Asked by: Stewart Hosie (Scottish National Party - Dundee East)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what plans he has to promote high environmental standards with the UK's trading partners in (a) current and (b) future trade negotiations.
Answered by George Hollingbery
The UK has long supported the promotion of our values globally and this will continue as we leave the EU.
When we leave the European Union, we will maintain our current standards. We will keep our existing UK legislation, and the EU Withdrawal Act will convert EU law into UK law as it applies at the moment of exit. This includes the regulatory regime for food safety, animal welfare, and regulatory product requirements for industrial goods.
We’re clear that more trade doesn’t have to come at the expense of the environment. We are exploring all options in the design of future bilateral trade and investment agreements, including possible environmental provisions within these taking into account results of the DIT consultation exercise.
Asked by: Stewart Hosie (Scottish National Party - Dundee East)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, (a) how many staff have been appointed to prepare and (b) what the cost to the public purse has been of preparing his Department for the UK leaving the EU without a deal.
Answered by George Hollingbery
The Department of International Trade was created as a result of the UK’s decision to leave the European Union. Individual roles are not classified according to particular EU Exit scenarios, including leaving without a deal.
The Department for International Trade integrates scenario planning for EU exit into its overall programmes of work. ‘No deal’ planning is not undertaken by a distinct team and it is therefore not possible to separately identify the spend associated with the UK leaving the EU without a deal.
HM Treasury has allocated over £4.2 billion of additional funding to departments and the devolved administrations for EU exit preparations so far. This includes the £1.5 billion of additional funding HM Treasury announced in the Autumn Budget for 2018/19. A full breakdown of how this has been allocated to departments can be found in the Chief Secretary’s Written Ministerial Statement, HCWS540, laid on the 13th March (https://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-statement/Commons/2018-03-13/HCWS540/). This money will be reflected in the January Supplementary Estimates.
Asked by: Stewart Hosie (Scottish National Party - Dundee East)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what assessment he has made of the effect of leaving the EU on the export of Scottish goods and services.
Answered by Graham Stuart
Since the vote to leave the EU, and the formation of DIT, Scottish exports of goods and services have risen substantially. In the year to 2018Q2, Scottish exports of goods and services (excluding exports to the rest of the UK) totalled £32.4bn, an increase of 14.2% from the year to 2016Q2, but Scottish exports as % of Scottish GDP was 20.6% compared to 30.4% for UK exports as % of UK GDP (Sources: Scottish Government, GDP Quarterly National Accounts 2018Q2, ONS GDP First Quarterly Estimate 2018Q3).
Reaching our UK aim of 35% and exploiting the benefits of post-EU trade deals will be helped by significant improvement in Scottish exporting performance, greater awareness of DIT services in Scotland and the constructive support of the Scottish Government.
Asked by: Stewart Hosie (Scottish National Party - Dundee East)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what assessment he has made of potential challenges for producers exporting goods to the EU after the UK leaves the EU.
Answered by Graham Stuart
In 2016 there were 210,000 UK VAT registered importers and exporters for trade in goods with the EU, of which 138,000 traded solely with EU Member States.
In July, my Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for International Trade, appointed Andrew Mitchell as Her Majesty’s Trade Commissioner for Europe to lead the Department’s efforts to grow the UK’s trading relationship with the EU.
The recently announced £5 million uplift for our overseas network in Europe will build upon and strengthen our trade and investment links with European partners as we leave the EU, and support UK businesses to be able to sustain and grow exports and investment as we move into a new trading environment in Europe.
Asked by: Stewart Hosie (Scottish National Party - Dundee East)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps his Department plans to take to help businesses manage (a) administrative and (b) tariff changes in UK customs after the UK leaves the EU.
Answered by Mel Stride - Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
As a responsible Government we continue to prepare for a range of outcomes and we are looking closely at how to ensure that businesses are clear on what they need to do and have the support they need to be as prepared as they can be in the time available, whilst not undermining the benefits of an implementation period.
HMRC has already published Technical Notices covering Customs, Excise and VAT procedures, and has written on no deal arrangements to the 145,000 UK business over the VAT threshold, who currently only trade with the EU. Later in the year we intend to provide more information on what businesses should do to prepare.
Asked by: Stewart Hosie (Scottish National Party - Dundee East)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, if he will make an assessment of the effect of the UK leaving the EU on the UK’s trading arrangements with developing countries.
Answered by George Hollingbery
The Department for International Trade and the Department for International Development are working closely together to put global prosperity at the heart of the UKs future trade and development policy and to shape our future trading arrangements with these countries. Our first priority is to deliver continuity in these trading arrangements as we leave the EU, which is why the UK is seeking to replicate the effects of the EU’s Economic Partnership Agreements with African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries.
The Taxation (Cross-Border Trade) Act enables the UK to put in place a UK trade preferences scheme for developing countries. The Act also enshrines into UK law the commitment contained in the UN Sustainable Development Goals to provide duty free quota free trade access for Least Developed Countries. The UK trade preference scheme will, as a minimum, provide the same level of access as the current EU trade preference scheme by granting duty-free, quota-free access to 48 Least Developed Countries and by granting generous tariff reductions to around 25 other developing countries.
Asked by: Stewart Hosie (Scottish National Party - Dundee East)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, whether his Department plans to undertake (a) gender, (b) human rights and (c) sustainability impact assessments for future trade agreements.
Answered by George Hollingbery
The UK takes very seriously its obligations and priorities on gender equality, human rights and sustainability via, amongst other mechanisms, the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), the Paris Agreement, the agreement of the UK’s Fifth Carbon Budget in July 2016 and actively supporting the Joint Declaration on Trade and Women’s Economic Empowerment at the World Trade Organization in 2017.
My Rt Hon. friend, the Secretary of State for International Trade, made a Statement to the House of Commons in July in which he committed the Government to publishing scoping assessments for any proposed new free trade agreement prior to the beginning of negotiations and publishing impact assessments of any concluded agreement prior to ratification.
The impact assessments will be consistent with the Government’s impact assessment process for new legislation, which considers environmental and social impacts where appropriate. These impact assessments will give due consideration to the effects of the concluded trade deals on different groups, including gender groups, in line with our requirements under the Equalities Act.
Asked by: Stewart Hosie (Scottish National Party - Dundee East)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what assessment his Department has made of the economic importance of the UK’s trade with the EU.
Answered by George Hollingbery
In 2017 the UK’s total trade, in goods and services, with the EU totalled £617.4 billion or 49.1% of total UK trade.
The US was the UK’s largest single country trading partner accounting for £176.9 billion or 14.1% of total trade.
Asked by: Stewart Hosie (Scottish National Party - Dundee East)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what types of munitions and arms have been traded to Saudi Arabia in each year since 2016.
Answered by Graham Stuart
The Government publishes Official Statistics (on a quarterly and annual basis) of licences granted and refused for military exports on GOV.UK, which can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/strategic-export-controls-licensing-data
Export licence applications are carefully assessed against the Consolidated EU and National Arms Export Licensing Criteria. A licence would not be granted if to do so was inconsistent with the Criteria. The policy remains as announced to parliament in a Written Ministerial Statement on 25 March 2014 (https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201314/cmhansrd/cm140325/wmstext/140325m0001.htm#14032566000018) and updated with an additional policy, as announced in a Written Ministerial Statement on 13 September 2018 (https://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-statement/Commons/2018-09-13/HCWS957/).
Asked by: Stewart Hosie (Scottish National Party - Dundee East)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what ethical considerations are undertaken by his Department in relation to the sale of arms and munitions to other countries; and what steps his Department takes to vet the award of arms export licences.
Answered by Graham Stuart
The Government publishes Official Statistics (on a quarterly and annual basis) of licences granted and refused for military exports on GOV.UK, which can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/strategic-export-controls-licensing-data
Export licence applications are carefully assessed against the Consolidated EU and National Arms Export Licensing Criteria. A licence would not be granted if to do so was inconsistent with the Criteria. The policy remains as announced to parliament in a Written Ministerial Statement on 25 March 2014 (https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201314/cmhansrd/cm140325/wmstext/140325m0001.htm#14032566000018) and updated with an additional policy, as announced in a Written Ministerial Statement on 13 September 2018 (https://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-statement/Commons/2018-09-13/HCWS957/).