Asked by: Neil Shastri-Hurst (Conservative - Solihull West and Shirley)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps he is taking to ensure that UK businesses trading with China are not complicit in the use of forced labour.
Answered by Douglas Alexander - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
No company in the UK should have forced labour in its supply chains. The UK recognises the importance of ensuring UK businesses are not complicit in forced labour, in line with the UN Guiding Principle on Business and Human Rights and the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises.
Under Section 54 of the Modern Slavery Act 2015, commercial businesses operating in the UK with a turnover of £36m or more must report annually on their steps to prevent modern slavery in their supply chains. The Home Office has published new statutory guidance, providing more practical and comprehensive advice for businesses to enhance their fight against modern slavery.
Asked by: Neil Shastri-Hurst (Conservative - Solihull West and Shirley)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of strategic dependencies on Chinese supply chains for (a) semiconductors, (b) pharmaceuticals, (c) rare earth elements and (d) other critical sectors on (i) national security and (ii) UK-China policy.
Answered by Douglas Alexander - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
This government recognises the importance of strong and resilient supply chains to the UK's growth and economic security. While it would be counterproductive to 'de-couple' the UK economy from China or any other trading partner, we agree with many of our international counterparts that we must reduce our risk of dependency in critical industries.
The Department for Business and Trade is strengthening the UK's resilience both through sector programmes and the upcoming Trade, Industrial and Critical Minerals Strategies. These Strategies will outline more on our plans for resilience-building, including in the foundational sectors targeted by the Industrial Strategy.
Asked by: Neil Shastri-Hurst (Conservative - Solihull West and Shirley)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of the time taken to provide advice on Standard Individual Export Licence applications for dual-use goods to Ukraine on (a) UK defence technology exports and (b) Ukraine's non-military resilience; and what steps he is taking to ensure that those applications are processed in a timely manner.
Answered by Douglas Alexander - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
All export licence applications to Ukraine are treated with the highest priority by the Export Control Joint Unit (ECJU). As with all export licence applications, assessments are made on a case-by-case basis according to the Strategic Export Licensing Criteria. Assessments for Ukraine, given the situation within the country and the nature of the goods often being exported, mean these cases are some of the most complex for ECJU to process. In the most recent period covered by our official statistics in development i.e. July to September 2024, we processed 79% of SIELs for Ukraine within 20 working days, exceeding our public target of 70%.