Question to the Department for Exiting the European Union :

To ask Her Majesty's Government whether Government departments are allowed to make use of non-disclosure agreements when consulting outside interests on the preparation of statutory instruments relating to the possibility of a no-deal withdrawal from the EU on 29 March.

Government departments may make use of non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) when structuring their engagements on preparations for leaving the EU, which is a crucial component of planning. It is for departments to determine the manner in which engagement with stakeholders takes place and this can include discussions about statutory instruments (SIs).

Given the sensitive nature of some discussions, there may be limited circumstances in which departments have used NDAs to enable more stakeholder engagement than would otherwise be the case.

All the SIs help provide certainty for businesses and the public by ensuring a functioning statute book when the UK leaves the EU. The majority are needed in either a deal or no deal scenario, as they will be deferred to the end of an implementation period if no longer needed on 29 March.