London, March 7 (TIWN) Departments of the UK government have spent more than 4 billion pounds ($5 billion) on preparations for leaving the European Union (EU), according to country's public spending watchdog.

In a report, the National Audit Office (NAO) found that the Home Office, HM Revenue and Customs and the Environment Department accounted for more than half of the 4.4 billion pounds spent on Brexit preparations, the BBC reported on Friday.  Between 2016-17 and 2019-20, the Treasury made available 6.3 billion pounds of additional funding to cover the costs of the UK leaving the EU with or without a deal.