Professional Qualifications and Services (Amendments and Miscellaneous Provisions) (EU Exit) Regulations 2020

Lord Blunkett Excerpts

Monday 14th September 2020 Grand Committee

[Lord Blunkett (Lab)]

My Lords, I shall not detain the Grand Committee or the Minister very long. My contribution is more to probe and to query than to add anything new. I understand entirely the need for these regulations and the issue in respect of rights that were incorporated in EU legislation. I also understand the grandfathering process so that people retain their rights in respect of the qualifications they have obtained. Under the transitional provisions, in some cases that will be for one year, while in the case of Swiss nationals it will be for four or five years.

I am afraid that over the weekend I did not have the resources that I used to have or the technical ability online to be able to get to grips with what would happen after the varying transition periods were completed; in other words, whether the reciprocation agreed in implementing the grandfathered rights would continue, with mutual recognition of existing qualifications, including in respect of the provisions dealing which medical professional qualifications, two of which are to be disapplied because they are felt not to be relevant. I want to query with the Minister why they are not relevant any more. I shall not go into skiing, because I am sure other people will want to talk about reciprocal recognition there. As I am not foolish enough to go skiing at my age, it will not apply to me, but I am at a loss to see where we will be after a further, extended transition period following the end of this year and how it will operate for those who gain their qualifications after that period has finished. If that does not make sense, neither do the regulations read by an intelligent human being who does not have access, in terms of the regulations, to a range of European languages, and that includes me.