Transparency data

2 February 2022: Biosecurity, Borders and Trade Programme accounting officer assessment

Updated 29 November 2024

An accounting officer assessment for the Biosecurity Borders and Trade Programme (BBTP) was conducted alongside the development of a Programme Business Case (PBC) in June 2021.

Permanent Secretary (Tamara Finkelstein) has been satisfied that the programme meets the four accounting officer standards of regularity, propriety, value for money and feasibility expected by Parliament and the public for use of public resources based on the assessment provided. HM Treasury approval of the PBC was granted on the 14 September 2021 and funding for 2021 to 2022 was provided with future year funding allocated through the Spending Review 2021 process; mitigating the identified affordability risk captured in the initial assessment.

It is normal practice for accounting officers to scrutinise significant policy proposals or plans to start or vary major projects, and then assess whether they measure up to the standards set out in Managing Public Money. From April 2017, the government has committed to make a summary of the key points from these assessments available to Parliament when an accounting officer has agreed an assessment of projects within the Government’s Major Projects Portfolio.

Background and context

The UK left the EU on 31 January 2020 at which point the terms of its negotiated departure in the Withdrawal Agreement came into force. The Withdrawal Agreement was implemented in UK law with the EU (Withdrawal Agreement) Act, which includes provision to implement the Northern Ireland Protocol (NIP).

Defra working with agencies such as the Food Standards Agency (FSA), the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA), the Forestry Commission (FC), and their devolved counterparts are responsible for protecting biosecurity and public health within the United Kingdom. As part of this, they must ensure appropriate import and export controls are conducted on live animals, fish, animal products, plants and plant products to minimise the risk of dangerous commodities entering the United Kingdom.

The programme will deliver the key systems, services, operations, capabilities, and legislative changes required to ensure the UK has the world’s most effective border, and to increase UK prosperity and security through enhanced biosecurity controls for trade in animals, plants and their products; sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS)

The objectives of the programme, to realise this ambition, are:

Developing a regime for imports and exports which protects the biosecurity of the United Kingdom. The regime includes the policies, processes and controls necessary for the import and export of agri-food goods. The regime will need to be ambitious in protecting the high animal and plant health standards in the United Kingdom whilst being pragmatic to the needs of the economy.

Transforming physical and digital infrastructure underpinning and facilitating the operation of an effective border. The border operation is supported by critical national infrastructure. Both will need to be transformed, to service the increased volumes and to exploit and leverage technology, innovation, and analytics.

Delivering an operational border which enables a productive and competitive food industry to trade products of high standards. Bringing together physical and digital systems, services and policy outputs into capability outcomes needs emphasis on people, engagement, and to be fully integrated with the 2025 UK Border Strategy.

Some of the data that underpins programme plans is acknowledged to be fluctuating. Very little data was available on EU imports owing to the harmonised regime and limited controls in place during the UK’s membership of the EU. Data analysis will be a consistent theme throughout the programme and previous best estimates have been validated and baselined by engagement with ports and others.

Assessment against the accounting officer tests

Regularity

A proposal must be supported by clear legal powers to take the suggested action with defined affirmative procedures having been provisioned. In this case, the programme will be relying on common law powers and the financial provisions as defined within Statutory Instruments, amending UK law and related aspects of EU Law following Royal Assent of the European Union (Withdrawal Agreement) Act 2020. Defra’s ambit relating to parliamentary spending approval includes reference to expenditure necessary to prepare for the UK’s exit from the European Union and to provide support for international trade and continued animal and plant health and welfare including through approvals, certification and compliance and enforcement in accordance with regulatory requirements. The ambit will continue to be reviewed to ensure it provides sufficient cover as we further develop our controls at the border including the further development and operation of border control infrastructure and systems.

The Official Controls Regulation (OCR) (EU 2017/625) addressed the official controls and activities were performed to ensure the application of food and feed law, rules on animal health and welfare, plant health and plant protection products. This regulation was published by the European Commission on 15 March 2017 and applied from 14 December 2019. The retained provisions of OCR require documentary checks, identity checks and physical checks on Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) goods entering Great Britain (England, Scotland and Wales) which pose a potential biosecurity risk. This includes animals, plants and animal or plant products.

Overall assessment: Met

Propriety

The use of public funds needs to be proper as well as regular. Therefore, it needs to comply with the standards set out in Managing Public Money which includes obtaining the necessary internal and if necessary external HM Treasury approvals.

The proposal for this case would be classified within Section 2.3 of Managing Public Money given the sensitive nature of new border operations and delivery mechanisms being linked to both central and local government operations.

The programme continues to follow the expected assurance processes for expenditure of this nature and value. The Programme Business Case was approved by Defra Investment Committee and HM Treasury in September 2021. All costs (actual and estimated) were determined with input from delivery partners and reviewed by senior official across legal, commercial and finance. HM Treasury officials have been engaged in the development of proposals and continue to work closely with Defra on the implementation approach.

HM Government will be providing several inland border sites where multiple government departments will have a presence, primarily HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC), Department for Transport (DfT) and Defra. Officials have agreed to simplify delivery and funding of these sites by a single department leading on certain aspects and seeking the funds for that deliverable on behalf of all departments. A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) is being developed to formalise these arrangements. The MoU will detail responsibility and financial cover for procurement, ongoing costs and asset ownership. Following recent ministerial decisions Defra will be responsible for two Border Control Posts in Kent which will operate solely to support SPS controls.

The programme entered the Government Major Projects Portfolio (GMPP) in April 2021. There are robust governance and controls established for expenditure with regular internal reviews. External assurance has been provided by an IPA Review in September 2020 and again in May 2021.

Overall assessment: Met

Value for money

The proposal must be good value for money for the exchequer as a whole and not just the department and where possible a full evaluation should be undertaken. From an economic perspective, biosecurity and secure borders are public goods, meaning that government intervention and provision of border operations are economically justified. Public goods are typically underprovided by free market mechanisms, and therefore there is clear economic rationale for government intervention. Government intervention in controls at the border is further justified by the market failures which would exist if provision was left to the free market. Trade in goods can result in negative externalities, for instance: the public health impacts of zoonotic diseases or the social and environmental damage caused to plants and trees; damage to the food supply and food industries from a disease outbreak; and reduced trade due to the loss of the UK’s biosecurity status.

A range of regimes for delivering controls have been reviewed alongside a full evaluation of delivery options (including a ‘do -nothing’ option). The decision was taken to pursue a risk-based regime with some contingency to mitigate the potential for increases in check levels. This regime would seek to establish controls that reflect risk, so maintaining existing requirements on some commodities while strengthening them in other areas, notably on products of animal origin and plants. This would require a similar number of border control posts to a Reciprocal Rest of world (ROW) model, but reduced in size, and with fewer staff and less additional lab capacity.

Five delivery options have been assessed against critical success factors in the Programme Business Case, with switching value analysis of the options and the importance of certain impacts (that is, legal obligations) appropriately taken into consideration in the appraisal. The selected option provides the future capability required to meet growth in future years through incremental discovery, development, and delivery. Adopting a risk-based regime iteratively enables the policy to be delivered in a way which represents best value for money for government. The balance of risk from the delivery approach is appropriate to maximise value for money overall.

Overall assessment: Met

Feasibility

This policy is subject to ongoing evolution and clarification in line with ministerial guidance. As a result, there is a continual review of the feasibility of delivery, controlled through robust governance structures (as detailed in the management case). The programme has worked closely with; Infrastructure and Projects Authority (IPA) - as independent assurers, Government Digital Services (GDS) and the Cabinet Office (CO) - to ensure that design of the product solutions remains compliant with government’s IT strategies and Border Protocol Deliver Group (BPDG) and HM Treasury - to support the strong links necessary to ensure success.

Following changes to the delivery schedule in September 2021 ministers have approved a phased implementation of import controls commencing with pre-notification for all commodities in January 2022, followed by certification and physical checks at the border which will be implemented on a phased basis from July 2022. The intention is that this will mitigate potential supply chain disruption by removing the single point of pressure for certifiers, exporters, and inspectors in July. This also allows sufficient time for the operational capability to be established and fully tested. It is the programme’s view that the proposed delivery schedule can be implemented effectively and credibly, in line with policy intentions

Overall assessment: Met

Affordability

Funding was provided for to cover core activities in 2020 to 2021, with the understanding from HM Treasury that additional work would be required once the UK exited the EU. HM Treasury made the provisional decision (10 July 2020) of allocating full funding once a full business case was approved. This funding will be formalised through a reserve claim in the Supplementary Estimate process for 2021 to 2022 and through the spending review for future years as is common for GMPP programmes. Extensive investigation of the delivery estimates had been conducted including a thorough cost allocation review to ensure that both resource and capital are allocated in line with Accounting Regulations, Consolidated Budgeting Guidance and National Audit Office guidelines. In September 21 the Programme Business Case was approved by Defra’s Investment Committee and by HM Treasury providing the required funding for 2021 to 2022, with significant provision through the spending review process for future years (financial year 2022 to 2024).

Overall assessment: Met

Conclusion

As the accounting officer for Defra, I considered this assessment of the Biosecurity, Borders and Trade Programme and approved it on 11 June 2021

The programme has been subject to several Global Britain (Operations - GB(O)) decisions since July 2021. GB(O) is a government committee through which all aspects of the BBTP outputs are agreed and monitored. It was set up to implement the Withdrawal Agreement, support the implementation of the Trade and Cooperation Agreement, and deliver the policy and operational transition to new international trade relationships. The feasibility of each decision has been impacted and assessed to be within the boundaries of the approved PBC thereby maintaining the validity of the accounting officer test outcomes presented.

I have prepared this summary to set out the key points which informed my decision, and in line with IPA guidance the PBC will be reviewed at least annually, and a revised accounting officer assessment will be undertaken should there be any material changes. If any of these factors change materially during the lifetime of this project, I undertake to prepare a revised summary, setting out my assessment of them.

This summary will be published on GOV.UK. Copies will be deposited in the library of the House of Commons and sent to the Comptroller and Auditor General and Treasury Officer of Accounts.

Tamara Finkelstein, Permanent Secretary, Defra

2 February 2022