Question to the Department for International Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, whether it is her Department's policy to exclude contracts for the delivery of (a) NHS and (b) other public services from future trade negotiations with the US; and if she will make it her policy to (a) commit to a positive list approach and (b) not commit to an investor-state dispute settlement in those negotiations.

As outlined in the Government’s approach to trade negotiations with the US published on 2 March 2020, ‘The Government has been clear that when we are negotiating trade agreements, the NHS will not be on the table.’­

The UK’s public services, including the NHS, are protected by specific exclusions, exceptions and reservations in the trade agreements to which the UK is a party, which make use of both positive and negative listing approaches. The UK will continue to ensure that the same rigorous protections are included in future trade agreements.

The UK’s international procurement obligations specifically exclude Health and Social care services. This will not change in any future trade deal.

Regarding listing and dispute resolution, these are for formal negotiations and we would not seek to pre-empt these discussions.