Professional Qualifications and Services (Amendments and Miscellaneous Provisions) (EU Exit) Regulations 2020

Baroness Bloomfield of Hinton Waldrist Excerpts

Monday 14th September 2020 Grand Committee

Moved by

[Baroness Bloomfield of Hinton Waldrist]

That the Grand Committee do consider the Professional Qualifications and Services (Amendments and Miscellaneous Provisions) (EU Exit) Regulations 2020.

[Baroness Bloomfield of Hinton Waldrist (Con)]

My Lords, I beg to move that the draft regulations, which were laid before the House on 6 July 2020, be approved. I will give a brief overview of the rationale behind these regulations, which relate to the recognition of professional qualifications and the provision of services. They form part of the Government’s preparations for the end of the transition period. Noble Lords will be aware that the Government have signed agreements with the EU, the three EEA EFTA states and Switzerland, which contain arrangements regarding the UK’s withdrawal from the EU. The agreements include provisions that protect the rights of EEA and Swiss nationals living and frontier-working in the UK, and vice versa. These regulations will give effect to certain provisions in the agreements relating to the recognition of the professional qualifications—or RPQ as I will now refer to it—of this group of EEA and Swiss nationals.

By doing so, the regulations will ensure that the decisions made by UK regulators to recognise the professional qualifications of EEA and Swiss nationals before the end of the transition period will be grandfathered after the period ends. These individuals will be able to continue to practise their profession in the UK. The regulations also make various changes to the domestic frameworks for RPQ and services, including in respect of regulations made in anticipation of exit, which will ensure that they function effectively after the transition period. Professionals from the EU make a significant contribution to the public and private sectors in the UK. Between 2007 and 2016, the UK gave 148,000 recognition decisions to EU professionals.

I remind noble Lords of the background to RPQ. The mutual recognition of professional qualifications system is derived from EU law. It allows UK professionals to get their qualifications recognised in the EEA and Switzerland—and vice versa—with minimal barriers. Across the whole of the EEA and Switzerland, there are approximately 570 different professions under this system. After the transition period, the EU system will cease to apply to the UK. Last year, in preparation for the UK leaving the EU, the Government made various RPQ EU exit regulations to amend the domestic law that implements the current EU system for RPQ in order to fix deficiencies caused by exit.

The existing EU exit regulations include provisions which protect recognition decisions already made; allow applications for recognition submitted before exit day to be concluded after it; allow providers of temporary and occasional services one year from exit in which to complete their service provision; and retain aspects of the recognition system to provide a route for certain EEA and Swiss qualification holders to apply for recognition of their qualifications after exit day.

I should say that this retention of part of the existing recognition system is not covered by the agreements with the EU, EEA or Switzerland, or these new regulations. However, it forms part of the Government’s plan to make sure that the UK is prepared to leave the single market. The Government have decided that this system should remain in place temporarily after the transition period in the event that there are no satisfactory arrangements from the EU free trade agreement negotiations.

I will briefly explain how these new regulations will implement the RPQ provisions of the agreements, to which I referred earlier. The agreements contain similar, but slightly different, provisions to those contained in the existing RPQ EU exit legislation. Therefore, these new regulations will make amendments to EU exit regulations laid by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs to give full effect to the RPQ terms of the agreements. The reason for this is that the agreements were finalised after the existing EU exit legislation was passed.

The provisions in these regulations relating to the agreements will protect recognition decisions made before the end of the transition period; allow applications for recognition submitted before the end of the transition period to be concluded; ensure that UK regulators co-operate with their EEA and Swiss counterparts to facilitate the completion of applications ongoing at the end of the transition period; and ensure that professionals whose professional qualifications are recognised are treated on the same basis as UK nationals.

In respect only of Switzerland, these regulations give effect to provisions in the Swiss agreement that provide for a longer transition period for certain individuals. In particular, they will allow a further four-year period for certain Swiss nationals to apply for recognition under current EU rules and allow certain Swiss service providers to continue to provide their services in accordance with their contract for up to five years after the end of the transition period.

The RPQ provisions of the agreements will be reciprocated by EU member states, the EEA EFTA states, and Switzerland respectively. I remind noble Lords that these regulations do not cover certain legal or healthcare professions, which are being covered in separate statutory instruments by the relevant departments.

To ensure that the frameworks for RPQ and services will function as intended after the transition period, these regulations will also make various other changes, which can be separated into four categories. First, retained treaty rights in respect of RPQ will be disapplied. These are overarching rights derived from the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union and the EEA agreement in respect of free movement of workers, and retained treaty rights for RPQ derived from the Swiss free movement of persons agreements. After the transition period, the default position is that these rights will become retained EU law under the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018. These regulations disapply these treaty rights, in so far as they relate to RPQ, to ensure legal clarity about the post-transition period system for recognition of EEA and Swiss qualifications.

Secondly, a retained delegated regulation on ski instructor qualifications and two delegated decisions—which update annexes to the EU directive on RPQ—will have no practical effect after the transition period. These regulations will therefore revoke them to tidy up the statute book.

Thirdly, these regulations will make minor corrections to RPQ EU exit regulations and technical amendments which change references to “exit day” to “IP completion day” in the existing RPQ and services EU exit regulations. This will be done so that the regulations will function effectively after the end of the transition period.

Lastly, consequential amendments and a minor correction to a transposition error will be made to the 2015 EU RPQ regulations.

I should point out at this stage that UK regulators have been consulted on an informal basis throughout the process of developing RPQ EU exit legislation and these regulations.

To conclude, I reiterate that these regulations are vital to the Government’s preparations for the end of the transition period. It is imperative that they are made so that professionals and businesses are equipped to be ready for the end of the transition period. I commend these regulations to the Committee and look forward to hearing noble Lords’ views.

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[Baroness Bloomfield of Hinton Waldrist (Con)]

My Lords, I thank noble Lords for their valuable contributions to this short debate and for their broadly supportive comments on this SI. I should like to conclude by emphasising that the changes contained in these regulations are essential. The UK is committed to protecting citizens who benefit from rights under the agreements, many of whom make valuable contributions to the UK workforce. Although these regulations focus mainly on protecting existing rights and not future arrangements, it is important that they make changes to ensure that the UK’s existing EU exit regulatory frameworks for RPQ and services will function effectively at the end of the transition period.

However, it is worth noting that the continuation of a recognition system after the end of the transition period is a temporary measure. In response to the noble Lord, Lord Blunkett, who asked what will happen when the transition period is over at the end of this year and how this will operate for people who gain their qualifications after that period, all those with recognition decisions achieved before the end of the transition period are protected for life.

Certain EEA and Swiss nationals who apply for recognition after the transition period will be able to seek recognition under the previous RPQ EU exit regulations laid in 2019. Those EU exit regulations amend the system for the mutual recognition of professional qualifications to retain aspects of the recognition system after the transition period so that individuals with EEA and Swiss qualifications that are equivalent to UK standards can have their qualifications recognised in the UK.

In response to my noble friend Lady McIntosh of Pickering and others who asked why we have been unable to secure mutual recognition with the EU, I remind her that the regulations are concerned with implementing reciprocal arrangements in the withdrawal agreement, not policy for a future recognition system. With regard to negotiations on the mutual recognition of professional qualifications, we concluded the eighth round of negotiations with the EU on 11 September. Although there was little progress made, we had useful discussions, and we are still working hard to ensure that qualification recognition does not become an unnecessary barrier to trade in regulated services across the modes of supply between the UK and the EU. As negotiations are still ongoing, I cannot comment in more detail on the status of those discussions at this stage.

My noble friend also asked what will happen in the event of no deal on 1 January 2021 to those with professional qualifications across the EEA and Switzerland and what will be the position for those in the UK who want to practise in the EU, EEA and Switzerland. In terms of these future arrangements for UK nationals, it is not clear which no deal arrangements the EU will put in place. However, some member states have previously suggested that they will continue to provide recognition routes for UK nationals if an agreement is not reached. There is also the temporary system that will continue to provide a route to recognition after the end of the transition period for EEA and Swiss qualifications. I also note generally that, as I said in my opening speech, doctors and dentists are covered by separate statutory instruments laid by the DHSC and are not covered by this SI.

In response to my noble friend Lord Moynihan and the noble Lord, Lord Stevenson, who asked why we are disapplying the delegated regulation for ski instructors, the regulation establishes a common training test for ski instructors, but ski instructors are not regulated in the UK. The delegated regulation will have no practical effect in the UK after the transition period, as the UK will not be a member state, and therefore it will not apply to the UK or UK ski instructors after the end of the transition period. Disapplying it will not have an impact on the ability of UK ski instructors to work in the EU in future. This is subject to ongoing negotiations with the EU. UK ski instructors within the scope of the agreement who have already been recognised will be protected accordingly. Unfortunately, we cannot guarantee what the EU member states will put in place for ski instructors who apply for recognition in a member state after the transition period. However, the UK is seeking to negotiate an ambitious deal with the EU. The UK’s negotiating position would enable UK ski instructors to continue to seek recognition in the UK after the transition period. Even without revoking the delegated regulation, it could not be relied upon by UK ski instructors in the EU once we are no longer part of it.

In response to the noble Lord, Lord Stevenson of Balmacara, this was discussed with the Scottish Government. The devolved Governments were involved regularly throughout the process of making the regulations. They have been supportive of our approach and did not have any significant comments. The regulations have not been controversial with the devolved Administrations. The Scottish Government have consented to this SI by way of ministerial letter.

The noble Lord also asked for some more meat on the bone as to how the regulations will operate. I remind him that the regulations are concerned with implementing reciprocal arrangements in the withdrawal agreement and not policy for a future recognition system. I have answered on the recognition arrangements in the existing EU exit regulations and on the status of the negotiations. Further RPQ policy will depend on the outcome of the negotiations with the EU and the recommendations of a call for evidence being conducted by the business department. This call for evidence is looking at what our approach should be to the future recognition of professional qualifications from other countries and considering the UK’s approach to the regulation of professions more broadly.

To close, I underline once more that these regulations are a vital part of the UK Government’s preparations for the end of the transition period. I recommend the draft regulations to the Committee.

Motion agreed.