I thank the Minister for the explanation of these three statutory instruments and for the detail he provided. I trust that when he winds up he will stress that this is continuity rather than anything new. To the extent that this is continuity, I do not wish to dwell at this hour on things that are replacing what already exists, but I shall deal with some of the things that might be slightly different.
The customs safety and security procedures SI refers to exempting risks during a six-months transition period. Will the Minister tell the House whether this exemption will cause any risk? There must be a risk in giving a six-month exemption. If this were an insurance company, there would be a risk assessment for giving that six-month exemption. I am sure the Minister and his team have worked that out.
This SI also places requirements on small firms in the transitional period. I agree that there have to be requirements for small firms, but I question why businesses are included as small firms if they employ up to the rather arbitrary figure of 50 people and therefore have this exemption. Has the Minister considered how many companies employing 100 people would divide their company in two and thus be exempted? One could use any multiple of 50, but it seems to be an easy way to avoid the requirement and I wonder whether the Minister and his team have thought about that. Should this be done according to the number of people employed or the size of the enterprise? A massive enterprise with millions and millions of pounds does not have to bother because it can be classified as a small company, but if the opposite applies, you are not exempted.
8.30 pm
I turn to the cash controls SI. The Minister mentioned €10,000 becoming £10,000. The SI summons a wonderful vision of men and women with suitcases containing £10,000 going from one territory to another. Can he enlighten this rather diminished House about the circumstances in which people do that? Is it happening and is it something that we should consider? It seems to be a legal invitation to commit malpractice and criminal activity. I cannot think of many occasions nowadays when one needs to cross the border with £10,000. Perhaps the Minister can give us his ideas about that.
The same statutory instrument notes the aim to build risk profiles. It is great to do that but what are the Government doing about the existing risk profiles rather than new ones? We are not reinventing the
wheel here. I assume that we are dealing with people who already have risk profiles somewhere in the EU. Perhaps the Minister can say something about that.