Stephen Gethins

I spoke to EU Council President Tusk, EU Commission President Juncker, German Chancellor Merkel and French President Hollande to discuss the UK’s objectives in the negotiations and future relationship with the EU.

The UK Government is committed to working with the Devolved Administrations as we prepare for our negotiations with the EU which is why we set up the Joint Ministerial Committee on EU Negotiations.

The Cabinet Office is responsible for the majority of cross-cutting government services that make corporate changes easier, including supporting new departments to build their capability. For the two most recently established departments (the Department for Exiting the European Union and the Department for International Trade) we provided practical guidance, and for the Department for Exiting the European Union in particular, interim Estates, IT, HR, finance, security and telephony services.

The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.

It is not possible to quantify the specific cost or time spent on contingency plans. This work is a standard part of policy development, as a responsible government prepares for all potential outcomes. As ever, we are committed to spending public money in an efficient, effective and economic manner.

The Department has engaged, and continues to engage, with a range of stakeholders on all of the published position papers relevant to the work of the Department.

The Government is working towards a mutually beneficial outcome to the withdrawal negotiations. Nevertheless, a responsible government plans for contingency scenarios. The Department is actively considering all options in order to minimise disruption for UK businesses and avoid the introduction of new regulatory barriers. We continue to engage with UK stakeholders to understand their concerns and interests.

The Government is working towards a mutually beneficial outcome to the withdrawal negotiations. Nevertheless, a responsible government plans for contingency scenarios. The Department is actively considering all options in order to minimise disruption for UK businesses and avoid the introduction of new regulatory barriers. We continue to engage with UK stakeholders to understand their concerns and interests.

The UK position paper ‘Continuity in the availability of goods for the EU and the UK’ was published following discussion and agreement with other Government Departments, including the Scotland Office. We will continue to work with other Government departments to inform our negotiating position as discussions with the EU progress. My department is actively considering all options in order to minimise disruption for businesses and avoid the introduction of new regulatory barriers. My officials are in contact with their counterparts in the Scottish Government on issues relating to the movement of goods following the UK’s exit from the EU. We will continue to work with other Government departments, including the Scotland Office, to inform our approach.

The UK position paper ‘Continuity in the availability of goods for the EU and the UK’ was published following discussion and agreement with other Government Departments, including the Scotland Office. We will continue to work with other Government departments to inform our negotiating position as discussions with the EU progress. The Department is actively considering all options in order to minimise disruption for businesses and avoid the introduction of new regulatory barriers. My officials are in contact with their counterparts in the Scottish Government on issues relating to the movement of goods following the UK’s exit from the EU. We will continue to work with other Government departments, including the Scotland Office, to inform our approach.

The Department has received a wide range of representations from businesses on the withdrawal from the European Union, and specifically on the position of goods placed on the market at that point, both before and after the UK Government paper published on this subject. We continue to engage stakeholders with the aim of ensuring a smooth and orderly exit from the European Union.

The Department has received a wide range of representations from organisations on the withdrawal from the European Union, and specifically on the position of goods placed on the market at that point, both before and after the UK Government paper published on this subject. This includes discussions with trade unions on the withdrawal from the European Union and I plan shortly to hold a roundtable with trade unions on their priorities for the UK’s exit from the EU.

The Government is working towards a mutually beneficial outcome to the withdrawal negotiations. Nevertheless, a responsible government plans for contingency scenarios. The Department is actively considering all options in order to minimise disruption for UK businesses and avoid the introduction of new regulatory barriers. We continue to engage with UK stakeholders to understand their concerns and interests.

The Government is working towards a mutually beneficial outcome to the withdrawal negotiations. Nevertheless, a responsible government plans for contingency scenarios. The Department is actively considering all options in order to minimise disruption for UK businesses and avoid the introduction of new regulatory barriers. We continue to engage with UK stakeholders to understand their concerns and interests.

The Government is working towards a mutually beneficial outcome to the withdrawal negotiations. Nevertheless, a responsible government plans for contingency scenarios. The Department is actively considering all options in order to minimise disruption for UK businesses and avoid the introduction of new regulatory barriers. We continue to engage with UK stakeholders to understand their concerns and interests.

The UK position paper ‘Continuity in the availability of goods for the EU and the UK’ was published following discussion and agreement with other Government Departments, including the Scotland Office. We will continue to work with other Government departments to inform our negotiating position as discussions with the EU progress. The Department is actively considering all options in order to minimise disruption for businesses and avoid the introduction of new regulatory barriers. Officials are in contact with their counterparts in the Scottish Government on issues relating to the movement of goods following the UK’s exit from the EU. We will continue to work with other Government departments, including the Scotland Office, to inform our approach.

Officials in the Department are working closely with the Department for Exiting the European Union and other Government departments to engage with the Devolved Administrations, Crown Dependencies and the Overseas Territories to build consensus around our negotiating position.

Officials in the Department have engaged, and continue to engage, with businesses across the United Kingdom, including those in Scotland, on a wide range of issues relating to our withdrawal from the European Union. This has included discussion on the important issue of the availability of goods on the market.

There is no record of any specific discussion between Ministers in this department and Scottish trade union representatives on the position paper, “Continuity in the availability of goods for the EU and the UK”. I plan shortly to hold a roundtable with trade unions on their priorities for the UK’s exit from the EU and will invite representation from Scotland.

The Department has engaged, and continues to engage, with a range of stakeholders on all of the published position papers relevant to the work of the Department.

In leaving the European Union, we will bring about an end to the direct jurisdiction of the Courts of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) in the UK. The UK and the EU therefore need to agree governance arrangements to ensure continuity in the availability of goods for the EU and the UK in line with the Government’s proposals. The Dispute Resolution and Enforcement future partnership paper published on 23 August 2017 explores a number of existing precedents for such arrangements.

The Government is working towards a mutually beneficial outcome to the withdrawal negotiations. Nevertheless, a responsible government plans for contingency scenarios. The Department is actively considering all options in order to minimise disruption for UK businesses and avoid the introduction of new regulatory barriers. We continue to engage with UK stakeholders to understand their concerns and interests.

Our ambition is to reach a comprehensive future agreement with the EU that builds on the commonalities between our systems. Both the UK and the EU benefit from a frictionless trading relationship in goods. The UK wants to minimise regulatory barriers as part of the future UK-EU partnership. We continue to engage with UK stakeholders to understand and represent their concerns in the future negotiations.

The future relationship between the UK and the EU in respect to compliance activities is a matter for future negotiations. It would not be appropriate to pre-judge the outcome of those negotiations.

Between 2011 and 2015 the UK received around €5bn or 11% of total funding under the Framework Programmes for Research & Innovation. Further information can be found in the EU Expenditure and Revenue documents published online annually by the European Commission.

This Government has set out its vision to meet R&D investment of 2.4% of GDP within ten years and 3% in the longer-term. R&D funding from the EU contributes to overall R&D expenditure in the UK and we would welcome an agreement to continue to collaborate with our European partners on major science, research, and technology initiatives.

While we remain a member of the EU, UK businesses and universities should continue to bid for competitive EU funds, and we will work with the Commission to ensure payment when funds are awarded. The Government will underwrite the payment of such awards, even when specific projects continue beyond the UK’s departure from the EU. This includes awards that are bid for before exit that are successful after exit.

Going forward, our ambition for R&D investment will be an important part of our Industrial Strategy and will require a concerted cross-government approach. We have already increased R&D investment by £4.7 billion over the period 2017-18 to 2020-21. This equates to an extra £2 billion per year by 2020-21 and is an increase of around 20% to total government R&D spending, more than any increase in any parliament since 1979.

EUREKA is an intergovernmental network which helps mostly small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) across Europe and aground the world to collaborate on R&D across borders to bring innovative ideas to market. The UK is a member of EUREKA in its own right and this does not change when the UK leaves the EU. The UK will continue to collaborate with European and international partners through the EUREKA network, and play a key role in this initiative. The UK will Chair the EUREKA Network from July 2018 to June 2019.

The UK’s membership of CERN is also unaffected by the UK leaving the EU. CERN is not an EU institution; it is an Intergovernmental Organisation subject to its own treaty. The European Space Agency (ESA) is a research organisation that is not part of the European Union. In December 2016, the Government committed €1.4 billion, reinforcing our intention to continue collaborating within the ESA on Space research and development.

Similarly, the European Bioinformatics Institute is a treaty organisation existing outside of the EU and UK participation is not impacted by the UK leaving the EU.

The Scottish Office met recently with the Principal at the Centre of Photonics for Applied Photonics at the University of Strathclyde.

The Centre for Applied Photonics is one of around 20 Fraunhofer Research Centres based around the world, including countries outside the EU, such as the Fraunhofer USA Center for Sustainable Energy Systems and the Faunhofer Center for Solar Energy Technologies in Chile. Fraunhofer Centres act in the same way as the Fraunhofer Institutes do in Germany, and form an integral part of a country’s innovation system while maintaining the core Fraunhofer principles and business model. Location in an EU member state is not a requirement for a Fraunhofer Centre.

Science and research are vital to our country’s prosperity, security and wellbeing, and are at the heart of our industrial strategy. As part of our commitment to the science base, we have already increased research and development investment by £4.7 billion over the period 2017-18 to 2020-21. This equates to an extra £2 billion per year by 2020-21 and is an increase of around 20% to total government R&D spending. Furthermore, the Government has guaranteed to underwrite the payments of any successful bids for competitive EU funding, such as funding from Horizon 2020, submitted by UK businesses and universities while we remain a member of the EU.

We have been clear from the start that the Scottish Government should be fully engaged in our exit from the EU. The UK Government’s paper, Collaboration on Science and Innovation: A Future Partnership Paper, provides a basis for further discussion, including with the Scottish Government, on the future partnership the UK wants to build with the EU. We are committed to positive and productive engagement with the Scottish Government, including at the Joint Ministerial Committee on EU Negotiations, as we seek a deal that works for the entire United Kingdom.

The Centre for Applied Photonics at the University of Strathclyde is one of around 20 Fraunhofer Research Centres based around the world, including countries outside the EU, such as the Fraunhofer USA Center for Sustainable Energy Systems and the Fraunhofer Center for Solar Energy Technologies in Chile. Fraunhofer Centres act in the same way as the Fraunhofer Institutes do in Germany, and form an integral part of a country’s innovation system while maintaining the core Fraunhofer principles and business model. Location in an EU member state is not a requirement for a Fraunhofer Centre.

Science and research are vital to our country’s prosperity, security and wellbeing, and are at the heart of our industrial strategy. As part of our commitment to the science base, we have already increased research and development investment by £4.7 billion over the period 2017-18 to 2020-21. This equates to an extra £2 billion per year by 2020-21 and is an increase of around 20% to total government R&D spending. Furthermore, the Government has guaranteed to underwrite the payments of any successful bids for competitive EU funding, such as funding from Horizon 2020, submitted by UK businesses and universities while we remain a member of the EU.

My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State and I are committed to positive and productive engagement with UK space companies and want our companies and our universities to continue participating in key EU space programmes. There is regular contact with UKspace, the trade association of the UK space industry and the UK Government’s paper provides a basis for further discussion on the future partnership the UK wants to build with the EU. It considers areas where there are precedents for countries outside the EU to participate in pan-European programmes such as Galileo, Copernicus and Space Surveillance and Tracking.

Glasgow is recognised is home to award-wining companies such as Clyde Space, supplier of CubeSats and small satellite systems as well as The Scottish Centre of Excellence in Satellite Applications (SoXSA) at the University of Strathclyde. Scotland is very much part of the UK space success which boasts growth averaging over 8% a year over the last decade, a turnover in excess of £11 billion a year and ambitious plans to achieve 10% of the global space market by 2030. We are committed to positive and productive engagement as we seek a deal that works for the entire United Kingdom.

We have been clear from the start that the Scottish Government should be fully engaged in our exit from the EU. The UK Government’s paper, Collaboration on Science and Innovation: A Future Partnership Paper, provides a basis for further discussion, including with the Scottish Government, on the future partnership the UK wants to build with the EU. We are committed to positive and productive engagement with the Scottish Government, including at the Joint Ministerial Committee on EU Negotiations, as we seek a deal that works for the entire United Kingdom.

We have been clear from the start that the Scottish Government should be fully engaged in our exit from the EU. The UK Government’s paper, Collaboration on Science and Innovation: A Future Partnership Paper, provides a basis for further discussion, including with the Scottish Government, on the future partnership the UK wants to build with the EU. We are committed to positive and productive engagement with the Scottish Government, including at the Joint Ministerial Committee on EU Negotiations as we seek a deal that works for the entire United Kingdom.

This Government is committed to ensuring the UK remains among the best places in the world for science and innovation. This is why we are increasing research and development investment by £4.7 billion over the period 2017-18 to 2020-21, an increase of around 20% to total government R&D spending, more than any increase in any parliament since 1979.

This Government wants the UK to be the go-to place for researchers, innovators and investors across the world, and we intend to secure the right outcome for the UK research base as we exit the European Union.

As my Rt Hon. Friend the Prime Minister has said, we would welcome an agreement to continue to collaborate with our European partners on major science, research, and technology initiatives. However it is too early to speculate on the UK’s future relationship with specific EU research programmes, including Horizon 2020 and successor programmes.

On 6 September we published a future partnership paper on collaboration on science and innovation. As part of the new deep and special partnership with the EU, recognising our shared interest in maintaining and strengthening research collaboration, the UK will seek an agreement that promotes science and innovation across Europe now and in the future.

UK businesses and universities should continue to bid for competitive EU funds while we remain a member of the EU and we will work with the Commission to ensure payment when funds are awarded. The Government will underwrite the payment of such awards, even when specific projects continue beyond the UK’s departure from the EU. This includes awards that are bid for before exit that are successful after exit.

The Government is committed to ensuring the UK remains a world leader in international research and innovation.

The UK is keen to engage positively and productively in the discussions around Framework Programme 9. The Government has made clear our interest in continued collaboration with EU partners on research and innovation. We look forward to continuing discussions with the Commission and all other interested parties.