Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)
Question to the Department for Exiting the European Union :
To ask the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, how many and what proportion of staff in his Department would receive an increase in their salary in the event that their hourly pay rate was (a) £8.72, (b) £9.30 and (c) £10.
Answered by James Duddridge
There are no DExEU employees who would receive an increase to their salary in the event that their hourly rate was (a), (b) or (c). This is because the lowest paid member of DExEU staff hourly rate is higher than these amounts.
Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)
Question to the Department for Exiting the European Union :
To ask the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, with reference to the increase in the National Living wage announced by the Government on 31 December 2019, what discussions he is having with private sector companies undertaking facility management work for his Department to ensure that the cost of wage increases for their employees are not passed on to his Department.
Answered by James Duddridge
Any private sector companies undertaking facilities management work for the Department for Exiting the European Union are managed and employed by building owners. The department operates, and has memorandum of terms of occupations (MOTO’s) with those building owners. As part of those agreements, those building owners employ and manage any third-party facilities management companies, so is therefore not the responsibility of the department. The department was recently onboarded to the Government Property Agency to manage the estate and the contracts between the department and those third-party companies. This responsibility would therefore sit with the Government Property Agency.
Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)
Question to the Department for Exiting the European Union :
To ask the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, what arrangements are in place for Spanish citizens working in Gibraltar after the UK leaves the EU.
Answered by Robin Walker
The Withdrawal Agreement protects the rights of citizens working and living in the UK and EU, including specific provisions on frontier workers. The territorial scope of this explicitly covers Gibraltar. The UK, Gibraltar and Spain also agreed provisions in the Gibraltar Protocol, and accompanying Memorandum of Understanding on Citizens’ Rights, to confirm protection for the rights of EU citizens working in Gibraltar.
Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)
Question to the Department for Exiting the European Union :
To ask the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, what protections are being offered to EU frontier workers in the UK after the UK leaves the EU.
Answered by Robin Walker
The Withdrawal Agreement protects the rights of those who are frontier workers at the end of the transition period, for as long as they continue to be frontier workers in the host state. The Agreement will ensure that these frontier workers are able to enter and leave the UK for work, enjoying broadly the same rights as they do now, after the end of the implementation period.
We will also protect the rights of frontier workers in the event of a no deal. Many of this cohort will spend enough time in the UK to qualify for status under the EU Settlement Scheme. Otherwise, they will be able to obtain a separate UK immigration status which will allow them to continue frontier working into the UK after exit.
Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)
Question to the Department for Exiting the European Union :
To ask the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, what discussions he has had with those sectors potentially most affected by the greatest increase in transitional tariffs in the event that the UK moves onto World Trade Organisation rules after the UK leaves the EU.
Answered by Robin Walker
We want tariff-free trade with Europe, and for cross-border trade to be as frictionless as possible. Officials across Government are carrying out a programme of sectoral and regulatory analysis, looking in detail at over 50 sectors as well as cross-cutting regulatory issues, to identify the key factors for UK businesses and the labour force that will affect our negotiations with the EU.
This ongoing analysis has been supplemented by a wide-ranging programme of engagement undertaken by the Department, speaking to a significant number of organisations and individuals, to establish their priorities and understand their concerns.