Asked by: Helen Hayes (Labour - Dulwich and West Norwood)
Question to the Department for Exiting the European Union :
To ask the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, what assessment his Department has made of the effect on (a) residency and (b) healthcare rights for UK nationals living in the EU of the UK leaving the EU without a deal.
Answered by James Duddridge
The Government has always been clear that the best way to protect citizens’ rights is to secure a deal with the EU.
In the event of no deal, the UK has made a unilateral offer to protect the rights of EU citizens residing in the UK by exit day, and this includes continued entitlement to healthcare. Where possible, we have also made unilateral commitments to protect the rights of UK nationals living in the EU.
We welcome that all Member States have now put in place measures to protect the residency rights of UK nationals living in the EU by exit day but there are still areas where we hope that Member States will improve their offers to UK nationals, in line with what we have offered. We will continue to press for reciprocity and ask Member States to communicate their detailed plans as soon as possible.
Reciprocal healthcare arrangements cannot be fully protected unilaterally by the UK. That is why we are seeking arrangements at EU level or with Member States to apply the current social security coordination framework, including reciprocal healthcare, in full until the end of 2020.
To support UK-insured individuals living in the EU before exit day, the UK Government will also, for six-months after exit day (from 1 November 2019 until 30 April 2020), reimburse healthcare costs or pay providers directly where necessary.
Asked by: Helen Hayes (Labour - Dulwich and West Norwood)
Question to the Department for Exiting the European Union :
To ask the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, what steps his Department is taking to ensure UK children being cared for by relatives in another EU member state retain their residency rights after the UK leaves the EU.
Answered by Robin Walker
From the very beginning, the Prime Minister has made citizens’ rights our priority for negotiations. The draft Withdrawal Agreement will provide nearly one million UK nationals in the EU with the certainty they need about their rights going forward.
Under the Withdrawal Agreement, all UK nationals lawfully residing in a Member State at the end of the implementation period will be able to stay, this includes British children being cared for by relatives. It also allows close family members to join after the end of the implementation period on the basis of current EU rules, where the relationship existed before the end of the implementation period.
Our policy paper, published on 6 December, confirms that EU citizens resident in the UK by exit day will be able to apply to the EU Settlement Scheme to secure their status in a no deal scenario. We are urging all Member States to reciprocate our offer in full and to communicate their detailed plans to UK nationals as soon as possible.
Asked by: Helen Hayes (Labour - Dulwich and West Norwood)
Question to the Department for Exiting the European Union :
To ask the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, with reference to the Hansard Society article Westminster Lens: Brexit Statutory Instruments Dashboard, published on 22 October 2018, what progress the Government has made on the outstanding statutory instruments to prepare the statute book for the UK leaving the EU.
Answered by Suella Braverman
The Government is making progress and remains confident of ensuring a functioning statute book as we leave the EU. All statutory instruments are being published on legislation.gov.uk, and can also be found on Parliament’s tracker at https://beta.parliament.uk/find-a-statutory-instrument. The Government has committed that statutory instruments relating to EU exit will be clearly titled.
Asked by: Helen Hayes (Labour - Dulwich and West Norwood)
Question to the Department for Exiting the European Union :
To ask the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that the statutory instruments necessary for the UK to leave the EU are scrutinised by Parliament before 29 March 2019.
Answered by Chris Heaton-Harris
Answer: As stated in my response to question 183448, the Government remains confident of ensuring a functioning statute book as we leave the EU. We are working closely with departments to deliver a manageable flow of statutory instruments to allow Parliament time to fulfill its scrutiny role.