Asked by: Liam Byrne (Labour - Birmingham, Hodge Hill)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what her Department's definition of a critical supply chain is; and which supply chains meet that definition.
Answered by Nusrat Ghani - Minister of State (Minister for Europe)
The government defines a critical supply chain as one that is vital to the UK’s economy, national security, or essential services. This covers a range of supply chains from critical minerals to essential medicines.
The government does not publish details on which supply chains are critical due to the sensitive nature of this information. My department will shortly be publishing a Critical Imports and Supply Chains Strategy, which will outline the steps that the UK has taken and will be taking to enhance critical imports and supply chain resilience.
Asked by: Liam Byrne (Labour - Birmingham, Hodge Hill)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what powers are available to her to impose export controls in the interests of national security.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Export Control Act 2002 provides broad powers to control and licence exports, trade, transfers of technology and technical assistance for military goods and technology.
All export licence applications are assessed on a case-by-case basis against the Strategic Export Licensing Criteria (SELC). These Criteria provide a thorough risk assessment framework, which requires ECJU to think hard about the possible impact of providing equipment, and the capabilities it could support.
HM Government will not grant an export licence if to do so would be inconsistent with these Criteria, including if there is a risk of diversion to a weapon of mass destruction or military programme of concern, or if the export could present a risk to the UK’s national security.
Asked by: Liam Byrne (Labour - Birmingham, Hodge Hill)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what powers are available to which of His Majesty’s ministers to restrict supply of components to critical national infrastructure from foreign firms.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Procurement Act will enable Cabinet Office Ministers to mandate that a supplier is debarred from specific types of contracts where the supplier poses an unacceptable risk to national security. The Telecommunications (Security) Act 2021 enables Department of Science, Innovation & Technology Ministers to impose, monitor and enforce controls on public communications providers’ use of designated vendors’ goods, services and facilities within UK public telecommunications networks.
The National Cyber Security Centre and the newly formed National Protective Security Authority provide expert advice and guidance to both public and private organisations to identify risks and vulnerabilities to the UK’s national infrastructure.
Asked by: Liam Byrne (Labour - Birmingham, Hodge Hill)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what the value was of accumulated (a) grants (b) loans and (c) equity investments made to firms operating in each of the sensitive areas of the economy set out under the National Security and Investment Act 2021; and if she will publish this information in a tabular format.
Answered by Nusrat Ghani - Minister of State (Minister for Europe)
The Department for Business and Trade does not hold data regarding the value of accumulated (a) grants (b) loans and (c) equity investments made to firms operating in each of the sensitive areas of the economy set out under the National Security and Investment Act 2021.
The Annual Report of the National Security and Investment Act, published by the Cabinet Office, provides details of notifications received from firms operating by sector of the economy and country of origin.
Asked by: Liam Byrne (Labour - Birmingham, Hodge Hill)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what recent representations she has received on public procurement guidelines on the purchase of foreign technology from the public purse.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
All ministerial meetings with external organisations are published in the quarterly transparency returns.
Steps are being taken by the UK government to protect national security through public procurement including the creation of a permanent National Security Unit for Procurement within the Cabinet Office. As part of the Procurement Act, the Government will introduce new, mandatory debarments for specific types of contracts where the supplier poses an unacceptable risk to national security. The Cabinet Office have committed to publish guidance to assist contracting authorities in assessing national security risk and using their exclusion powers.
Asked by: Liam Byrne (Labour - Birmingham, Hodge Hill)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what powers are available to which Ministers to control imports on national security grounds; and if she will publish details of (a) when and (b) how those powers have been used in the last five years.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
Ministers for the Department for Business and Trade (DBT) can control imports into the UK through various means, notably the Open General Import Licence. This permits the importation of all goods into the United Kingdom, subject to various exceptions which include goods such as firearms and nuclear materials. These exceptions are granted under the Import of Goods (Control) Order 1954.
DBT does not have policy responsibility for all import controls — The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office is responsible for Government policy on sanctions, although relevant departments work closely together on this.
The UK’s import controls regime is consistent with its domestic and international obligations. Controls can be used for numerous reasons including national security.