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To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what steps she is taking with Cabinet colleagues to help improve the UK-EU trading relationship.
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what steps she is taking with Cabinet colleagues to help improve the UK-EU trading relationship.
I am pleased to note that goods exported to the EU in the 12 months ending July 2022 were worth £178 billion. An increase of £27 billion (18%) on the previous 12 months and now higher than goods exported in 2018, so trade values are increasing.
To further increase exports, we need to get more British businesses exporting for the first time, including through initiatives such as the Export Academy and our Export Champions, giving exporters the knowledge and practical help that they need.
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what assessment she has made of the effectiveness of engagement between her Department and companies in (a) Bosworth and (b) Leicestershire on securing potential opportunities through the trade agreements with Australia and New Zealand.
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what assessment she has made of the effectiveness of engagement between her Department and companies in (a) Bosworth and (b) Leicestershire on securing potential opportunities through the trade agreements with Australia and New Zealand.
We remain committed to listening to a wide range of voices to ensure our trade policy delivers for the whole of the UK, including businesses in the East Midlands.
To deliver this we have established an extensive stakeholder engagement framework consisting of various mechanisms to allow business and civil society stakeholders the opportunity to feed into our trade policy.
We continually look at our structures and speak to our stakeholders, including businesses in the East Midlands, to ensure our consultation approach remains fit for purpose, informs our negotiating position, and helps to deliver trade deals that benefit the whole country.
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what discussions she has had with relevant stakeholders in the East Midlands, including Bosworth, to help ensure that the region can make use of potential opportunities through the trade agreements with Australia and New Zealand.
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what discussions she has had with relevant stakeholders in the East Midlands, including Bosworth, to help ensure that the region can make use of potential opportunities through the trade agreements with Australia and New Zealand.
Dedicated officials in the East Midlands regularly discuss the opportunities free trade agreements (FTAs) present with Local Enterprise Partnerships, Business Representative Organisations, and local Chambers of Commerce.
We also consult stakeholders through ‘town hall’ style briefings, roundtables, webinars and bilateral & group engagements. For example, we held an update for stakeholders on the UK-Australia FTA in December 2021, and a further update on the UK–New Zealand FTA in February 2022.
Throughout negotiations, the department consulted various stakeholder groups and will continue to do so to ensure that citizens and businesses across the East Midlands take advantage of our first two from-scratch FTAs.
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what steps her Department has taken to reduce barriers to global trade for British businesses.
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what steps her Department has taken to reduce barriers to global trade for British businesses.
Removing barriers boosts British exports globally to new and familiar markets. Teams across the Department – both in the UK and oversees – are working tirelessly to do so, opening up exciting new opportunities for British businesses across our four nations. We have an ambitious programme of FTA negotiations, bilateral Joint Economic Trade Committees (JETCOs), Enhanced Trade Partnerships and multiple technical discussions with partner countries to address the barriers that British business raise with us. And our ambition does not stop when a Free Trade Agreement is signed, our regular ongoing trade dialogues with FTA partners provide us with a forum to market access issues and open these markets still further.
Removing our priority trade barriers has the potential to deliver export opportunities to British business worth roughly £20 billion. As a recent example, in July we removed a priority barrier with India through an agreement to recognise each other’s higher education qualifications. This will make UK universities even more appealing to Indian students where the benefits are estimated to be worth over £100,000 per person.
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, if she will make an assessment of the potential environmental impact of the trade agreements with (a) Australia and (b) New Zealand.
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, if she will make an assessment of the potential environmental impact of the trade agreements with (a) Australia and (b) New Zealand.
The Government recognises the importance of assessing the environmental impacts of new free trade agreements (FTAs) and published the full environmental impacts of the Australia and New Zealand FTAs at signature alongside the negotiated treaty text. Our assessment covers a range of environmental impacts such as emissions (both production and transport), carbon leakage, deforestation and biodiversity.
The published impact assessments can be accessed through the following links:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/uk-australia-fta-impact-assessment
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/uk-new-zealand-fta-impact-assessment
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, how many officials in her Department are working on the trade negotiations with Israel.
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, how many officials in her Department are working on the trade negotiations with Israel.
The Department for International Trade (DIT) operates a flexible resourcing model to maximise efficiency across our Free Trade Agreement (FTA) negotiations. The Department is currently delivering seven FTA negotiations and the number of staff working on these at any point in time will change depending on the stage and scale of the deal. Staff also often work across multiple negotiations so it is not possible to quantify the number for each negotiation.
As of August 2022, DIT had approximately 460 staff working in the Trade Negotiations Group. This figure does not include other staff in DIT who also contribute to trade negotiations.
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, how many officials in her Department are working on trade negotiations with Mexico.
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, how many officials in her Department are working on trade negotiations with Mexico.
The Department for International Trade (DIT) operates a flexible resourcing model to maximise efficiency across our Free Trade Agreement (FTA) negotiations. The Department is currently delivering seven FTA negotiations and the number of staff working on these at any point in time will change depending on the stage and scale of the deal. Staff also often work across multiple negotiations so it is not possible to quantify the number for each negotiation.
As of August 2022, DIT had approximately 460 staff working in the Trade Negotiations Group. This figure does not include other staff in DIT who also contribute to trade negotiations.
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, how many officials in her Department are working on trade negotiations with Canada.
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, how many officials in her Department are working on trade negotiations with Canada.
The Department for International Trade (DIT) operates a flexible resourcing model to maximise efficiency across our Free Trade Agreement (FTA) negotiations. The Department is currently delivering seven FTA negotiations and the number of staff working on these at any point in time will change depending on the stage and scale of the deal. Staff also often work across multiple negotiations so it is not possible to quantify the number for each negotiation.
As of August 2022, DIT had approximately 460 staff working in the Trade Negotiations Group. This figure does not include other staff in DIT who also contribute to trade negotiations.
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, if she will make it her policy to hold discussions with her US counterpart on reducing market barriers with the US.
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, if she will make it her policy to hold discussions with her US counterpart on reducing market barriers with the US.
We have been working closely with the US to enhance market access for exporters in both countries, removing tariffs and other barriers to trade.
We have this year agreed with the US to lift tariffs on UK steel and aluminium products, helping a sector that supports 80,000 jobs across the UK. We have also lifted the historic US ban on the export of British beef and lamb to the US.
We continue close discussions with the US – through our UK-US Trade Dialogues this year, led by the Department for International Trade Secretary of State, where we agreed to produce a new Roadmap to strengthen our bilateral collaboration at federal level, and through our memoranda of understanding with individual states.
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, how many officials in her Department are working on the trade negotiations with the Gulf Cooperation Council.
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, how many officials in her Department are working on the trade negotiations with the Gulf Cooperation Council.
The Department for International Trade (DIT) operates a flexible resourcing model to maximise efficiency across our Free Trade Agreement (FTA) negotiations. The Department is currently delivering seven FTA negotiations and the number of staff working on these at any point in time will change depending on the stage and scale of the deal. Staff also often work across multiple negotiations so it is not possible to quantify the number for each negotiation.
As of August 2022, DIT had approximately 460 staff working in the Trade Negotiations Group. This figure does not include other staff in DIT who also contribute to trade negotiations.
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what recent progress she has made in the negotiations for a free trade agreement with the Government of India; and if she will make a statement.
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what recent progress she has made in the negotiations for a free trade agreement with the Government of India; and if she will make a statement.
The UK and India concluded the fifth round of negotiations on 29 July. The former Secretary of State wrote to chairs of the International Trade Committee and International Agreements Committee on the 10th August with an update and the correspondence have been placed in the House libraries.
Government updated on progress in a statement, which can be found here. Both sides have been in intensive negotiations over the summer with the aim of concluding the majority of talks later this year.
We continue to make good progress delivering a comprehensive free trade agreement.
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, how much his Department has spent on (a) agency workers and (b) agency retainer fees in (i) 2020, (ii) 2021 and (iii) 2022.
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, how much his Department has spent on (a) agency workers and (b) agency retainer fees in (i) 2020, (ii) 2021 and (iii) 2022.
The amount spent by the Department on:
(a) Agency workers is:
(i) 2020 - £741,407
(ii) 2021 - £728,137
(iii) 2022 - £1,634,083; and
(b) Agency retainer fees is nil for each of the three years.
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, how many members of staff have left his Department since 12 December 2019.
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, how many members of staff have left his Department since 12 December 2019.
The number of staff members who have left the Northern Ireland Office since 12 December 2019 is 153. This figure is made up of 114 members of staff whose loan or secondment came to an end and 39 staff who not only left the department, but also the Civil Service.
Total Number of Loans Ending | Total Number of Actual Exits | Total Number of those who have left the NIO |
114 | 39 | 153 |
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what steps his Department is taking to support research and development in Northern Ireland.
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what steps his Department is taking to support research and development in Northern Ireland.
This Government is committed to turbocharging innovation in Northern Ireland.
We are increasing investment in R&D outside the South East by at least 40% by 2030; we’re investing £617m in digital and innovation through NI City Deals; and there is more to come through the £400m New Deal for Northern Ireland.
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what steps his Department is taking to support businesses trading between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK.
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what steps his Department is taking to support businesses trading between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK.
The Government is committed to ensuring businesses can trade freely throughout the United Kingdom. By the end of the year, we will have spent £340m helping traders process 2.3 million customs declarations through the Trader Support Service for trade between Great Britain and Northern Ireland. But this just reduces the burden on NI purchasers and GB suppliers rather than removing it, which is why we need changes to the Protocol to deliver a sustainable solution.
The Government have taken decisive action to help tackle increases in the cost of living across the entirety of the United Kingdom, including support for the most vulnerable households in Northern Ireland, who will receive up to £1,000, including a one-off £650 cost of living payment. Yesterday, our new Prime Minister, whom we warmly welcome to office, made it clear that the Government will announce further action later this week.
The Government have taken decisive action to help tackle increases in the cost of living across the entirety of the United Kingdom, including support for the most vulnerable households in Northern Ireland, who will receive up to £1,000, including a one-off £650 cost of living payment. Yesterday, our new Prime Minister, whom we warmly welcome to office, made it clear that the Government will announce further action later this week.
What steps the Government is taking to help tackle increases in the cost of living in Northern Ireland.
I am grateful to the hon. Lady for her question, and I preface my answer by saying that I welcome the new Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, my friend, to his position. I know that he will engage constructively with everyone and with all political parties in Northern Ireland.
I was discussing the matters that the hon. Lady raised with the head of the Northern Ireland civil service, Jayne Brady, at the weekend. Northern Ireland has received the largest block grant since devolution in 1998, and as my right hon. Friend the new Prime Minister has made clear, we stand ready to make further announcements later this week. However, we also continue to urge the parties in Northern Ireland to get a reformed, devolved Executive up and running in Northern Ireland so that the people who elect politicians in Northern Ireland can hold them accountable for the decisions that impact their lives.
I am grateful to the hon. Lady for her question, and I preface my answer by saying that I welcome the new Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, my friend, to his position. I know that he will engage constructively with everyone and with all political parties in Northern Ireland.
I was discussing the matters that the hon. Lady raised with the head of the Northern Ireland civil service, Jayne Brady, at the weekend. Northern Ireland has received the largest block grant since devolution in 1998, and as my right hon. Friend the new Prime Minister has made clear, we stand ready to make further announcements later this week. However, we also continue to urge the parties in Northern Ireland to get a reformed, devolved Executive up and running in Northern Ireland so that the people who elect politicians in Northern Ireland can hold them accountable for the decisions that impact their lives.
The Conservatives’ low-pay agenda means that public sector pay awards are insufficient, and are pushing millions of people into poverty. Health and local authority workers in Northern Ireland are balloting over poor pay awards, as is happening in Wales. Will this new Conservative Government end their predecessors’ low-pay agenda and provide the two nations with the required funding to provide an inflation-proof pay rise, which people need and deserve?
The hon. Lady is right to highlight the extent of the challenge, but as she is incredibly fair-minded I know that she will acknowledge that Northern Ireland has significant challenges that go back many generations. If, for example, we could get Northern Ireland to the average UK level of productivity, it would be worth some £16 billion to the Exchequer. If we could get the level of economic inactivity in Northern Ireland to the UK average, there would be an extra 50,000 people in work in Northern Ireland. That is the scale of the challenge that will face all Governments as they try to improve the opportunities for all communities across Northern Ireland.
The hon. Lady is right to highlight the extent of the challenge, but as she is incredibly fair-minded I know that she will acknowledge that Northern Ireland has significant challenges that go back many generations. If, for example, we could get Northern Ireland to the average UK level of productivity, it would be worth some £16 billion to the Exchequer. If we could get the level of economic inactivity in Northern Ireland to the UK average, there would be an extra 50,000 people in work in Northern Ireland. That is the scale of the challenge that will face all Governments as they try to improve the opportunities for all communities across Northern Ireland.
A quarter of all children in Northern Ireland are living in significant poverty—the same proportion as in my constituency in York—but that is about to get worse. It is an indictment of this Government
that they have failed to protect children from the cost of living crisis and have failed to invest in their future. What fiscal steps is the Minister calling for from the new Chancellor so that every child can have a warm meal in their stomach each day and a warm home to live in?
The hon. Gentleman is absolutely right to highlight the scale of the challenge. My right hon. Friend the Member for Stratford-on-Avon (Nadhim Zahawi), when he was Chancellor of the Exchequer, came to Northern Ireland to meet the Communities Minister and the Economy Minister to seek ways that the UK Government could get help directly to people who need it so desperately in Northern Ireland. We are absolutely clear—the whole House will understand this, and my right hon. Friend the new Secretary of State made it clear earlier—that the protocol is a negotiation between the Government of the United Kingdom and the European Union. We have committed publicly and straightforwardly to fixing the challenges of the interpretation and implementation of the protocol, and we believe that while we crack on with that, the parties should crack on with reforming devolved government in Northern Ireland.
The hon. Gentleman is absolutely right to highlight the scale of the challenge. My right hon. Friend the Member for Stratford-on-Avon (Nadhim Zahawi), when he was Chancellor of the Exchequer, came to Northern Ireland to meet the Communities Minister and the Economy Minister to seek ways that the UK Government could get help directly to people who need it so desperately in Northern Ireland. We are absolutely clear—the whole House will understand this, and my right hon. Friend the new Secretary of State made it clear earlier—that the protocol is a negotiation between the Government of the United Kingdom and the European Union. We have committed publicly and straightforwardly to fixing the challenges of the interpretation and implementation of the protocol, and we believe that while we crack on with that, the parties should crack on with reforming devolved government in Northern Ireland.
Northern Ireland is poorer, it is less well, it is more dependent on public sector pay and it is going to be hit much harder by the cost of living crisis, so why do the UK Government not spend the £400 million that has been allocated but is not being spent because Stormont is not sitting directly on the people who need it most, rather than being preoccupied with cutting Northern Ireland off from the single market, which will make things even worse?
The Chairman of the Select Committee asks about an incredibly important point. Getting a restored devolved Government in Northern Ireland will help enormously in delivering for the people of Northern
Ireland. We absolutely acknowledge that the protocol—its interpretation and application—is the impediment to the Democratic Unionist party going back into government, and we will fix that.
My hon. Friend is correct that I have spent a very busy period over the summer engaging with the Irish and elsewhere. I would like to place on record in the House today my thanks to the former Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, and the former Prime Minister, Sir Tony Blair, for their assistance in the work that I have done over the summer. This weekend at the British-Irish Association in Oxford, I had constructive and prolonged talks with Vice-President Šefčovič, and I am convinced that if the appetite exists, we can find a way to a negotiated solution to the Northern Ireland protocol in the interests of all the people of Northern Ireland and all the people of the United Kingdom—and in the interest of finding a new way of working in partnership with the European Union post Brexit.
The Chairman of the Select Committee asks about an incredibly important point. Getting a restored devolved Government in Northern Ireland will help enormously in delivering for the people of Northern
Ireland. We absolutely acknowledge that the protocol—its interpretation and application—is the impediment to the Democratic Unionist party going back into government, and we will fix that.
My hon. Friend is correct that I have spent a very busy period over the summer engaging with the Irish and elsewhere. I would like to place on record in the House today my thanks to the former Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, and the former Prime Minister, Sir Tony Blair, for their assistance in the work that I have done over the summer. This weekend at the British-Irish Association in Oxford, I had constructive and prolonged talks with Vice-President Šefčovič, and I am convinced that if the appetite exists, we can find a way to a negotiated solution to the Northern Ireland protocol in the interests of all the people of Northern Ireland and all the people of the United Kingdom—and in the interest of finding a new way of working in partnership with the European Union post Brexit.
My right hon. Friend the Minister of State will know that the cost of living will continue to be exacerbated by the absence of Stormont and a functioning Executive. Protocol issues are being prayed in aid as an inhibitor to the restoration of Stormont. He has worked his socks off over the summer to try to bring things to a helpful and meaningful conclusion. Is he in a position to update the House on the progress he has made?