Asked by: Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, in relation to the Common Frameworks programme, what plans they have to support measures on reporting policy divergence between Great Britain and Northern Ireland through the Protocol on Ireland/Northern Ireland.
Answered by Lord Frost
The majority of Common Frameworks intersect with the policy areas covered in Northern Ireland Protocol. Common Frameworks contain the governance structures needed to manage divergence arising as a consequence of new or amended EU law applied through the Protocol. Reporting on any divergence arising from the Protocol will be a matter for the relevant Common Framework-owning departments and their Devolved Administration counterparts to consider.
The Northern Ireland Executive has provided provisional confirmation for 21 Common Frameworks. Of the remaining 32 active areas in which a Common Framework is required, 28 Common Frameworks have now been provisionally confirmed and one has been fully implemented. Once sufficiently progressed, the Northern Ireland Executive will be sharing their Frameworks with the Northern Ireland Assembly to allow for Parliamentary Scrutiny in the same way colleagues across the UK Government will be sharing the provisionally confirmed Frameworks with the UK Parliament.
Asked by: Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the level of (1) exports from the UK to the EU, and (2) imports from the EU to the UK, since 1 January.
Answered by Lord True - Leader of the House of Lords and Lord Privy Seal
The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority. I have, therefore, asked the Authority to respond.
Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick
House of Lords
London
SW1A 0PW
Dear Lady Ritchie,
As National Statistician and Chief Executive of the UK Statistics Authority, I am responding to your Parliamentary Question asking what assessment has been made on the level of (1) exports from the UK to the EU, and (2) imports from the EU to the UK, since 1 January (HL14230).
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) publish monthly trade statistics[1]. The latest official estimates are for January 2021, the first month since the end of the UK’s transition period with the European Union (EU). It should be noted that monthly data are erratic and small movements in these series should be treated with caution. There were also a number of atypical economic and global factors[2] contributing to the falls seen in the January data, so it is too soon to draw conclusions from the data.
Data on exports of goods from the UK to the EU and imports of goods to the UK from the EU can be found in Table 1 below. Please note that data are in current prices and, as such, include the effect of inflation.
Services data for January 2021 are not currently available at a geographical level.
Table 1: UK Imports and exports of goods with EU excluding non-monetary gold and other precious metals, in £ billion, seasonally adjusted
| Exports | Imports |
December 2020 Value (£bn) | 13.7 | 22.8 |
January 2021 Value (£bn) | 8.1 | 16.2 |
Change (£bn) | -5.6 | -6.6 |
% change | -40.7% | -28.8% |
Source: ONS
Yours sincerely,
Professor Sir Ian Diamond
[1]https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/nationalaccounts/balanceofpayments/bulletins/uktrade/january2021
Asked by: Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what guidance they have provided about the Protocol on Ireland/Northern Ireland; and its implications for people in (1) Great Britain, and (2) Northern Ireland.
Answered by Lord Frost
Comprehensive guidance on what the Protocol means for people and businesses in Great Britain and Northern Ireland is available online. In particular, details of available support and of specific processes for different kinds of goods movements (whether by traders or individuals) is available at this link: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/trading-and-moving-goods-in-and-out-of-northern-ireland.
Asked by: Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government on which days between 1 January to date the UK–EU Joint Working Consultative Committee has met to discuss the Protocol on Ireland/Northern Ireland; and what issues were discussed at those meetings.
Answered by Lord Frost
The Joint Consultative Working Group briefly convened for a very short period on 29 January to adopt the Rules of Procedure. This was not a full meeting so was attended by limited delegations of only three officials from each side.
The Working Group will continue to meet at dates decided by the co-chairs.
Asked by: Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many meetings of the Joint Working Consultative Committee have taken place between the UK and the EU to discuss the Protocol on Ireland/Northern Ireland.
Answered by Lord Frost
The Joint Consultative Working Group briefly convened for a very short period on 29 January to adopt the Rules of Procedure. This was not a full meeting so was attended by limited delegations of only three officials from each side.
The Working Group will continue to meet at dates decided by the co-chairs.
Asked by: Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the operation of the Protocol on Ireland/Northern Ireland.
Answered by Lord Frost
There have been challenges in the operation of the Protocol since the beginning of the year but the invocation of Article 16 on 29 January compounded those issues and undermined confidence across Northern Ireland.
Urgent progress is required to address outstanding concerns about the Protocol and restore confidence on the ground in Northern Ireland. Our discussions continue in the Joint Committee framework to take that forward. To provide space for those discussions without the threat of significant disruption for day-to-day lives in Northern Ireland, last week the Government set out several temporary operational measures to provide more time for businesses, such as supermarkets and their suppliers, to adapt to new requirements. These measures are lawful as part of a progressive and good faith implementation of the Protocol.
Asked by: Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the existing flexibilities and procedures for problem solving contained within the Protocol on Ireland/Northern Ireland, in relation to trading matters between Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
Answered by Lord True - Leader of the House of Lords and Lord Privy Seal
As set out in our Command Papers, the UK Government has, at all times, taken forward a pragmatic and proportionate approach, drawing upon all available flexibilities to implement the Protocol without causing undue disruption to lives and livelihoods.
The EU’s actions on 29 January, however, profoundly undermined the operation of the Protocol and cross-community confidence in it. That is why it is now urgent for work to be taken forward to address all outstanding issues, to reassure all parties in Northern Ireland. The letter sent to Vice-President Sefcovic by the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, on 2 February, sets out the baseline set of issues that the UK Government consider must be addressed in this regard. The Joint Committee co-chairs met again on 11 February as part of this work.
Asked by: Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what has been the total number of commercial vehicles which have entered Northern Ireland via its sea ports from Great Britain since 1 January; how many of these vehicles have been subject to inspection under the terms of the Protocol on Ireland/Northern Ireland; and what has been the average time taken for each inspection.
Answered by Lord True - Leader of the House of Lords and Lord Privy Seal
Further to the statement I made, and the answer given by my Right Honourable Friend the Chancellor of the Duchy Lancaster, goods are moving effectively between GB and NI and there are no significant queues at NI ports. Freight levels arriving into and leaving Northern Ireland ports are now close to, or at, normal pre-Christmas levels.
The UK Government is working closely with the Northern Ireland Executive on the operationalisation of the requirements of the Protocol.
Asked by: Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to review the value for money of the use of management consultants during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Answered by Lord True - Leader of the House of Lords and Lord Privy Seal
Working effectively with the private sector is a vital part of our response to tackling the covid-19 crisis, allowing us to procure quickly and innovatively and to obtain specialist solutions to the myriad challenges that are facing us. The private sector is responsible for the miracle of vaccines being available in record time.
We have always made it clear that contracting authorities must use good commercial judgment and continue to achieve value for money for taxpayers, and we have engaged in both internal and external audit to satisfy ourselves that that has been the case.
Through “The Outsourcing Playbook” we are also improving the decision making and quality of contracts that the Government place with industry, and we are building our internal civil service capability, as we believe it is important that we invest in our in-house capacity and expertise so that we rely less on external consultants and contractors
We recognise the important role that Government suppliers have played supporting the Government’s Covid-19 efforts in addition to delivering on their existing public sector contracts.The safety of all staff is paramount, and all suppliers must adhere to Health and Safety legislation, as well as specific departmental policy when staff are working at Government sites.
Asked by: Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the effectiveness of their outsourcing during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Answered by Lord True - Leader of the House of Lords and Lord Privy Seal
Working effectively with the private sector is a vital part of our response to tackling the covid-19 crisis, allowing us to procure quickly and innovatively and to obtain specialist solutions to the myriad challenges that are facing us. The private sector is responsible for the miracle of vaccines being available in record time.
We have always made it clear that contracting authorities must use good commercial judgment and continue to achieve value for money for taxpayers, and we have engaged in both internal and external audit to satisfy ourselves that that has been the case.
Through “The Outsourcing Playbook” we are also improving the decision making and quality of contracts that the Government place with industry, and we are building our internal civil service capability, as we believe it is important that we invest in our in-house capacity and expertise so that we rely less on external consultants and contractors
We recognise the important role that Government suppliers have played supporting the Government’s Covid-19 efforts in addition to delivering on their existing public sector contracts.The safety of all staff is paramount, and all suppliers must adhere to Health and Safety legislation, as well as specific departmental policy when staff are working at Government sites.