DRAFT PRODUCT SAFETY AND METROLOGY ETC. (AMENDMENT ETC.) (UK (NI) INDICATION) (EU EXIT) REGULATIONS 2020

Paul Scully Excerpts

Monday 16th November 2020 General Committees

[The Chair]

Before we begin, I would like to remind hon. Members about social distancing. Spaces for Members should be signified; if not, please make sure you are at a safe distance. Please could anybody who is going to speak send your notes to [e-mail] and not hand them over?

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (Paul Scully)]

I beg to move,

That the Committee has considered the draft Product Safety and Metrology etc. (Amendment etc.) (UK (NI) Indication) (EU Exit) Regulations 2020.

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Ms McVey. As I am sure hon. Members recognise, the UK product safety and legal metrology system is among the strongest in the world. It is essential that we continue to have a robust product safety framework in place to prevent unsafe and non-compliant products, whether toys, cosmetics, lifts or machinery, from entering the UK market. At the end of the transition period, the Product Safety and Metrology etc. (Amendment etc.) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019 will come into force.

This instrument was originally drafted for a no-deal scenario and needed to be amended before it could come into force to take account of the withdrawal agreement, and in particular the requirements of the Northern Ireland protocol. The original product safety SI will be amended by a series of statutory instruments—the regulations are the sixth instrument in the series—and together they will ensure that the UK continues to have a fully functioning product safety and legal metrology framework in place from the end of the transition period.

This amending SI will do a number of things to complete the picture on how goods from the EU and from Northern Ireland will be treated on the market in Great Britain and provide businesses with certainty about how to comply. This includes allowing for continued acceptance of CE-marked goods on the UK market for 12 months before making the new UK CA mark mandatory from January 2022; providing for unfettered access for Northern Ireland to the rest of the UK and introduction and implementation of the UK NI mark; and introducing a number of transitional arrangements to help minimise costs to economic operators and giving them time to prepare.

The SI does two main things. It amends domestic legislation to take account of the withdrawal agreement, implementing the Northern Ireland protocol with respect to product safety and legal metrology. It provides greater legal certainty about the dates by which companies need to comply with new regulatory requirements for the Great British market, such as confirmation that the new UK CA marking will become mandatory from the start of 2022.

On the protocol, the SI provides for unfettered access to the rest of the United Kingdom market for qualifying Northern Ireland goods, subject to product safety and metrology legislation. The SI will introduce and implement the UK NI marking, which will accompany the CE marking for some goods when placed on the market in Northern Ireland. This includes the introduction of an appropriate set of sanctions should the UK NI marking be missing or misused, in line with the penalties that apply when other product safety rules are broken.

I will now consider each of those areas briefly but in more detail. In respect of unfettered access, the Government committed to legislating by 1 January 2021 to guarantee unfettered access for qualifying Northern Ireland goods to the rest of the United Kingdom market. That commitment is intended to be delivered through both primary and secondary legislation, with the Government having already laid a draft affirmative SI to define qualifying Northern Ireland goods. This SI references that definition in order to implement unfettered access provisions with respect to product safety and legal metrology. The changes made by the SI will be inter- dependent with other required protocol work, for example to establish a Northern Ireland-facing product safety and legal metrology system, so the SI must be in place to ensure all aspects work coherently from day one.

On the UK NI marking—Members will find an illustration in schedule 1—the SI provides for two aspects of the introduction and implementation of the product marking requirements of the Northern Ireland protocol. It introduces the design of the marking and implements the approach to sanctions should the marking be missed or misused. As laid out in the protocol, the UK NI marking will be used to indicate that a UK-based conformity assessment body has undertaken third-party testing against EU requirements and approved a product for placing on the Northern Ireland market. That also means that such products cannot be placed on the market in the EU. That is a vital part of the operation of the protocol. Not proceeding with the legislation would mean not fully implementing the protocol and also cause business uncertainty about the UK NI marking and what exactly must be done to comply at the end of the transition period.

[Mr Shailesh Vara (North West Cambridgeshire) (Con)]

To the extent that the Committee is being televised, I make it absolutely clear that although I speak from the Opposition Benches, I am a full member of the Conservative party and usually sit on the Government Benches. I am standing here for the purposes of social distancing.

Will the Minister make it clear that the SI in no way impacts on the quality of the products? I ask for that clarification to make that point clear to those who wish to cause mischief as we seek to find a trade agreement with the EU. There are some who still wish that we had not left and they misinterpret things, saying, “This will lead to a deterioration in the quality of products.” Will he therefore make it clear that the highest standards will be maintained?

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[Paul Scully]

I do not want to stray too far from the point of the SI, which is to give businesses legal certainty so that they can plan their future. However, because it is so important for the trading opportunities that will arise, I will say that British safety standards are among the best, if they are not the best, in the world. We are known for our brands and our skill, whether in precision engineering or other manufacturing. Our standards and metrology are among the best in the world and it is important that that will not change, no matter what the stamp is. Products will be certified as UK CA and UK NI, depending which market they come from.

On amending domestic legislation, I will ensure that provisions in previous EU exit legislation are updated to reflect the Government’s approach to phasing in new GB regulatory requirements. The previous product safety EU exit SI introduced a new domestic regulatory regime, with the UK CA marking replacing EU conformity marking, including the CE marking, alongside a system of UK-approved bodies to replace EU-certified bodies. That system will come into force at the end of the transition period. That original SI also set out that the EU’s CE marking could still be accepted in GB to give businesses time to prepare. However, the original SI did not put a specific end date on how long the CE and other conformity markings could continue to be accepted.

Now that we have greater certainty through the withdrawal agreement and an end date for the transition period, the amending SI that we are considering introduces a 12-month end point. We now have a clear date for independently approving goods for sale on our market rather than relying on the EU. We believe that that will give businesses clarity about when they should be ready for the new regime.

We have also gone further than the original SI by increasing the number of easements for businesses, which includes offering the option to affix the UK CA marking on to products using labels or on accompanying documentation rather than on each individual product. That will be allowed from the end of the transition period for 24 months. It will help reduce costs to businesses of retrospectively changing their marking and labelling mid-production and allow new UK importers of products into Great Britain to place their contact details on accompanying documents, again for 24 months from the end of the transition period. That is an increase from 18 months, which was the timeframe in the original SI. That measure will give businesses more time to implement the labelling requirements for the UK regime, again saving them time and money.

The SI will also ensure that all GB-authorised representatives must be based in the UK from the end of the transition period. That will mean that any legal entity that has been authorised to act on behalf of the manufacturer can be held to account in the UK. I urge the Committee to approve the SI.

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[Paul Scully]

I thank the hon. Gentleman—and, indeed, the rest of the Committee—for the consideration of the statutory instrument and for his contribution to this important debate. He talked about whether the EU deal is oven ready. I can say that if it were a British-made oven with a UK CA marking, he could be sure of its standard.

I have set out the importance of the SI for completing the picture on how goods from the EU and Northern Ireland will be treated on the market in Great Britain. It will provide businesses with certainty on how to maintain compliance and allow for continuing acceptance of CE markers, which answers the hon. Gentleman’s questions about certainty and what we are doing with businesses. The instrument will allow for the continued acceptance of CE-marked goods into the market of Great Britain for 12 months after the transition period, before making the new UK CA marker mandatory from January 2022, giving an extra length of time.

The instrument will provide for unfettered access for Northern Ireland to the rest of the UK, which means no new regulatory checks, customs checks or additional approvals for Northern Ireland businesses to place qualifying goods on the GB market. It will provide clarity for the GB market and for businesses that use UK-based conformity assessment bodies and wish to supply products on the Northern Ireland market, by setting out the rules on the UK NI indication. That will ensure that we take full advantage of options in the protocol that benefit UK-based businesses, and will introduce transitional arrangements to help to minimise costs to economic operators arising from uncertainty and to give them time to prepare by clarifying the obligations with which they are required to comply at the end of the transition period.

We have been working with businesses, consumers goods manufacturers and important and exporters since the original SI back in 2019, so although they have not had the final detail, which is before the Committee, they have had notification of our direction until now. We have continued that conversation with businesses to get them ready. The hon. Gentleman made a vital point: no matter what happens in the negotiations with the EU in the next week or two, businesses of all sorts will have to adapt. If they have not already done so, it is so important that they go to gov.uk/transition to use the business checker. Deal or no deal, there will be changes of which businesses need to be aware and towards which they will need to move. I thank him for highlighting that.

We have been working at pace with colleagues at trading standards to ensure that we have a robust enforcement process in place for the post-transition period. As I said to my hon. Friend the Member for North West Cambridgeshire, the UK’s product safety and metrology systems are among the strongest in the world and we want to ensure that we continue to have an effective and robust product safety and legal metrology framework in place from day one. It is important that we maximise readiness for the end of the transition period so that we can get to that point.

The Committee will be pleased to note that this is the final SI in this series of instruments, which, together, will ensure that the UK continues to have a fully functioning product safety and legal metrology framework in place from the end of the transition period. I am happy to commend the regulation to the Committee.

Question put and agreed to.

Live Events and Weddings: Covid-19 Support

Paul Scully Excerpts

Monday 9th November 2020 Westminster Hall

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (Paul Scully)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Gray, and I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Carshalton and Wallington (Elliot Colburn) for leading this important debate on the two petitions. I am so looking forward to attending his wedding to his partner Jed when it is possible to do so. It has been postponed once, but I was really hoping that it did not have to be postponed a second time.

Before I address the specific concerns highlighted in this debate, I want to talk about the two issues at hand. First, on wedding receptions, I want to put it on record that both myself and officials in BEIS have received a number of representations from the wedding industry over the summer. It is pleasing to see the dedication of my hon. Friend the Member for Clwyd South (Simon Baynes) who, as a number of people have done, has brought the industry together, listened to the sector, reflected on its views and been working tirelessly for those sectors that are so hard pressed and unable to open fully, or in some cases at all. When I saw the names of my hon. Friends the Members for Eddisbury (Edward Timpson) and for Loughborough (Jane Hunt) on the call list for this afternoon’s sitting, I knew that they would be here because they have been tireless in catching me every time they can in the Lobby to reflect the concerns of their constituents. That is absolutely right and shows their dedication to this important sector.

I have had representations from many people from the wedding industry and spoken to many of them in various roundtables, because it is so important to listen and reflect on the road map of the considerations that have been outlined today. It is important to consider the context of this issue. We are keenly aware of the importance of weddings for many people and how their plans have been affected by the coronavirus outbreak. Indeed, we heard from my right hon. Friend the Member for Tatton (Esther McVey) about her ceremony: numbers might have been curtailed, but I am sure the fun, the enjoyment and the love they have for each other was not curtailed in any way in their celebrations.

The situation also affects family, friends and guests, and, as we have also heard, the small businesses that that service and work with the venues and the planners to celebrate people’s weddings. That is pivotal to so many people’s lives, so we did publish guidance on how wedding celebrations could take place in England in a manner that was covid-19 secure and in line with social distance guidelines. The significance of those events was underscored by the fact that we enabled celebrations to take place initially with 30 people present, but regrettably that had to be lowered to 15. That included the couple, the witnesses and guests, but it did not include suppliers or venue staff working at the wedding venue. I know that is nowhere near enough for the viability of the sector.

I have had discussions about viability with the hon. Member for Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey (Drew Hendry), and, come the day when we are learning to live with the virus and we have rapid testing—when we have the results of the good news today of one particular vaccine avenue—I cross my fingers that those businesses will be able to switch on almost overnight, because the dates are there and those businesses are viable when we get out of this situation.

[Catherine McKinnell]

A huge number of couples have actually not booked their weddings and they are not waiting, ready to go, because they have lost their date. They had a date in July, but they have now been offered a date in January, probably at the same price and with no discount. This is really heart-breaking for many of these couples. I totally recognise the optimism of the Minister, but he should recognise the sheer heartache that many couples are living with today.

[Paul Scully]

The hon. Lady is absolutely right. I see on my Twitter and Instagram feeds and elsewhere the pain and heartbreak of couples who were looking forward to that special day. We have also heard about the financial costs that people have faced, such as deposits and other difficulties. The initial moves and the conversations that we have had illustrate the importance that we attach to these life-affirming events.

Some hon. Members have talked about the contrast between the numbers of people allowed in restaurants and in wedding venues, but there is a fundamental difference: the very nature of weddings, which bring family and friends together from across the country, and potentially from around the world, means that they are particularly vulnerable to the spread of covid-19. Despite some media coverage to the contrary, the hospitality sector has worked so hard to become covid-19-secure that pubs and restaurants are some of the safest places in the country. I have spoken to venue owners and organisers in the wedding sector, and unlike visits to a public house or restaurant, where groups are more isolated, it becomes harder to resist breaking social distancing at weddings, where we spend extended periods among family.

We want to continue working with those professionals, together with Public Health England and other health professionals, to ensure that we can manage social distancing throughout the wedding process. Just today, I had a conversation with Richard Eagleton of McQueens Flowers and Sarah Haywood of Sarah Haywood Weddings & Celebrations. They are both seeking to build a taskforce of the kind that my hon. Friend the Member for Eddisbury spoke about. I am happy to work closely, through a two-way dialogue, with them and their colleagues in the sector—the professionals who supply and service the sector, and the planners and venue owners—because that direct conversation will, I hope, lead to the kind of planning that hon. Members have suggested.

[Esther McVey]

I asked specifically whether the Minister would look into the pilot scheme that one of my constituents has put in place. Will he look into that and have a Zoom meeting with my constituent?

[Paul Scully]

I will happily look into any pilot scheme that has been happening. That may be something that we can feed into the taskforce with health officials, so as to look at how we might bring weddings on stream as and when the health advice allows. I am not an epidemiologist, but this is also about behavioural science, as well as the economics, which are very much part of my brief at the Department.

[Andrew Selous]

Would the Minister consider allowing a five-person event if siblings or parents were terminally ill?

[Paul Scully]

I will cover that in a moment. On live events, in tandem with our discussions with the wedding industry, we are committed to continuing our work with the musical and cultural sectors to understand the difficulties that they face and help them to access support through these challenging times.

Ministers in the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport have been in discussion with stakeholders across the creative and cultural sector, including on the development of draft planning guidance for how music festivals might be able to take place in future. Significant funds have been allocated via the cultural recovery fund to protect cultural organisations across England—almost a fifth of the fund has gone to the music sector.

More generally, the Chancellor recently announced the continuation of the coronavirus job retention scheme—it is known as the furlough scheme—meaning that workers in any part of the UK can retain their job and be paid at least 80% of their salary up to £2,5000 a month, even if their employer cannot afford to pay them. The flexibility of that scheme will be retained to allow employees to continue to work where they can.

[Karen Bradley]

On the point about the night-time economy and flexibility, will the Minister consider allowing drinking-up time after 10 pm, once we are through this lockdown? Venues could then provide two sittings for meals and ensure that everybody did not leave the venue at the same time.

[Paul Scully]

My right hon. Friend speaks of something that I have been working on for some time. I have seen it myself, and I have worked with, and had weekly conversations with, representatives of the hospitality sector. I have spoken to representatives of the nightclub sector on a few occasions as well, which I will come to in a second.

Some people have mentioned Northern Ireland, which has a separate system and a different system for weddings. The frustrating thing for me, when trying to work with health professionals and the hospitality sector, is that the incidence of transmission is so high in Northern Ireland at the moment. I am not suggesting that that is connected to the hospitality sector in any way, shape or form, but it becomes very difficult to disaggregate the data and to work through the evidence with health professionals. However, I will continue to do so.

Going back to the events sector, we have been working so that businesses will be protected from the threat of eviction until the end of the year. We have extended the moratorium for commercial tenants, which is incredibly important. Music venues create, present and support many different genres of music, and they have been eligible to apply for funds from the £1.57 billion support package for key cultural organisations to help them through the pandemic. As part of the cultural recovery fund, some festivals, dance venues and nightclubs received grants, including the Ministry of Sound and the MADE festival.

Some £3.36 million has been shared among 136 venues across England that applied for the emergency grassroots music venues fund, which has supported grassroots venues to survive the imminent risk of collapse, but I know that this is an ongoing situation. I have spoken to a number of nightclub operators, including Deltic, Fabric and Stonegate pubs, which owns nightclub venues as well. I have spoken to Mike Kill from the Night Time Industries Association, who has been mentioned a couple of times, and indeed to Sacha Lord, whom the hon. Member for Manchester Central (Lucy Powell) talked about. He has been particularly proactive and constructive, and I welcome further discussions with him.

My hon. Friend the Member for Carshalton and Wallington talked about deathbed weddings. Civil partnerships and weddings where one of the people getting married is seriously ill and not expected to recover are limited to six people in the national guidance. It should not be that local authorities enforce that in any different way, apart from that specific thing. I will take his point on extended families to the relevant Department and reflect on it with the Minister with direct responsibility for that area.

I served on the Petitions Committee with the hon. Member for Newcastle upon Tyne North (Catherine McKinnell) for many years. I am getting used to being on this side of the desk rather than on the other. She talked about venues in Newcastle and the cultural void that will emerge if they disappear. I am also Minister for London, so I know about that only too well. I have talked about the Gotham City scenario. If the ultra-rich are insulated from everything and poorer people on low incomes are forced into the city centre to service those areas, but we hollow out the culture and the mass of people coming in and spending, that will create a very different city.

We will be so much poorer if we get rid of our culture as a result of this pandemic, so we must work as hard as we can to avoid the sobering statistics that my hon. Friend the Member for Eddisbury talked about regarding nightclubs, weddings and other events. The impact on the economy is quite severe, so we will continue to work as hard as we can. The new national restrictions have obviously replaced the tiered local restrictions. I want to ensure that we can learn to live with the virus, and that we work towards getting a vaccine and rapid testing in the spring, so that we can come to the new reality beyond the new normal.

Draft Competition (Amendment etc.) (EU Exit) Regulations 2020

Paul Scully Excerpts

Wednesday 4th November 2020 General Committees

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (Paul Scully)]

I beg to move,

That the Committee has considered the draft Competition (Amendment etc.) (EU Exit) Regulations 2020.

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Gray. The purpose of the regulations is to implement competition law provisions in the withdrawal agreement and ensure that the UK’s competition regime functions as Parliament intended at the end of the transition period.

While the UK was a member of the European Union, its competition regime was integrated with the EU’s competition system. That remains the case during the transition period. As part of the UK’s preparations to withdraw from the EU, Parliament approved regulations in 2019 that created a separate and sovereign UK competition regime. They will come into force at the end of the transition period and require amendment to reflect the position set out in the withdrawal agreement.

Part three of the withdrawal agreement contains provisions on competition law. The regulations that the Committee is considering today amend the Competition Act 1998, the Enterprise Act 2002 and other domestic law containing competition provisions in order to implement fully the provisions in part three of the withdrawal agreement. The Government have consulted stakeholders, including the Competition and Markets Authority, competition lawyers and the Competition Appeal Tribunal in developing the regulations. An impact assessment was not undertaken because the impact of the regulations on businesses and the Exchequer is expected to be minimal.

I will briefly explain which of the withdrawal agreement’s provisions on competition law require further implementation and how the regulations achieve that. The effect on anti-competitive behaviour in mergers as they impact on the UK market after 1 January 2021 will be considered by the UK competition authorities under UK law. However, there will be a limited set of EU competition and merger cases that relate to the UK, which were opened, but not completed before the end of the transition period. Article 92 of the withdrawal agreement deals with those cases. I shall refer to them as live EU cases in the rest of my speech. The withdrawal agreement brings live EU cases to an orderly conclusion by giving the European Commission competence to complete them. Live EU cases will be completed under the law that applied when they opened. That approach provides certainty and legal clarity to the UK’s businesses, regulatory authorities and courts.

The regulations address three broad topics: live EU anti-trust cases; live EU merger cases; and EU commitments and remedies. First, with respect to the European Commission’s investigations of live EU anti-trust cases, the regulations amend transitional arrangements made in 2019 to reflect the European Commission’s jurisdiction over those cases. The amendments ensure that the CMA can assist the European Commission in those investigations in the way that currently happens under the Competition Act 1998. To implement fully the legal effect of the withdrawal agreement, the regulations restrict the CMA from investigating the UK aspects of a live EU anti-trust case until it has concluded. That reproduces an effect similar to that which currently arises under EU law. The CMA will of course be free to investigate the UK aspects of any anti-competitive behaviour that occurs after the end of the transition period.

Decisions of the European Commission and the Court of Justice of the European Union on live EU anti-trust cases will be binding in the UK for the purposes of private claims seeking follow-on damages for a breach of competition law. The regulations ensure that UK authorities must take into account any relevant penalty issued by an EU body in a live EU anti-trust case when deciding the amount of the penalty to be issued under UK law.

Secondly, the European Commission will continue to have exclusive competence over live EU merger cases, including in relation to any UK elements of the case. The regulations give the CMA the power to investigate a merger that is being re-examined by the European Commission following a successful appeal, if the Commission is not considering UK aspects of the merger in its re-examination. That will prevent any enforcement gap from emerging in the UK. The regulations amend the Enterprise Act 2002 and transitional arrangements made in 2019 to reflect the European Commission’s jurisdiction over live EU merger cases.

Thirdly, the withdrawal agreement states that the European Commission will remain responsible for monitoring and enforcing the UK aspects of commitments accepted and remedies imposed in connection with EU competition cases. Those commitments and remedies often relate to multiple EU member states, and the European Commission would normally be best placed to secure their continued compliance. However, the withdrawal agreement allows, by mutual agreement, the monitoring and enforcement of the UK aspects of such commitments and remedies to be transferred to the UK’s competition authorities. The regulations therefore give the CMA monitoring and enforcement powers to secure compliance with commitments and directions if it is agreed that the responsibility to monitor and enforce them will be transferred to the UK.

Those powers are modelled on the CMA’s existing powers to monitor and enforce domestic commitments and remedies. They will also apply to certain sector regulators that enforce competition law concurrently with the CMA.

In addition to those three categories of amendment, the 2019 regulations are amended to make appropriate reference to the end of the transition period. Consistent with the approach that the 2019 regulations took, the draft regulations will revoke a recent EU regulation on investment screening, which will have no practical effect on the UK beyond the end of the transition period.

The provisions on competition law in the withdrawal agreement mean that the UK will move smoothly to a separate and sovereign competition regime. The regulations will provide legal certainty for UK businesses, the CMA and UK courts. They make only those changes that are necessary to effect the withdrawal agreement provisions and to ensure that the UK’s competition regime functions as intended by the regulations that Parliament approved in 2019. I therefore commend them to the Committee.

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[Paul Scully]

I thank the hon. Member for her considered comments and for agreeing that these regulations are the way forward. As I have said, they are needed to give effect to the provisions that we have already agreed in the withdrawal agreement, so they very much relate to a specific set of cases. I will try to cover the areas that the hon. Lady talked about. We have the Penrose review into the competition regime in the UK. As soon as that comes back, we will consider it and come up with the changes and improvements that we need. We both agree that healthy markets need to function well together to ensure a fair deal for other competitors, and consumers as well. It is really important that consumers are at the heart of what we do.

[Chi Onwurah]

Will the Minister indicate when the Penrose review will be completed?

[Paul Scully]

The review is working at pace. I cannot give a timescale at the moment, but as soon as the review comes back we will consider it quickly, because we want to make sure that we have the best competition regime. As the hon. Lady stated at the beginning of her speech, UK competition specialists were at the heart of the EU regime. We are leaving the regime, but we are leaving with our competition experts, so they will be at the heart of what we do. We have made it clear in our published proposal for the comprehensive free trade agreement with the EU that we intend to maintain international co-operation on competition enforcement. The EU has expressed a desire to maintain UK-EU co-operation on competition law matters in its own proposals as well. We want to make sure that the CMA continues to participate in multilateral networks such as the international competition network and the OECD.

Without the regulations the UK would fail to implement its obligations in competition law under the withdrawal agreement. Inconsistencies between the withdrawal agreement and competition law would cause significant uncertainty for UK businesses, the CMA and UK courts. The changes that I have described today are required to complete the process of preparing the UK statute book for the transition. I hope the Committee approves the regulations.

Question put and agreed to.

Royal Mail: South-east London

Paul Scully Excerpts

Tuesday 3rd November 2020 Westminster Hall

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (Paul Scully)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Twigg. I thank the hon. Member for Dulwich and West Norwood (Helen Hayes) for securing this important debate and standing up for her constituents, who have clearly suffered through the teething issues of the change to the sorting office and from the impact of coronavirus, which has affected other users and customers across the country.

Before addressing the specific concern about disrupted delivery services in south-east London, I will provide a bit of context and outline the performance of, and pressures on, postal services in the current times. I agree with the hon. Lady, and I recognise the important role that postal workers have played and continue to play in serving customers and supporting local communities across the UK. We should never forget the social and economic impact of Royal Mail, the Post Office and postal services in general in connecting people. Their willingness to maintain deliveries during the coronavirus pandemic, at a time of increased social isolation, when many people cannot leave their homes, is vital. The Government are relying on the postal service’s continued operation to keep people connected across the country, and deliver the letters and parcels that are so important to everyday life and supporting the economy in these unprecedented times. It is therefore vital that normal services are maintained as far as possible.

Royal Mail’s well-established contingency plans to mitigate disruption to postal services are overseen by Ofcom, the independent regulator. It has reassured the Government, and I continue to monitor it and press it to ensure it is doing everything it can to maintain service levels during this period and that it continues to keep Ofcom informed. Specific changes to Royal Mail’s services are an operational matter for Royal Mail. Any reduction of services by it in exceptional circumstances will be temporary and are undertaken only when absolutely necessary. It is for Ofcom to monitor service levels in the first instance.

The regulatory conditions that require Royal Mail to deliver letters six days a week as part of the universal postal service also provide that it is not required to sustain those services without interruption, suspension or restriction in the event of an emergency. Ofcom has acknowledged that the covid-19 pandemic is such an emergency. It published a statement on its website on 29 April clarifying the regulatory framework that supported Royal Mail’s actions. It also confirmed that Royal Mail’s delivery obligations remain important elements of the universal service, and that it will keep the temporary change under review.

The regulatory framework is clear that emergency conditions allow Royal Mail to modify its operations, which includes reducing the frequency of the delivery of letters without formal authorisation if that is considered necessary to respond to the challenges it faces in sustaining the wider universal postal service during the pandemic. Royal Mail temporarily suspended Saturday letter deliveries for six weeks from 2 May to 13 June 2020 in the light of pressures on its staff during the height of the pandemic. Saturday deliveries of parcels continued through the six-week period.

A flexible approach to regulation under emergency conditions has supported Royal Mail and its hard-working employees. It has enabled the delivery of above-usual volumes of parcels, while managing high levels of coronavirus-related absences and necessary social distancing measures, keeping the country moving. Throughout the pandemic Royal Mail has been transparent with the public about changes to its services, with service update information published on its website.

Saturday deliveries were temporarily suspended nationwide, but I should like to address the specific concerns about services in south-east London. Royal Mail informs me that service levels have been affected owing to necessary changes to business operations and increased staff absence during the pandemic.

I shall address each of those issues in turn, because as the hon. Lady said there have clearly been teething problems and the changes have affected people, sometimes severely. I acknowledge the difficulties her constituents have experienced with those teething problems and during the coronavirus outbreak.

The safety of workers is a key priority of the Government. It is essential that Royal Mail workers are, and feel, safe in their working environment, which is why Royal Mail took significant steps to ensure its staff work in a safe environment in line with Government guidelines.

Royal Mail advises colleagues that good hand hygiene is the first and most important line of defence and promotes regular handwashing with soap and water. Other protective items such as hand sanitiser, disposable gloves and face coverings are available to all staff.

Royal Mail has implemented social distancing measures to ensure the safety of its staff and customers. For example, it introduced the “thumbs up” campaign during the height of the pandemic to make the public aware of the need to keep a safe distance while deliveries are made. In addition, Royal Mail reduced the number of staff in delivery vans from two to one. These measures have understandably had an impact on service levels.

As with businesses across many sectors, staff absence at Royal Mail increased during the pandemic and remains higher than usual, and that has clearly had an impact on service delivery. South-east London covers 28 postcode areas serviced by 20 Royal Mail delivery offices, and these combined postcode areas are served by Croydon mail centre. In the south-east London postcode area, sickness absence peaked at above 20% in May and is still higher than Royal Mail would normally expect at this time of year. Postmen and women who served the area throughout the pandemic continue to dedicate themselves to providing a public service in Dulwich and West Norwood and in all south-east London parliamentary constituencies.

Royal Mail employees have done their utmost to deliver as much mail and as many parcels as possible in difficult circumstances. In the East Dulwich area specifically there are 23 delivery rounds a day. At the peak of the coronavirus, Royal Mail partially failed to deliver in an average of 12 delivery rounds a day. That means there may have been a failure to deliver some products in each of those 12 rounds, and we have heard about the impact on the hon. Lady’s constituents. Those partial failures are now down to two or three delivery rounds.

Where business operations have been adjusted to deal with the pressures of the pandemic, Royal Mail has been transparent about the changes in services. It acknowledges there have been some reductions in service delivery, but given the pandemic, that is really no fault of its own, notwithstanding the teething problems with the changes to delivery offices.

The covid-19 pandemic continues to present challenging conditions, not just in the south-east but across the United Kingdom, Europe and globally. Royal Mail has done its level best to maintain service levels throughout a situation outside its control. To try to keep on top of the ongoing epidemic conditions, which might see rising staff absence alongside higher-still parcel volumes, in the run-up to Christmas, Royal Mail intends to recruit an additional 33,000 temporary workers, 10,000 more than usual, to help to manage the increase in online shopping caused by the coronavirus.

The Royal Mail’s universal service obligation is clearly a challenge. The changes that have been made are temporary, but services across a number of sectors have clearly been affected. Postal services affect so many people, which is why it is so important that we keep their social value and keep people connected.

The Government continue to push to keep Royal Mail to as high a standard as possible. Any permanent change would need to go first through a process with Ofcom before being decided in Parliament. It is important that we assess the impact on the hon. Lady’s constituents, and on people across the country—how they are being affected and how they use postal services.

The hon. Lady talked about absentee executives. As she said, there has been a change at the top, and I think that it is a better reflection of people’s expectations of what is required in Royal Mail at a particularly challenging time, even beyond covid. As to privatisation, there are some fundamental changes, not necessarily on ownership, that Royal Mail recognises and must address. It has a universal service obligation to keep six-day delivery right across the UK at a single price, but it also faces a challenge with the reduction in the number of letters being sent and the increase in the number of parcels, which as yet it has been unable to capitalise on as much as some of its competitors. A lot of functions need to be changed.

I said that operational matters are a matter for Royal Mail, so I will not comment about reinstating the service office in Silvester Road, but on behalf of the Government, I again take the opportunity to thank Royal Mail and to thank the hon. Lady for raising concerns for her constituents. It is important to focus on this and get it right, and not just in relation to the temporary nature of the pandemic, hopefully, as we learn to live with the virus—we do not know how temporary it is. Clearly, we need to get things right for those constituents who still rely on letters. Yes, people want their parcels, and people can use email, but some people like—and, as we have heard, need—a connection through letters, so thank you to the postal workers who continue to serve the nation, keeping us connected during these unprecedented times.

Question put and agreed to.

Insolvency Service Performance Targets 2020-21

Paul Scully Excerpts

Tuesday 3rd November 2020 Written Statements

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (Paul Scully)]

My right hon. Friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Climate Change and Corporate Responsibility (Lord Callanan) has today made the following statement:



I have set performance targets for the Insolvency Service for the financial year 2020-21. The Insolvency Service is the Government agency that delivers public services to those affected by financial distress or failure by providing frameworks to deal with insolvency and the financial misconduct that sometimes accompanies or leads to it.

The Insolvency Service aims to deliver economic confidence through a fair corporate and personal insolvency regime which gives investors and lenders confidence to take the commercial risks necessary to support economic growth. It has a crucial role to play in supporting businesses and individuals in financial difficulty or facing redundancy owing to their employer’s insolvency.

In 2020-21 and beyond the Insolvency Service will be critical in giving confidence to the UK’s businesses, investors and employees following the impact of covid-19. I have set measures and targets at a level which will drive the Insolvency Service to deliver its essential services effectively for its stakeholders. These measures include:

DRAFT STATE AID (REVOCATIONS AND AMENDMENTS) (EU EXIT) REGULATIONS 2020

Paul Scully Excerpts

Tuesday 3rd November 2020 General Committees

[The Chair]

Before we begin, I thank Members for observing the social distancing rules and the places set out for them. Hansard colleagues will be grateful if you could send any speaking notes to [e-mail].

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (Paul Scully)]

I beg to move,

That the Committee has considered the draft State Aid (Revocations and Amendments) (EU Exit) Regulations 2020.

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Davies.

I hope that the Committee will support the draft regulations and their objectives. The regulations were laid before the House on 29 September of this year. They were made under the powers in the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018, as amended by the European Union (Withdrawal Agreement) Act 2020, which I will refer to as the “Withdrawal Act”.

The draft regulations remove redundant EU state aid law from the domestic statute book after the end of the transition period. However, it may help if I set out a little context. State aid, which is an EU concept, is support in any form from any level of Government that gives a business or another entity an advantage that could not be obtained in the normal course of business. The disadvantage is the potential to distort competition within the internal market, affecting trade between EU member states, when state aid is present.

The rules relating to state aid ensure that EU member states operate in a way that is compatible with the internal market. The European Union establishes the rules, and the European Commission enforces them. The rules, together with case law, set out the details on how and when aid can be granted. However, we are no longer members of the European Union or the single market and, after the transition period, we will no longer be bound by those rules. If we did nothing, therefore, after the end of the transition period, EU state aid law would become part of UK law as retained EU law under the Withdrawal Act, but it would contain fundamental deficiencies making such retained EU law for state aid inoperable in the UK.

The objective of this statutory instrument, therefore, is to revoke the redundant law. That is both appropriate and necessary to provide legal certainty for UK businesses and public authorities that EU state aid rules no longer apply in the UK, except where they apply directly under the Northern Ireland protocol. That clarity is essential for businesses. The Government have long been clear that the UK will not follow EU state aid rules after the transition period, and will not align with EU state aid rules in any trade agreement with the EU. Instead, the UK will have its own subsidy arrangements to support its competitive, dynamic market economy.

My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State announced in a written statement to Parliament on 9 September 2020 that, from 1 January, the Government will follow World Trade Organisation rules on subsidies and other international commitments agreed in free trade agreements, and that we will consult on whether to go further, including on whether to legislate.

[Kevin Hollinrake (Thirsk and Malton) (Con)]

Some of the provisions of the coronavirus business interruption loans and bounce back loans were restricted because of EU state aid rules, which the Government had to work alongside. In future, will we be more fleet of foot in drawing up our own schemes for such loans and, potentially, might we be able to extend them a bit further into the distance? At the moment, they only extend to the end of January. Will the Minister look at extending those schemes perhaps to the middle of the year, because we can determine the rules ourselves? Is that correct?

[Paul Scully]

I thank my hon. Friend for an apposite intervention. I will not be drawn too much into what we will do in future, but I will say that being fleet of foot is exactly the reason for switching off the state aid rules at this point and having our own sovereign approach.

Over the coming months, we will work closely with businesses and public authorities across all parts of the United Kingdom to ensure that we consider how best to design an approach to subsidy control that works, as my hon. Friend said, for the UK economy.

I now turn to the detail of this draft statutory instrument. The SI will disapply and revoke retained EU state aid rules, which are preserved by sections 3 and 4 of the Withdrawal Act. Articles 107 to 109 of the treaty on the functioning of the European Union, together with the EU regulations and decisions made under that treaty, govern the state aid regime. Article 107(1), for example, defines state aid and sets out the general prohibition on giving aid. That prohibition operates by providing that aid is incompatible with the EU internal market, insofar as it affects trade between member states, unless that aid has been approved by the European Commission. Article 107(2) and (3) set out where the Commission must give approval and where the Commission has discretion over whether to approve aid. Article 108 sets out the Commission’s role in monitoring state aid and obliges member states to notify the awarding of aid to the Commission in advance.

Aid cannot be awarded until approved by the European Commission. This is known as the standstill obligation. While the Commission has the exclusive competence to decide whether aid is compatible with the internal market, national courts can enforce the standstill obligation. In effect, national courts can suspend an aid measure until the Commission has considered whether that measure is compatible with the internal market. However, after the transition period, the UK will no longer be bound by EU state aid rules, so the rights and obligations I have just described will no longer be relevant. This SI ensures that they are not retained in UK law by the withdrawal Act.

Furthermore, several EU regulations are in place to enable the EU state aid regime to operate across the member states. These broadly consist of procedural and exemption regulations. The procedural regulations set out how the state aid regime operates and make clear the roles and responsibilities of the Commission and the member states. They set out the procedures to be followed on notification and investigation, and give the Commission information-gathering powers. The exemption regulations set out the conditions under which an aid measure is exempt from the requirement to notify the Commission in advance. After the transition period, these provisions will become retained EU law through the withdrawal Act, but they will have no practical application, because the Commission will not have a role in the UK’s domestic subsidy control arrangements. The SI will therefore revoke these redundant provisions. Removing retained EU law that is both deficient and no longer relevant from UK statute books avoids any possible confusion about whether state aid laws must be complied with or not. The instrument also makes consequential amendments to other retained EU law and UK domestic legislation that refer to state aid rules, ensuring that this legislation can continue to operate appropriately beyond the transition period, when EU state aid rules will not form part of domestic law.

Hon. Members will recall that I mentioned that the regulations do not prejudice the Northern Ireland protocol. Article 10 of the Northern Ireland protocol will apply at the end of the transition period. The protocol will apply the EU state aid rules for measures relating to goods and wholesale electricity, affecting trade between Northern Ireland and the EU. The protocol is given effect in the UK by the withdrawal Act. The regulations will not affect the application of the Northern Ireland protocol. The regulations only make amendments to UK domestic law. The Government seek powers through the United Kingdom Internal Market Bill to ensure, if necessary, that there is no confusion or ambiguity in UK law about the interpretation of the state aid elements of the Northern Ireland protocol.

In conclusion, it is a fact that, from 1 January, EU state aid rules will no longer apply to the UK. The purpose of this statutory instrument is simply to revoke retained EU law on state aid from the UK statute book, and to fix any technical deficiencies in other retained EU law and UK domestic legislation that refers to state aid rules. I think we agree that clarity on the UK statute books about which rules do and do not apply after the transition period comes to an end is in the best interests of all. The instrument will ensure legal certainty for businesses, aid-granting authorities and courts. I therefore commend the regulations to the Committee.

--- Later in debate ---

[Paul Scully]

I am grateful to the Committee for its consideration of the regulations and the valuable contribution of the hon. Member for Newcastle upon Tyne Central to this important debate.

I have talked about the fact that the EU state aid rules were created to meet the needs of the EU, but, with us leaving the EU and the single market, as we have heard from my hon. Friend the Member for Thirsk and Malton, whether for the Japan deal or for our future deals, we want to have a system, controls and regulations that fit the UK economy and our objectives, which can be enforced and administered by the UK as an independent sovereign nation.

The hon. Member for Newcastle upon Tyne Central talked about certainty for businesses and I totally agree with her. This is a specific, technical statutory instrument that does not look at our future subsidy control regime beyond the WTO. Clearly, we will want to build on that and work out where we need to go with businesses. It is important that we involve businesses to develop any future additions, should we choose to build on the WTO. In terms of the certainty that businesses require now, we will publish guidance as soon as possible on the international commitments that will apply in the UK on 1 January 2021. That will cover WTO rules and subsidies and any commitments that we have made in the free trade agreement to date.

Our approach will have implications for businesses and all public authorities that grant subsidies with taxpayers’ money, including the devolved Administrations. It will take time to listen closely to those voices and design a system beyond 1 January that promotes a competitive and dynamic economy throughout the whole UK.

[Chi Onwurah]

Can the Minister give more clarity about the timescale he envisages to develop the state aid regime, given that we will have left the European Union and the existing state aid regime will no longer be applicable?

[Paul Scully]

Clearly the timescale will involve two things: our negotiations with the EU and other countries in terms of free trade agreements, and our discussions with businesses and government at every level, including the devolved Administrations, to ensure that we get it absolutely right.

We can be sure that on 1 January 2021 we will be leaving with the subsidy control, as outlined by the WTO. The guidance for businesses at that point will be there for them to see. We need to ensure that with anything to do with the transition—whether it is changes to company administration, organisation supply chains or subsidy control of state aid—it is important that businesses look at gov.uk/transition website. Whether we have a deal with the EU or not, companies will have changes to make. It is important that they are on top of that, especially small businesses that do not necessarily have available the big resources to work on those matters at such extraordinary times, as they work on a day-to-day basis.

The objective today is to revoke the retained EU state aid law, rather than looking forward beyond that—that is appropriate and necessary—and to ensure that consequential amendments to other retained EU law and UK domestic legislation that refers to state aid rules continue to operate appropriately for businesses and Government after the end of the transition period.

In conclusion, I confirm that we are revoking the retained rules that have been preserved through the withdrawal Act. The regulations will provide the legal certainty for businesses and aid-granting authorities. I therefore hope that the Committee will approve the regulations.

Question put and agreed to.

Fireworks

Paul Scully Excerpts

Monday 2nd November 2020 Westminster Hall

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (Paul Scully)]

indicated assent.

[Elliot Colburn]

The Minister is nodding; he used to live next to the park where that display takes place, so he knows it very well. The Round Table does a fantastic job and puts on a great event.

However, I have heard from many constituents tales of what can happen when fireworks go off. I have also heard the concerns of various organisations, particularly animal charities. Animals are one of the primary reasons why people have concerns about the general sale of fireworks. Speaking from personal experience, my older golden retriever, Willow, is quite frightened of fireworks and cannot settle down when she hears them going off. It is upsetting to see her in that state.

There have also been concerns about antisocial behaviour. I mentioned that I heard fireworks going off last night, and this morning it came to my attention that it is rumoured—I have not had confirmation from the police yet—that a group of young people were letting off fireworks in the pedestrianised Wallington Square, which caused significant damage, as well as distress to the residents living near the high street. That behaviour is not only a nuisance but highly dangerous, as the hon. Member for Gower highlighted clearly.

A number of solutions to this ongoing issue have been suggested, both in the petition and by residents who have contacted me, and I want to touch on a few of them. The first, and perhaps the most extreme, is a total ban on the sale of fireworks in the United Kingdom, which would essentially bring an end to firework displays in the UK. I think that is a bit too heavy handed, and I am sure we can find a more balanced approach. There is a range of other suggestions, especially to do with licencing, including the idea that we sell fireworks only to those holding formal events, that we regulate noise, and that we limit the dates on which fireworks can be set off. The Government will have considered those suggestions in their call for evidence in 2018, and the petition calls for some of those measures to be taken.

Colleagues will want to explore those options in more detail, so to allow them to speak, I will draw my remarks to a close. The Government are considering evidence that they started to collect in 2018, and are looking at the Scottish Government’s consultation and the Petitions Committee’s inquiry. I look forward to seeing what they have to say in response to those two pieces of work. Ultimately, I hope that they can find a balanced approach that allows us to continue to enjoy these events, particularly on Guy Fawkes night, and ensures that we address the concerns that our constituents have raised.

--- Later in debate ---

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (Paul Scully)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Mundell. I pay tribute to the hon. Member for Gower (Tonia Antoniazzi), not only for introducing the debate on behalf of the Petitions Committee but for her considered speech; to the hon. Members across the Chamber who took part in the debate; and obviously to the 305,000 people who took the time to sign the petition.

We heard some distressing stories about the treatment of animals, about antisocial behaviour and about injuries to people. We also heard about the positive side of fireworks—yes, the fun and the benefits. The hon. Member for Pontypridd (Alex Davies-Jones) said that she had a fireworks display on her wedding day. They can be enjoyable for many people and many cultures. We heard from my hon. Friend the Member for Bury South (Christian Wakeford) about Diwali and the Chinese new year. We often talk about 5 November, which is coming up in a few days’ time, but there are many other cultures that enjoy fireworks.

I have been a member of the Petitions Committee. I served on it for five years before the last general election, and I was serving on it when we looked at the issue of fireworks, took evidence and came up with our report. Fireworks are an issue that comes up year on year. I just caution the hon. Member for Southampton, Test (Dr Whitehead) when he talks about 750,000 signatures, because it was 305,000 this year, 305,000 last year, I think, and 307,000 the year before, so the number is relatively consistent. Whether they are all individual signatures or some people have duplicated their signature, it is none the less a lot of people. And we need to ensure that we take into account their concerns, whether that is for their animals, for people’s safety or just because of disturbance and antisocial behaviour.

The petition this year, as in previous years, calls for a ban on the sale of fireworks to the public. It highlights the impacts that fireworks can have on animals and wildlife and on the environment, and the injuries to people. They have been debated thoroughly today and in previous debates. As we heard from a number of contributors, we have to consider these matters this year against the backdrop of covid and the additional considerations that that raises—I will come back to that. The hon. Member for Gower did raise it particularly, and I will address it shortly.

I empathise with the concerns that have been raised. We do understand as a Government the strong feelings that some people have about fireworks. We understand that with every petition and debate, those who lobby against fireworks will be questioning why the Government have not banned fireworks or restricted their use since the last debate, so I want to set out here the work that the Government have done since the last Westminster Hall debate in November 2018, and I want to explain why we do not consider a ban on fireworks to be an appropriate course of action.

Simply banning something does not mean that the issue will disappear. In fact, a ban can often have the opposite effect and create unintended consequences, so let me start with the legislation that we have in place. As we have heard, we have legislation in place to regulate the manufacture, supply, storage and possession of fireworks, and their use and misuse, to help to ensure public safety. That includes powers to prosecute those who use them in a dangerous or antisocial manner. The Fireworks Act 2003, the Fireworks Regulations 2004 and the Pyrotechnic Articles (Safety) Regulations 2015 provide a regulatory framework that supports the enjoyment of fireworks while providing tools to manage the risks.

Local authority trading standards teams are working with retailers to ensure that the fireworks sold are safe, and they have powers to enforce against those who place non-compliant fireworks on the market, including those imported illegally or via the internet.

[Alison Thewliss]

The Minister is making a good point about trading standards. During the debate, it has been announced that the trading standards team in Glasgow has seized 500 fireworks in the city, despite the fact that there are 73 premises in the city of Glasgow where fireworks can be bought legally. Does the Minister accept that that means that things are not working?

[Paul Scully]

It is important that we work with the devolved Administrations to ensure the safety of people across the UK. I will come in a second to the training and resource that we are putting into enforcement. The police also have powers to tackle the improper possession and use of fireworks and antisocial behaviour caused by the misuse of fireworks wherever it arises.

The Office for Product Safety and Standards is responsible for protecting the public. It is the national regulator for product safety and is responsible for leading and co-ordinating the product safety system. It was created to deliver effective and trusted regulation for consumer products while ensuring that the legislative framework that it works with is effective and proportionate. It aims to ensure that consumers are kept safe and have confidence in the safety of the products they buy. To deliver that, businesses need to understand and meet their legal and regulatory obligations. To that end, the OPSS has worked with the Chartered Trading Standards Institute to develop and deliver a series of fireworks training events to frontline trading standards and fire safety officers. More than 200 officers in 105 local authorities have completed that training, which ensures that they have the skills and knowledge necessary to advise firework sellers of their responsibilities and to take enforcement action if necessary.

Let me turn to the evidence base and set out in more detail what work has been done. The Government have committed to ensure that all our policy making is based on evidence. I am pleased that the evidence base prepared by the OPSS was published last week. It contains data and information that has been sourced by drawing on existing data, literature and research, and by engaging with a range of groups and organisations, which have been invited to submit any data they have that is not already publicly accessible. Data was sought about the key issues raised in petitions, correspondence and debates, including noise, injuries and accidents, antisocial behaviour, environmental information and the impact on animals and people. A range of stakeholders have been engaged with to ensure that the evidence base reflects as wide a variety of evidence and perspectives as possible. They include Departments, local authorities, including trading standards teams, the fireworks industry, charities and originations that represent individuals, advocates for animal safety, the ex-armed forces and the retail sector.

A key concern is noise and disturbance, and we wanted to consider the issues most often raised: the suggestions that the maximum of 120 dB for fireworks that can be sold to a consumer is too high; that some fireworks sold to consumers are louder, and are continuing to get louder, than the maximum 120 dB level set out in legislation; and that the Government should promote silent or low-noise fireworks.

The evidence on the impact of fireworks on animal health indicates that different species of animals have different sensitivities and responses to noise. Separately, the OPSS has commissioned a programme of fireworks testing to determine the average decibel level for common types of retail fireworks sold for public use. It will evaluate whether fireworks placed for sale to consumers in the UK market meet the noise provisions in the Pyrotechnic Articles (Safety) Regulations 2015. The hon. Member for Gower and other Members talked about silent fireworks, but it is not clear whether a silent firework actually exists. Fireworks clearly require some explosive content to be set off. However, as part of the evidence-based work, we have commissioned a test of fireworks to determine the range of decibel levels, and that will help to identify a lower acceptable decibel level. It will also look at the potential impact of such a classification. We will publish the report based on that work in due course.

The Petitions Committee inquiry was not party political. This is not a case of the Government not acting; the Petitions Committee is cross-party and has a Labour Chair: the hon. Member for Newcastle upon Tyne North (Catherine McKinnell). The Committee concluded that at that time it could not support a ban on fireworks. Instead, it recommended other actions. The Government’s policy aligns with the Committee’s conclusion that it is not appropriate to ban the public from buying and using fireworks, as it would not be a proportionate measure.

We agree with the inquiry’s conclusion that a ban on fireworks, either for private or public use, could have unintended consequences. We acknowledge the experience of the National Police Chiefs Council, which believes that banning fireworks would push the market underground and make it more difficult to regulate and monitor. In addition, a restriction on fireworks sold to the public by retail outlets could lead to more individuals buying products inappropriately through online social media sources and from outside the UK. Individuals sourcing fireworks from illegitimate or unsafe suppliers may unwittingly buy products that are unsafe, as they may not meet the UK’s safety requirements.

We take the view that the concerns raised can be best addressed through education and raising awareness about good practice, being considerate to neighbours and the impact on people and animals of irresponsible use, alongside ensuring that the public know what action they can take and what the law provides for. Raising awareness around the safe and considerate use of fireworks is a common theme that has come out of our stakeholder engagement. For that reason, OPSS has developed an awareness campaign, which launched on 20 October, for this year’s fireworks season.

The campaign partnered with the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents, the Child Accident Prevention Trust, the RSPCA and the Chartered Trading Standards Institute. We have also worked with a wide range of other stakeholders, including retail bodies such as the Association of Convenience Stores and the British Retail Consortium, to share the messaging across different audiences.

We accept that, with the cancellation of public displays, more people may be having displays in their own back gardens, so the focus of the campaign is to educate people on how to buy, use, store and dispose of fireworks safely; to ensure that retailers understand their responsibilities when selling fireworks; and to promote considerate use so that people and animals can be better protected from any negative effects of fireworks.

We have been working with colleagues in the Scottish Government and the Welsh Assembly to share information, and will continue to do so. We have also ensured that we are aligning our awareness campaign on the safe use of fireworks with local restrictions on social gatherings. I emphasise that people must follow the coronavirus restrictions in their local area at all times, including if they intend to use fireworks.

We rightly heard a lot about animals. When I was on the Petitions Committee, we took evidence from fireworks associations and retailers. The people affected include those with horses, dogs and other animals, and indeed young children, as we have heard. It is important that we continue to engage with animal welfare organisations to ensure that we understand the impact on animals and to promote the responsible use of fireworks.

I pay tribute to all Members who have contributed. It was a pleasure to hear my hon. Friends the Members for Carshalton and Wallington (Elliot Colburn) and for Bury South (Christian Wakeford), both of whom showed off how hard they are working: one through speaking of his use of social media and his instant snap poll, the other through speaking of how he was working in his office on a Friday evening—good man. I know that at this time we are all working really hard for our constituents.

We also heard from the hon. Members for Pontypridd, for Glasgow Central (Alison Thewliss) and for Southampton, Test (Dr Whitehead). The hon. Member for East Kilbride, Strathaven and Lesmahagow (Dr Cameron) gave a horrendous example. I am glad that her dog was not the one was that was so horribly treated in that incident. I know that she is a great mother to her dog, and she will be looking after the dog on Thursday.

This issue comes up time and again and is of concern to people. We believe that, with the extra evidence that the OPSS is gathering and the extra awareness campaigns, which we are launching earlier, with more detail and to a larger extent each year, we can start to tackle this in a balanced and proportionate way. Again, I thank everybody who has taken part in this debate and pay tribute to the work of the Petitions Committee.

[David Mundell (in the Chair)]

I call the hon. Member for Gower (Tonia Antoniazzi), who has up to 14 minutes to respond.

London’s Economic Recovery: Covid-19

Paul Scully Excerpts

Friday 23rd October 2020 Commons Chamber

[The Minister for London (Paul Scully)]

I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Kensington (Felicity Buchan) on securing this Adjournment debate and on raising some really pertinent issues about the economic recovery that we so desperately need for our great capital city.

We are both privileged to represent constituencies in the capital city. They are very different, and it is really important that we actually remember that London is not one homogeneous mass. Therefore, the economic recovery and the plan for it need to reflect that. There are 600-odd high streets around the suburbs of London. What we saw, as we gradually starting to open up, was people shopping locally, as they were working from home and in their neighbourhoods, and that worked out okay. In fact, footfall was still down, but spend per head was up as people had the confidence—my hon. Friend talked about confidence—to go out in their local area to spend and to buy something in particular, not to browse or to shop as they might have done some months ago.

What clearly did not happen, however, was people returning to the central activity zones—the likes of Kensington, as well as the west end, Soho, the south bank, the City, Canary Wharf and all those areas. As my hon. Friend said, people did not feel the confidence to use public transport and return to their workplace, despite the enormous amount of work that Transport for London has done, and the investment put in and the work done by so many employers around the central London area in particular in making their workplaces covid-19 secure, as well as in making the pubs, restaurants and shops in all these areas secure.

It is so important that we remember what a massive contribution London makes to the UK economy. A fact that does not get outed enough is that the west end itself—all the culture, the restaurants, the hospitality, as well as the corporate business in that area—has 3% of the UK’s entire gross value added sitting within it. We must remember that when employers are saying they are not going to bring their employees back to their workplace any time soon—until maybe next year, the health figures notwithstanding—they should not expect that London will naturally be the same London they left. It does not have a God-given right to exist preserved in aspic, and it is incumbent on all of us to work together to make sure that we have a plan for recovery.

Such a plan works in three different ways—short term, medium term and long term. We must have a 90-day plan. As and when the health figures allow us to move back to tier 1, as my hon. Friend says, we need to be ready to go. We have already had one go, but it did not work as speedily as we would have liked. We need to be absolutely ready so that, when we get the incidence rate down across the boroughs, we can move to tier 1 and ensure that people have the confidence to travel and to return to their workplaces, albeit in a more flexible way than was previously the case. We are not trying to get back to how things were in January or February, because there is certainly a sense of permanent change, but we need to be able to shape that change.

[Joy Morrissey]

Does the Minister agree that we need a Mayor who cares about London’s economic recovery and actually fights for it, rather than putting in place measures that restrict not only economic growth but the number of people coming into the city, such as the London-wide congestion charge? We need a Conservative Mayor who can take a new economic approach that will revitalise London in the coming months and years.

[Paul Scully]

Clearly, yes. I want Shaun Bailey to be in post after May to help shape the recovery. We have been working collegiately with the Mayor, the Greater London Authority and the boroughs, and indeed with colleagues in this place, in relation to the structures and work that we have put in place, but that kind of working also needs to be replicated in public. They cannot be sitting on a letter criticising the Government and pointing the finger elsewhere, as we have seen from the Mayor and other people. What they do in public and in private is so important, because what might seem to be a good short-term political campaign is terrible leadership for our capital city, which contributes so much to the rest of the country.

For the short-term recovery, it is so important that we show people what Transport for London has done, and what our retailers, publicans and restaurateurs have done, to make sure they will be safe. It is about confidence, but beyond that it is also about joy. What do I mean by that? I mean that when people go to a pub and find that getting a pint is too onerous, because of all the structures that have been put in place, they will go back home and have a bottle of wine and a ready meal, as so many did during lockdown. We need to get them back into central London not just one time; we have to make sure they want to come back time and again, to enjoy everything that London has to offer.

Clearly there is work to be done on the medium term. Businesses, particularly in retail and hospitality, are talking about business rates, as my hon. Friend the Member for Kensington explained so eloquently, and about tax-free shopping and the effect on international tourism. They are also talking about rents. There is a certain amount of business structure that needs to change. A number of landlords, in the suburbs as well as in central London, are sitting on empty properties with an artificially high market rent, purely to keep their shareholder valuation at a particular level, and that is not good for high streets. How can we work with landlords and tenants to find a better balance that works for our local areas so that we do not hollow them out?

My hon. Friend the Member for Beaconsfield (Joy Morrissey) talked about the Mayor. I sometimes get the sense that he does not care whether he is the Mayor of London or the mayor of Gotham City; he just wants to be the Mayor. What do I mean about Gotham City? We run the risk of hollowing out the west end if we do not get the recovery right. If we have only the ultra-rich and the people on low incomes who service the city, but not the people in the middle who provide so much of the community and spend, London will not be the same as it was before.

There is so much that we are doing, such as the Chancellor’s winter support plan, to make sure that we preserve as many businesses and jobs as possible, while also moving to those long-term structures, whether a green recovery or the smarter use of digital in the centre of town, and building up the skills we need for the jobs that are yet to be created as we move towards a new economy. We have the new normal, with masks, one-way systems and hand sanitising—hands, face, space—but we are moving towards a new reality, with permanent behaviour change baked in. We need to recognise that and address it. It is about greater use of flexible working, recognising that people are not going to travel into London in the same way they did. It is about reduced use of cash, and different way of shopping. We need to be ahead of the game.

Conservative Members are always talking about levelling up the whole country, and that is so important. How does London play a role in that? Well, before lockdown I went to see the mixed-use regeneration at Battersea power station. The steels are made in Liverpool and are painted in the midlands, and the bricks are sourced from Gloucestershire. We are providing jobs all around the country for such projects, which also benefit London. The electric black cabs that go around town, which we need to return to the likes of Bishopsgate—some of the Streetspace initiatives are actually penalising not only black cab drivers, but disabled users of cabs as well—are made in Coventry. There are 2,000 people there making electric black cabs. There is also our culture sector in the centre of town. High House Production Park in Thurrock makes a lot of the production work for the Royal Opera House. The more that we can get that back, the more that we are creating and sustaining jobs around the country.

We need to level up London, so that it is not just an economic recovery, but a social one too; they feed into each other. The obvious example is Canary Wharf; if I stood at the top of One Canada Square, I would be among some of the richest people in the country, looking down at Whitechapel, which is one of the poorest areas. My hon. Friend the Member for Kensington speaks for and campaigns in her constituency, which also has a diverse community, with Ladbroke Grove on one side—the birthplace of one Shaun Bailey, who we were speaking to earlier—and Kensington on the other. Some people outside London only think of the richer part of Kensington.

[Felicity Buchan]

My hon. Friend makes a very important point—that we need to level up within London. There is a difference of 16 years between the average life expectancy in the poorest ward in my constituency and in the richest. That is phenomenal. Some of our poorest areas are actually in London, so levelling up is not just a matter of north versus south; it is also within our inner cities.

[Paul Scully]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right that we must look at this issue. Levelling up around the country and levelling up in London are not mutually exclusive; we can and must do both. That is one of the reasons why, during the pandemic, we have provided an extra £63 million for welfare support through councils. We have also put an extra £9 billion into the benefits system to ensure that families can cope as well as possible in the present situation.

The £200 billion or so that we are putting into the economy is to secure jobs, and help to protect businesses and livelihoods. This Government’s first priority is always saving lives, but close behind is restoring livelihoods, and protecting jobs and people’s futures. We know how long the unwind can be if we do not get that right.

I thank my hon. Friend for giving us the opportunity to speak about the economic recovery in London. Ultimately we will do this by getting to tier 1. It is not the Government’s tier systems that transmit the virus. It is people getting too close; breathing close to people, without a mask; touching people; and not following the rules. We need to follow hands, face and space. Working together and getting back to tier 1 is the best way to recover our economy in London and elsewhere.

[Mr Deputy Speaker (Mr Nigel Evans)]

Before I put the Question, I would like to wish all Members and staff here at the House of Commons and Parliament generally to have a very good and restful short recess. I am extremely grateful for all the hard work that they have put in to ensure that our democracy still functions at this particularly difficult time.

Question put and agreed to.

Corporate Insolvency and Governance Act 2020 (Coronavirus) (Extension of the Relevant Period) ) REGULATIONS 2020

Paul Scully Excerpts

Monday 19th October 2020 General Committees

[The Chair]

Before I call the Minister to move the motion, I point out that if Members sitting in the Public Gallery want to speak at any time, they will have to come forward, or the microphones will not pick up what they are saying. If Members have any speaking notes, please send them by email to Hansard; do not send the hard copy.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (Paul Scully)]

I beg to move,

That the Committee has considered the Corporate Insolvency and Governance Act 2020 (Coronavirus) (Extension of the Relevant Period) Regulations 2020 (S.I. 2020, No. 1031).

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Efford. The regulations were laid before the House on 24 September 2020. The coronavirus pandemic is the biggest threat that our country has faced in decades. It is important for our economy that we address the hardship that people are facing up and down the country. Since the pandemic emerged, the Government have taken swift action to save lives; to limit the spread of disease so as to avoid its overwhelming the NHS; and to mitigate the damage to the economy. Businesses have received billions in loans, tax deferrals, business rates relief, and grants, to support them and to help save jobs. The Government’s recently launched winter economy plan has a further package of targeted measures to provide ongoing essential support.

The Government recognise that while most businesses have been able to reopen, and many have received significant financial support, some continue to face uncertainty and financial difficulties. This statutory instrument will help companies by extending most of the temporary measures introduced by the Corporate Insolvency and Governance Act 2020, which were due to expire on 30 September. These extensions to various parts of insolvency and company law will protect companies from aggressive creditor action, promote company rescue, and give businesses greater flexibility by allowing them to hold their annual general meetings in a way that is consistent with social distancing measures.

The temporary insolvency measures being extended are the suspension on serving statutory demands and the restrictions on filing petitions to wind up companies, which are being extended until 31 December 2020; certain modifications to the moratorium provisions of the temporary moratorium rules, which are being extended until 30 March 2021; and the small supplier exemption from termination clause provisions, which is also being extended until 30 March 2021.

The temporary suspension on serving statutory demands, and the restrictions on winding-up petitions, have helped many essentially viable companies during these difficult trading times by removing the threat of aggressive creditor action at a time when many businesses are not able to operate at full capacity. We need to continue to keep people safe as businesses continue to adapt. Extending these measures will give confidence and support to companies doing their best to stay open in these unprecedented times. We will continue to monitor the situation closely before making any decisions on further extensions.

Hon. Members will know that the Government have already extended the temporary suspension of the right of commercial landlords to forfeit the tenancy of businesses, and that will give further protection to tenants who have only recently been able to restart trading after the restrictions introduced because of the pandemic. Most landlords and tenants have been working together to reach agreements on debt obligations, but there remains a risk that some landlords may use aggressive debt recovery tactics against companies struggling to meet rent commitments in difficult trading conditions. The extension of the statutory demand and winding-up provisions will be welcomed particularly by commercial tenants, but it applies to all business sectors of the economy.

The new company moratorium introduced by the 2020 Act gives financially distressed companies breathing space from creditor enforcement while they seek a rescue. I am pleased that companies—particularly smaller ones—are beginning to make use of it. In normal economic conditions, the moratorium is intended to work with important criteria, which must be met before the company can enter into it. Those criteria protect the integrity of the moratorium, which should be used only for those companies with a realistic prospect of rescue. Hon. Members will know that it was recognised during debate on the Act that if those criteria were temporarily relaxed, it would help fundamentally viable companies that had been impacted by the pandemic to make use of the moratorium.

These regulations extend some of those temporary relaxations until 30 March 2021. They allow a company subject to a winding-up petition to access a moratorium simply by filing the relevant documents in court, rather than having to make an application to court. The regulations also disapply the rule that prevents a company from entering a moratorium if it had been subject to a company voluntary arrangement, been in administration, or been in a previous moratorium within the past 12 months. The regulations also extend the temporary administrative rules for the moratorium, which are in schedule 4 of the Act and enable the moratorium to operate.

The final measure in the insolvency framework that is to be extended is the small company supplier exemption from the prohibition of termination clauses. This instrument extends it until 30 March 2021. Those termination clauses are often found in supply contracts between businesses. They are triggered when a company commences a formal insolvency or rescue procedure, and allow the supplier to terminate supply immediately. They can also be used by suppliers to demand ransom-type payments to maintain the supply of essential goods or services, many of which may be vital if the company undergoing rescue is to continue trading, and the withdrawal of which could jeopardise any rescue. The prohibition of those clauses means that contracted suppliers cannot terminate contracts or take other steps, such as demanding additional payments, simply because a company has entered an insolvency procedure or moratorium.

The measures give an important protection to distressed companies while they are attempting a rescue, but in the current circumstances, those provisions could hit smaller suppliers harder, potentially endangering their own solvency, and it continues to be right temporarily to exempt them from the prohibition, and to allow them to terminate supplies, should they need to protect their own business.

Finally, the 2020 Act introduced temporary flexibilities around the manner in which companies and other qualifying bodies could hold annual general meetings, allowing them to balance the requirements of legislation and their constitutional arrangements with the prevailing coronavirus restrictions, and so safeguard the wellbeing of their shareholders and members. That is crucial to the operation of the UK’s strong corporate governance regime, which makes sure that company boards are fully held to account by their members. Without this extension, that scrutiny would be made increasingly difficult.

The season for annual general meetings is largely behind us, but more than 100 large companies still have to hold AGMs before the end of the year. To that we must add the multitude of smaller companies, charitable incorporated organisations and mutual societies that have similar obligations. The extension of these provisions will give them comfort that they can continue to convene annual general meetings safely and consistently with their legal obligations.

The package of temporary measures introduced by the 2020 Act in June has been widely welcomed by businesses at this critical time. They tell us that these measures have been essential in supporting businesses. Many companies are now able to trade without the threat of aggressive creditor action being taken against them, and have new tools available to help them restructure and rescue themselves. I commend the regulations to the Committee.

--- Later in debate ---

[Paul Scully]

I thank the hon. Member for her contribution to the debate and the constructive way in which she and her party have always tackled this particular area of support for businesses.

To answer those two questions in particular, the hon. Lady asked whether we will be here again, and the answer is, quite possibly. Why are we doing that? It is important that we keep these measures under consideration—for example, the statutory demands and winding-up petitions. There is a balance to be struck at some point, and some landlords are starting to say, “Well, hold on a sec. What about us? What do we do when we are unable to take any rent, even if a business has been trading throughout this period?” It is important that we take consideration and get the balance right; it is better to do that as the situation develops and as we listen, and then to spend a few minutes considering that in this place, rather than just making one blanket consideration.

On wrongful trading, at the beginning of the pandemic company directors faced an uncertain future regarding trading conditions, but now that the suspension has been in place for seven months, they have had time to make a better assessment of the impact of the pandemic on their company’s viability, notwithstanding what the hon. Lady said about further restrictions in some places, including her constituency. I totally understand her particular consideration as a constituency MP for those businesses in those areas, but the end of the suspension also represents the return of an important protection for creditors.

Given the situation with the other measures that we introduced in the original Act, in terms of the moratorium and the restructuring ability, there are more procedures in place for companies to put a pause on permanent insolvency, rather than having to get to the position where they may be trading in insolvency. Wrongful trading was used as a deterrent in most examples, rather than actual enforcement. There were not many examples of enforcement of wrongful trading, because companies could have looked to other means before they needed to get there.

The points raised in the debate have highlighted the importance of the measures being extended by these regulations. We know that businesses continue to face challenging times right across the country, and it is important that we extend these measures. The regulations will provide much-needed continued support for businesses to concentrate their best efforts on continuing to trade and build on the foundations for economic recovery in the UK.

We have given careful consideration to extending these temporary measures, and the Government will monitor the situation closely before making any decisions about further extensions, including consulting with businesses and their representatives. I thank hon. Members again for their valuable contributions to this debate, and I hope the Committee approves the statutory instrument.

Question put and agreed to.

Draft Consumer Protection (Enforcement) (Amendment etc.) (EU Exit) Regulations 2020

Paul Scully Excerpts

Tuesday 6th October 2020 General Committees

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (Paul Scully)]

I beg to move,

That the Committee has considered the draft Consumer Protection (Enforcement) (Amendment etc.) (EU Exit) Regulations 2020.

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Sir David. The draft regulations were laid before the House on 14 September. They form part of a programme of work to update our legislative framework in readiness for the end of the transition period. Obviously we want a relationship with the EU that is based on friendly co-operation between sovereign equals and centred on free trade. It is of course important to ensure that retained EU legislation continues to work effectively in the UK immediately after the transition phase.

The main reason for the statutory instrument is that it has become necessary to update the Consumer Protection (Enforcement) (Amendment etc.) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019, which were considered and approved in Committee on 23 January 2019, as a result of subsequent changes in EU and domestic law. The draft statutory instrument does not alter the fundamental approach of the 2019 regulations; rather, it enables the regulations to work in the light of those changes.

It might be helpful if I remind the Committee about the 2019 regulations and the legislation that they amend. They deal with the collective redress regime for consumer protection laws, which applies in the case of an infringement of certain consumer protection laws when that infringement causes harm to the collective interests of consumers. This is about dealing with systemic infringements of consumer law, not individual disputes.

The EU’s consumer protection co-operation regulation, known as the CPC regulation, provides for reciprocal arrangements between enforcement bodies in member states, such as the Competition and Markets Authority in the UK. It allows them to investigate and, if requested by an enforcer in another member state, to take action to end cross-border infringements of EU consumer law that harm the collective interests of consumers. Within the UK, the Enterprise Act 2002 allows enforcers to seek court orders to ensure the cessation of infringements causing collective harm and, when appropriate, to secure redress.

The 2019 exit regulations revoke the CPC regulation, as it will not apply to the UK once the UK ceases to be bound by EU law. That revocation is also necessary to prevent a requirement for UK enforcers to assist their EU counterparts while EU enforcers are not under the same obligation. The 2019 regulations also amend the 2002 Act to allow the domestic collective redress regime to function effectively once EU law no longer applies in the UK. Those regulations replace the concept of a Community infringement—a breach of consumer protection laws in the European economic area—with a so-called schedule 13 infringement. The 2019 regulations will add to that when they come into force.

Amendments to the 2019 regulations are necessary because, since they were made, a new EU CPC regulation —the 2017 CPC regulation—has come into force. The draft statutory instrument therefore updates the 2019 regulations to revoke that new CPC regulation. The draft statutory instrument will ensure that the UK collective redress regime under the 2002 Act will continue to apply to new EU-derived consumer protection laws to which the 2017 CPC regulation has been extended when those laws are being retained in UK law. The instrument adds those laws to new schedule 13 to that Act. The draft regulations also ensure that the 2019 exit regulations amend the new material that was added to the 2002 Act by the CPC implementation regulations. That is important to ensure that the 2019 regulations amend that Act as it stands now. None of these changes are designed to alter the approach of the 2019 exit regulations.

We are taking the opportunity through the draft regulations to make a number of other changes to EU exit regulations relating to consumer protection. Two previous sets of UK-wide exit regulations amended legislation relating to crystal glass, footwear and textiles, which are specified in the Northern Ireland protocol. As the protocol was not contemplated when those regulations were made, the draft statutory instrument makes a small number of changes to them to ensure that they do not affect the operation of the Northern Ireland protocol. The draft statutory instrument also makes technical changes to replace references to “exit day” with “IP completion day”, which will be 31 December 2020. That is necessary in the context of the transitional provisions of existing regulations.

Finally, we are taking the opportunity to make minor amendments to clarify the drafting of the Enterprise Act 2002. That is a response to the 14th report in this Session of the Joint Committee on Statutory Instruments in relation to this year’s regulations implementing the new CPC regulation.

Departmental officials have undertaken an appropriate assessment of the impact of the draft statutory instrument. That showed there is likely to be a minimal impact on business because these amendments do not bring about a wider policy change, or impose any new liabilities or obligations on any relevant businesses, organisations or persons.

Consumer protection is devolved to Northern Ireland, but following consultation, the Department for the Economy in Northern Ireland has agreed to the SI including provisions relating to matters devolved to Northern Ireland.

The draft regulations are a sensible and necessary use of the powers of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018. They will ensure that the law in this area continues to function effectively after the transition period. I commend the draft regulations to the Committee.

--- Later in debate ---

[Paul Scully]

I thank the hon. Lady for her comments and support. It is important that we get the legislation right, and I appreciate the spirit of co-operation in which our proceedings are being conducted.

The hon. Lady asked specifically what will happen to consumer protection. Regarding the devolved Administrations, we have been in close contact with Northern Ireland, which has given us permission to legislate on its behalf, and we will continue to work with Northern Ireland on consumer protection beyond this measure. We have also advised the Scottish Parliament of exactly what we are doing, so that it can reflect on taking similar measures to get this right, and we are also working with it on consumer protection following the end of the transition.

UK standards will apply when EU-based traders trade or target their activities in the UK, so consumer protection will not change in that regard. Consumers’ protection within the EU at the end of the transition period will depend on a consumer’s contract, on whether an activity is specifically targeted at the UK market, and on the laws of the relevant member state. Individual consumers will still be able to use the European consumer centre, which helps consumers with cross-border disputes, for at least one year after transition. We will work with partners such as Citizens Advice, the consumer helpline of which is funded by my Department, to ensure that consumers understand their rights and can make informed decisions following the transition period. We have talked—[Interruption.] We talked about roaming charges, and we are hearing of that right now.

We have one of the world’s strongest consumer protection regimes to ensure that consumers’ interests are safeguarded in our economy through a comprehensive set of consumer rights, strong advocates for consumers’ interests and well-developed advice services. The declaration between the UK and the EU sets out the parties’ determination to continue working together to safeguard high standards of consumer protection, and the UK is committed to that.

The draft regulations will ensure that our consumer rights framework will continue to function effectively once the EU CPC regulation ceases to apply to the UK. I therefore hope that the Committee will approve the statutory instrument.

Question put and agreed to.