Asked by: Jo Stevens (Labour - Cardiff East)
Question to the Department for Exiting the European Union :
To ask the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, what discussions his Department has had with his counterparts in other EU member states on (a) the right to work, (b) access to social security and (c) accessing UK based pensions in the EU if the UK leaves the EU without a withdrawal agreement.
Answered by Chris Heaton-Harris
The Prime Minister has been clear that in the unlikely event that we reach March 2019 without agreeing a deal, we want EU citizens to stay in the UK and their rights will be protected.
Ministers and Ambassadors have been engaging with their counterparts across the EU to stress that we would expect the same treatment for UK nationals in the EU, in the unlikely event we do not reach an agreement with the EU. Most recently Minister Robin Walker stressed this in his engagements in France and Spain.
Asked by: Jo Stevens (Labour - Cardiff East)
Question to the Department for Exiting the European Union :
To ask the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, what discussions his Department has had with his counterparts in other EU member states on (a) the right to work, (b) access to social security and (c) accessing UK based pensions in the EU if the UK leaves the EU without a withdrawal agreement.
Answered by Chris Heaton-Harris
The Prime Minister has been clear that in the unlikely event that we reach March 2019 without agreeing a deal, we want EU citizens to stay in the UK and their rights will be protected.
Ministers and Ambassadors have been engaging with their counterparts across the EU to stress that we would expect the same treatment for UK nationals in the EU, in the unlikely event we do not reach an agreement with the EU. Most recently Minister Robin Walker stressed this in his engagements in France and Spain.
Asked by: Jo Stevens (Labour - Cardiff East)
Question to the Department for Exiting the European Union :
To ask the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, how many meetings Ministers of his Department have had with organisations representing (a) EU citizens in the UK and (b) UK citizens in the EU (i) since his appointment and (ii) since January 2018.
Answered by Chris Heaton-Harris
Ministers and officials from across Government are speaking to stakeholders from a variety of sectors, including organisations representing EU citizens in the UK and UK citizens in the EU, to understand their concerns and priorities regarding our EU exit.
Working with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the Home Office, DExEU has hosted sixteen community outreach information events with diaspora communities in the UK and organisations that represent EU citizens. Since January 2018, DExEU ministers have attended twelve of these events; four of these have taken place since the Secretary of State’s appointment. UK diplomatic posts around EU 27 member states have hosted a number of events with UK citizens in the EU.
The Home Office has long standing relationships with groups representing EU citizens, and is discussing the design of the scheme to grant status to EU citizens already resident in the UK with employers, suppliers and citizens.
Asked by: Jo Stevens (Labour - Cardiff East)
Question to the Department for Exiting the European Union :
To ask the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, how many meetings Ministers of his Department have had with organisations representing (a) EU citizens in the UK and (b) UK citizens in the EU (i) since his appointment and (ii) since January 2018.
Answered by Chris Heaton-Harris
Ministers and officials from across Government are speaking to stakeholders from a variety of sectors, including organisations representing EU citizens in the UK and UK citizens in the EU, to understand their concerns and priorities regarding our EU exit.
Working with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the Home Office, DExEU has hosted sixteen community outreach information events with diaspora communities in the UK and organisations that represent EU citizens. Since January 2018, DExEU ministers have attended twelve of these events; four of these have taken place since the Secretary of State’s appointment. UK diplomatic posts around EU 27 member states have hosted a number of events with UK citizens in the EU.
The Home Office has long standing relationships with groups representing EU citizens, and is discussing the design of the scheme to grant status to EU citizens already resident in the UK with employers, suppliers and citizens.
Asked by: Jo Stevens (Labour - Cardiff East)
Question to the Department for Exiting the European Union :
To ask the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, what discussions his Department has had with the (a) Welsh and (b) Scottish Governments on ensuring an adequate food supply in the event that the UK leaves the EU without a deal.
Answered by Chris Heaton-Harris
It is the job of a responsible Government to prepare for all scenarios, including the unlikely event that we reach March 2019 without agreeing a deal. The Department has held regular discussions with the Welsh and Scottish Governments and the Northern Ireland Civil Service on operational readiness for a ‘no deal’ scenario and will continue to do so.
Asked by: Jo Stevens (Labour - Cardiff East)
Question to the Department for Exiting the European Union :
To ask the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, whether his Department plans to undertake or commission modelling of the effect of leaving the EU on the basis of its preferred scenario.
Answered by Steve Baker
We want the broadest and deepest possible partnership – covering more sectors and co-operating more fully than any Free Trade Agreement anywhere in the world today.
The Government is undertaking a wide range of continuing analysis and preparatory work, across a range of scenarios, looking at the implications of UK withdrawal from the EU. We have been clear the Government will not provide a running commentary on internal analytical work that is being carried out within Government.
The Government has confirmed that when we bring forward the vote on the final deal, we will ensure that Parliament is presented with the appropriate analysis to make an informed decision. Given that we are yet to conclude this negotiation, it would not be practical or appropriate to set out the details of exactly how the Government will analyse the final deal.
Asked by: Jo Stevens (Labour - Cardiff East)
Question to the Department for Exiting the European Union :
To ask the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, what assessment the Department has made of the link between its recruitment and performance reward practices and its gender pay gap.
Answered by Steve Baker
The Department published its first gender pay gap report in December based on those staff on our payroll as at 31 March 2017. The report identified a mean pay gap in favour of men of 15.26%, and a median pay gap of 8.91% in favour of men.
At the time of DExEU’s gender pay gap report, women being overrepresented in more junior grades and underrepresented in more senior grades was a significant contributory factor in reporting DExEU’s gender pay gap. This is an issue that we are committed to addressing both through our recruitment practices and the use of cross government talent management schemes.
As a relatively new department, we had not paid any bonuses as at 31 March 2017. The department has now developed and implemented a reward and recognition policy so we will be able to report on this in future years. The policy puts equal opportunities at the forefront of all reward decisions alongside a mechanism to ensure consistency and fairness.