is home to one of the world’s finest financial and professional service sectors…

…and SMEs make up ninety-eight per cent of the businesses here in the City…

…a number that increases to over ninety-nine percent when you look London-wide.

Many of these cross-London SMEs export and import goods – whether that’s the City of London gin or fashion, metal goods or gifts of all kinds.

Today I want to outline how the changes we’re making to our borders will benefit those – and, indeed, all – businesses.

These plans are the result of two changes coming together…

…namely Brexit and – importantly – a digital revolution that gives us the chance to improve how we trade.

I have been clear that we want the UK to have the most effective border in the world…

…and leaving the European Union presented us with an opportunity to scrutinise our entire trading system…

…not just the trade deals we have been able to negotiate, but the practicalities of that trading.

That potential was obvious when I visited the Thames Freeport at Tilbury – the very gateway to London these days…

…connecting over one-hundred-and-thirty ports and sixty-five countries.

We have great aspirations for our border, one that is as minimally burdensome as possible…

…without compromising our security…

…and embracing the very latest technology to make trade smoother.

This vision is a crucial part of the Government’s 2025 Border Strategy…

…and our new Border Target Operating Model.

It will use technology to reduce paperwork for UK importers, saving businesses over five-hundred-million pounds a year…

…and it will bring practical changes to the way trade is managed through our borders.

The new Model will introduce a new global risk-based system of controls.

Some of you may remember the earlier versions of the operating model…

…which subjected most products to costly, rigorous controls…

…out of proportion to their actual risk.

Well, we’ve thrown that out – and replaced it with a new global system which is proportionate.

It focuses on which food and plant goods currently constitute a risk, whether that’s a function of the type of product or where it is from…

…and then assigns them a risk category that will determine what border controls are appropriate.

For instance, low risk goods – like tinned salmon – will not need to have health certificates or routine border checks.

For high and medium risk goods – like fresh meat and plants for planting – we will need the assurance that certificates provide along with proportionate checks on arrival.

We are also using the opportunity to harness technology and new ways of working to streamline trade.

We have partnered with industry to test the border process…

…to see how we can use technology to cut costs and save time.

The main breakthrough is the new UK Single Trade Window now being developed by HMRC…

…in collaboration with Deloitte and IBM and with support from many of you.

It underpins everything that we are working on.

When fully operational, it will provide one digital gateway for users…

…one where they can provide all the data needed to trade, as well as apply for licences and authorisations for trusted trader schemes.

The benefits from Single Trade Window are considerable…

…because it will make an enormous number of transactions that bit easier.

Our estimations show it could reduce total burdens of business by around a billion pounds in the first three years of operation.

And we are by no means ruling out introducing further innovations…

…in fact, we’re continuing to partner with industry to make this happen.

As part of the delivery of the Border Strategy, we have carried out six Ecosystem of Trust pilot projects…

…which found new ways that tech and data can be used to minimise trade friction.

They were a collaboration between central government departments including the Cabinet Office, Defra and the Home Office…

…and different industries including ports, logistics companies, and software providers and businesses like those you represent.

The first phase ran last year.

In a spirit of transparency, we have now published a full evaluation of these pilots.

The projects tested data and technologies that could provide thorough assurance to government.

We trialled Smart Seals, which can detect any unauthorised access to freight…

…and we trialled Smart Containers, which transmit real-time data on freight.

These show if the temperature of the cargo changed, as this would indicate that the goods might be spoiled…

…which means a low risk cargo might become high-risk

We also tested new ways of sharing data between government and industry…

…giving our frontline border staff better and earlier information about the goods that they saw coming in.

We found that this could cut the time that they spent determining which goods to check by up to a fifth.

It’s a promising start, but there’s still work to be done.

Today, I’m also happy to detail the next phase of the Ecosystem of Trust project.

We are delivering a series of what are called ‘Border Trade Demonstrators’…

…which are specific projects focused on overcoming the problems we have identified together, such as the complexity and time taken when integrating industry and government systems.

They will be data-focused, allowing for simple exchanges of information between border agents and industry…

…leading to an easier, quicker and safer experience at the border.

Let me give you one example.

In June this year we saw a three-hundred-million-pound increase in exports of machinery…

…partially thanks to a large increase in these goods heading to Turkey…

…but what was in those shipping containers that travelled over the Mediterranean?

When these goods are shipped, the company sending them has to fill out paperwork explaining what’s in the crate…

…there’s a lot of information required, relating to the goods themselves, their value, and the route by which they will be transported…

…Some traders are scrupulous in their description. And some are vague.

But in all likelihood, a trader could have described a shipment of steel nuts as, simply, ‘nuts’.

Now, put yourself in the shoes of someone working at the UK border…

…does that description mean nuts and bolts, or cashew nuts?

Whatever your record, that opaque description means that the crate is going to get searched…

…and that one vague text box means an unnecessary delay.

Multiplied thousands of times a year…

…this will hit business efficiency and growth…

…and put undue pressure on our Border personnel.

One of the examples we’re trialling is a new piece of software…

…which will allow border agents to receive accurate information from the supply chain earlier in the process…

…including commodity codes which tell you what is actually inside a container.

It’s a simple change…

…one so simple that it’s amazing it hasn’t been thought of before…

…but one which could have huge benefits.

These Demonstrators will start being trialled early next year at specific parts of the border.

We will look to test this new approach at different locations, with different modes and moving different commodities…

…and, assuming they are successful, they will be spread throughout the country.

In the meantime, we in Cabinet Office are fixing existing issues where we think we can make the border work better.

When businesses told us that a new ferry link was necessary between the Spanish Vigo and Cheshire’s Ellesmere Port, we made sure that the Government did its job so that this route could open on time.

This ferry link directly underpins this government’s support for the UK-first Green Automotive Hub…

…and will take an estimated 14,700 HGV movements off the roads, with a thirty percent reduction in CO2 emissions as a result.

And, possibly of interest to traders here today – we will also streamline processes for goods travelling through Heathrow.

We’re running a pilot with DHL, testing a simplified airfreight export customs process at Heathrow…

…because we were told by businesses that the current rules, for historic reasons, require freight to be driven unnecessarily all around Heathrow.

We have found a good potential way to put a stop to this…

…instead of items being driven to multiple different cargo sites before they leave the airport…

…we are now trialling one single point that cargo is stored and delivered from.

I wanted to finish by saying something about timing.

There have been stops and starts, but we are now pressing on and you do need to be ready.

Starting at the end of January…

…with the introduction of health certification on imports of medium risk animal products from the EU…

…so we will check whether a vet from the exporting country has certified that the products meet the necessary food standards…

…with similar certification for medium risk plants, plant products…

…and high-risk food and feed of non-animal origin from the European Union.

At the end of April, we will be setting up new Border Control Posts…

…so that we can actually check high and medium risk food and plant products when they arrive…

…as controls on low and medium risk products from the rest of the world are removed or reduced in line with the new  model.

So, we will have a consistent approach to goods from the EU and to goods from other trusted trading partners elsewhere in the world.

Finally, by the end of October, we will require safety and security declarations for imports from the EU.

This will give us more information to identify security threats to the UK

We have designed a safety and security declaration which keeps the burden on business to a minimum…

…and businesses will be able to submit them through the Single Trade Window.

We are working with trading partners and issuing guidance to ensure businesses are ready for these changes…

…today is a good example.

Ladies and gentlemen, our borders may be historic…

…but they are also modern demonstrations of how the Government is promoting trade.

Once we have put our plans in place…

…we will be bringing innovations to our borders which will be unmatched by the rest of the world.

We will continue to work with industry leaders like yourselves…

…and – by harnessing our Brexit freedoms and utilising technical advances – we will ensure our trading infrastructure supports you all…

…and enables you to trade in a safer and more strategic way.

Thank you very much.