Asked by: Daniel Zeichner (Labour - Cambridge)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, when she plans to lay before Parliament an impact assessment of the proposed free trade agreement with Australia as per clause 42 of the Agriculture Act 2020.
Answered by Greg Hands
A HM Government report relating to the proposed Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with Australia – in compliance with the provisions under section 42 of the Agriculture Act 2020 – will be laid before Parliament before the proposed FTA is laid before Parliament under Part 2 of the Constitutional Reform and Governance Act 2010.
Asked by: Daniel Zeichner (Labour - Cambridge)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
What discussions she has had with UK trade partners on maintaining environmental protection standards in trade agreements.
Answered by Ranil Jayawardena
HM Government is committed to meeting its ambitious environmental objectives, as we demonstrated last year by becoming the first major country to enshrine our Net Zero commitment into legislation.
We're?exploring?environmental provisions?in the design of our Free Trade Agreements to secure Britain’s high environmental standards.?Of course, the precise details of free trade agreements are a matter for?the?formal?negotiations. We will lay the full treaty text before Parliament at the end of the negotiations to enable proper scrutiny.
Asked by: Daniel Zeichner (Labour - Cambridge)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, when the Trade and Agriculture Commission plans to publish its preliminary report.
Answered by Greg Hands
The Trade and Agriculture Commission will be providing my Rt Hon. Friend the Secretary of State for International Trade with a report on the progress it has made towards its final recommendations on future trade policy, as set out under the terms of its appointment which can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/trade-and-agriculture-commission-tac/trade-and-agriculture-commission-terms-of-reference. A summary of the progress report will be published on https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/trade-and-agriculture-commission-tac.
Asked by: Daniel Zeichner (Labour - Cambridge)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, whether the Government’s policy on trade negotiations allows the UK Government to reject clauses in proposed free trade agreements which create additional obligations which require a more stringent approach to protecting human health and environment from pesticides.
Answered by Greg Hands
Decisions on standards are a matter for the UK and will be made separately from any Free Trade Agreement. We will maintain our food safety and environmental standards when operating our own independent pesticides regulatory regime, after the Transition Period. We will ensure decisions on the use of pesticides are based on careful scientific assessment and will not authorise pesticides that may carry unacceptable risks. The statutory requirements of the EU regime on standards of protection will be carried across unchanged into domestic law.
Asked by: Daniel Zeichner (Labour - Cambridge)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what steps she is taking to ensure that the 260,000 tonnes Autonomous Tariff Quota for raw cane sugar included in the Government's UK Global Tariff scheme does not have an adverse effect on the UK's commitment to (a) environmental protection, (b) animal welfare and (c) food standards in trade policy.
Answered by Greg Hands
The Government has sought a balance between the interests of domestic production and processing, and developing country preferences.
To achieve this balance, the UK Global Tariff (UKGT) retains tariffs on sugar products, while opening a new Autonomous Tariff Quota (ATQ) of 260,000 tonnes that will apply from 1 January 2021, for 12 months, with an in-quota rate of 0.00%. We always committed to reviewing this ATQ and we will do so in due course.
We are proud of the high food safety and animal welfare standards that underpin our high-quality Great British products. We have no intention of undermining our own reputation for quality by lowering our food and animal welfare standards. Existing UK import standards will still apply – the level of tariff applied does not change what can and can not be imported. We have been clear that we will remain committed to high standards.