Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, with reference to the oral contribution of the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy of 12 July 2017, Official Report, columns 108-10WH, what progress has been made on delivering an alternative body to Euratom ahead of the UK's proposed withdrawal from Euratom in May 2019.

The Government has made significant progress on this. In a written ministerial statement on the 14th September, my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy said that we have decided to establish a domestic nuclear safeguards regime which is as comprehensive and robust as that currently provided by Euratom.

This new regime will deliver to existing Euratom standards and exceed the standards that the international community would require from the UK as a member of the International Atomic Energy Agency. We have already started building additional capability within the UK’s Office for Nuclear Regulation, who will be running the regime.