Written Statements

Thursday 25th October 2018 Written Statements

Thursday 25 October 2018

CPS: Reappointment of Chief Inspector

Thursday 25th October 2018 Written Statements

[The Attorney General (Mr Geoffrey Cox)]

I am today announcing the reappointment of Kevin McGinty CBE as the Chief Inspector of HM Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate for a further two years. Mr McGinty was appointed in April 2015 for four years and his contract was due to finish on 31 March 2019.

The Prime Minister has been notified of this reappointment. Also, this role is subject to scrutiny by the Justice Select Committee. The Committee, to which I am most grateful has been consulted and fully supports the reappointment.

[HCWS1032]

Cabinet Committees and Implementation Task Forces

Thursday 25th October 2018 Written Statements

[The Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office (Mr David Lidington)]

Today I am publishing the updated list of Cabinet Committees and implementation task forces (ITFs).

The updated list includes a new National Security Council (Cross-Government Funds) Sub-Committee, which will provide strategic direction to the Conflict, Stability and Security Fund and the Prosperity Fund.

Copies of the associated documents will be placed in the Libraries of both Houses and published on gov.uk.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-cabinet-committees-system-and-list-of-cabinet-committees

[HCWS1035]

EU Exit

Thursday 25th October 2018 Written Statements

[The Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union (Dominic Raab)]

Section 18 of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 conferred a legal obligation for a Minister of the Crown to lay before both Houses of Parliament a statement in writing outlining the steps taken by Her Majesty’s Government to seek to negotiate an agreement, as part of the framework for the United Kingdom’s future relationship with the EU, for the United Kingdom to participate in a customs arrangement with the EU, before 31 October 2018.

The Government published a White Paper earlier this year setting out their proposal for the UK’s future relationship with the EU, including a new customs arrangement. The UK proposed the establishment of a free trade area for goods that would avoid friction at the border, protect jobs and livelihoods, and ensure that the UK and the EU could meet their commitments to Northern Ireland and Ireland through the overall future relationship. The new customs arrangement would support this by removing the need for customs checks and controls at the border between the UK and the EU, while allowing the UK to forge new trading relationships with partners around the world.

The UK would apply the EU’s tariffs and trade policy for goods intended for the EU, and the UK’s tariffs and trade policy for goods intended for the UK. Mirroring the EU’s customs approach at its external border would ensure that goods entering the EU via the UK have complied with EU customs processes and the correct EU duties have been paid. This would include the UK maintaining a common customs rulebook with the EU. It would remove the need for customs declarations, routine requirements for rules of origin, and entry and exit summary declarations. Together with the wider free trade area, the new customs arrangement would preserve frictionless trade for the majority of UK goods trade, and reduce frictions for UK trade with the rest of the world through a range of unilateral and bilateral facilitations. The UK’s goal is to facilitate the greatest possible trade, whether with the EU or the rest of the world. There would need to be a phased approach to implementation of the model.

The UK recognises that this approach would need to be consistent with the integrity of the EU’s customs union and that the EU would need to be confident that goods cannot enter its customs territory without the correct tariff and trade policy being applied. To that end, the UK proposed that where a good reached the UK border and the destination could not be robustly demonstrated at the point of import, it would pay the higher of the UK or EU tariff. Where the goods destination was later identified to be in the lower tariff jurisdiction, it would be eligible for a repayment from the UK Government equal to the difference between the two tariffs. The UK proposed agreeing with the EU a new trusted trader scheme to allow firms to pay the correct tariff at the UK border without needing to engage with the repayment mechanism. Both sides would need to agree the circumstances in which repayments could be granted, which is most likely to be relevant to intermediate goods. The UK also proposed agreeing a mechanism with the EU for the remittance of relevant tariff revenue, such as a tariff revenue formula, taking account of goods destined for the UK entering via the EU and goods destined for the EU entering via the UK.

To ensure that new declarations and border checks between the UK and the EU do not need to be introduced for VAT and excise purposes, the UK also proposed the application of common cross-border processes and procedures for VAT and excise, as well as some administrative co-operation and information exchange to underpin risk-based enforcement. These common processes and procedures would apply to the trade in goods, small parcels and to individuals travelling with goods (including alcohol and tobacco) for personal use.

The UK’s proposal is designed to make the arrangements as simple as possible for those who need to use them, and the UK would continue to explore options to use future advancements in technology to streamline the process.

As the Prime Minister set out in her update to the House of Commons on 22 October 2018, Official Report, column 46, we have made good progress in negotiations with the EU on both the withdrawal agreement and the political declaration on our future relationship. On the political declaration on our future relationship, the UK and the EU have discussed each element of the UK’s proposals, including the future customs arrangement. The UK will continue to work with the European Union on finalising the withdrawal agreement and the political declaration on our future relationship and, as set out in the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018, the House of Commons must vote to approve that deal before the withdrawal agreement can be ratified.

[HCWS1031]

General Affairs Council

Thursday 25th October 2018 Written Statements

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union (Mr Robin Walker)]

Lord Callanan, Minister of State for Exiting the European Union, has made the following statement:

I represented the UK at the General Affairs Council (GAC) meeting on 16 October in Luxembourg. A provisional report of the meeting and the conclusions adopted can be found on the Council of the European Union’s website at:

https://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/meetings/gac/2018/10/16/

Preparation of October European Council

The Council discussed the draft conclusions for the European Council meeting on 18 October at which leaders from the 28 EU states discussed migration, internal security and external relations.

Ministers were content with the conclusions text on migration. I stated that the UK viewed the text as being balanced and welcomed the focus on developing operational outcomes. I also welcomed the intention to tackle people-smuggling networks and monitor and disrupt their online communications.

On internal security, I welcomed the references to the attack in Salisbury in March and the attempted cyber-attack carried out against the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) in April. I called for the acceleration of work to establish a cyber toolkit capable of responding to malicious cyber-attacks through restrictive measures.

Following Ministers’ discussions, the European Council discussed external relations, including the EU-Africa partnership and the upcoming summit between the 28 EU member states with the League of Arab States on 24 and 25 February 2019.

Rule of law in Poland

The Commission updated the Council on the most recent developments regarding the rule of law in Poland. The Commission called for a further hearing at a future meeting of the Council. In previous discussions on this matter, the UK has intervened to highlight the importance of the rule of law. Consequently, I did not intervene on this occasion.

Respect for EU values in Hungary

The presidency provided the Council with an update on the next procedural steps following the European Parliament’s triggering of the article 7(1) treaty on European Union (TEU) procedure for Hungary. This was the first GAC at which Ministers had considered the article 7(1) TEU process against Hungary and I intervened to reaffirm the value that the UK places on the importance of the rule of law.

Multiannual financial framework

The presidency provided the Council with an assessment of the latest position in the ongoing multiannual financial framework discussions.

[HCWS1036]

Sexual Exploitation in the Aid Sector

Thursday 25th October 2018 Written Statements

[The Secretary of State for International Development (Penny Mordaunt)]

Following my oral statement of 20 February and my written ministerial statements of 20 March and 17 May, I am updating the House on the outcomes of the international summit that I hosted in London on 18 October, Putting People First: Tackling Sexual Exploitation and Abuse and Sexual Harassment in the Aid Sector.

The aims of the summit

Last week’s summit followed the event on 5 March which I co-hosted with the Charity Commission and where I announced new, enhanced safeguarding standards for the organisations DFID works with. The 18 October summit was attended by over 500 participants and focused on driving up the safeguarding standards of organisations worldwide who work in the international aid sector.

Aid must be delivered in a way which does no harm. If not, we will have failed in our duty to protect the most vulnerable. We must deter wrongdoing and hold perpetrators to account. This includes enabling prosecutions by law enforcement agencies if justified.

This work is driven by four things: our determination to prevent incidents of sexual exploitation, sexual abuse and sexual harassment from happening in the aid sector in the first place; to listen to those who are affected when it does occur; to respond robustly but sensitively; and to learn from every case.

The summit helped provide a focus for the work driven by the UK since February. Our major partners were asked to attend the summit with concrete practical actions which will bring about significant changes. I am pleased that many of them rose to the challenge.

Donors (representing over 90% of global official development assistance in 2017), the United Nations, international financial institutions, CDC (the UK’s development finance institution) and representatives of around 500 major British NGOs, contractors and research organisations each presented commitments. In total, there were eight separate sets of collective commitments.

Each document stated what that group of organisations will do to achieve four long-term fundamental changes—or strategic shifts—to fundamentally rewrite the way the aid sector operates, from root to branch:

Ensure support for survivors, victims and whistleblowers; enhance accountability and transparency; strengthen reporting; and tackle impunity;

Incentivise cultural change through strong leadership, organisational accountability and better human resource processes;

Adopt global standards and ensure they are met or exceeded; and

Strengthen organisational capacity and capability across the international aid sector to meet these standards.

Specific initiatives unveiled at the summit

Measures announced to help deliver the four shifts included:

a new international vetting scheme for aid workers led by Interpol, to be piloted over five years with DFID funding, to deter abusers from entering the sector and to identify and arrest them quickly if they do;

UK NGOs with support from DFID will test a “passport” for aid workers to prove an individual’s identity, provide background information on their previous employment and vetting status;

a new disclosure of misconduct scheme across the NGO sector to prevent known perpetrators moving around undetected—organisations with over 50,000 staff have already signed up, and I expect the coverage to increase significantly in the months ahead;

agreement among 22 major donors on common global safeguarding standards which organisations must meet if they want to receive funding from those donors;

a resource and support hub funded by DFID to help smaller organisations understand and meet those standards, including access to specialist investigators;

all donors and other participants committed to have at least one named senior level champion accountable for work on safeguarding issues and to encourage annual discussions of safeguarding at board level as well as the recruitment and career development of women throughout organisations;

DFID and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office will support the development of a United Nations statement of victims’ rights to allow people to understand their rights, and to have confidence that they can find help if those rights are threatened or violated; and

the Disasters Emergency Committee to test shared reporting hotlines for raising concerns in future emergencies, along with a review of how they respond to community feedback.

Next steps to ensure delivery

The measures agreed will help to deliver root-and-branch change in the way the aid sector approaches safeguarding issues. They send a powerful message to any individuals who might look to exploit power imbalances and the vulnerability of those who the aid sector is there to help. They also send a powerful message that survivors and victims’ voices must be heard.

In the interests of transparency and accountability the sets of commitments made by the UK with 21 other donors, and those made by our major domestic and international partners can be found at: https://www.gov. uk/government/topical-events/safeguarding-summit-2018. A fuller outcome summary is available online at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/safeguarding-summit-2018-hosts-outcome-summary along with other key documents from the day. My Department will continue to report on progress via its annual report to Parliament.

This remains a long-term agenda requiring leadership and culture change. That is why donors agreed to meet no later than October 2019 to assess progress on their commitments, while continuing to liaise regularly to keep up the pace of progress and share lessons. Donors also agreed to support the OECD Development Assistance Committee (DAC) to formulate a new DAC instrument that in 2019 will set standards on preventing and managing the risks of sexual exploitation and abuse in development co-operation, and drive donor accountability in meeting them. The 12 commitments to change in the UK NGO document presented to the summit will become part of the Bond Charter, which forms the common vision, purpose, values and principles of the Bond network covering more than 420 international development and humanitarian organisations. Other commitment documents include similar tools for tracking progress.

The summit galvanised the whole sector and provided a framework which was previously lacking to drive further progress. I will continue to ensure this issue remains a focus across the international system as there is still much work to do. But the summit was a key moment to say “No more” and to deliver some of the practical tools to give the people that the aid sector is here to help the protection that they need.

[HCWS1033]

Trade Envoys to Tanzania and Kenya

Thursday 25th October 2018 Written Statements

[The Secretary of State for International Trade and President of the Board of Trade (Dr Liam Fox)]

The Prime Minister has approved two new appointments to the trade envoy programme. My hon. Friend the Member for Mid Derbyshire (Mrs Latham) has been appointed as the Prime Minister’s trade envoy to Kenya and my hon. Friend the Member for Romford (Andrew Rosindell) as the Prime Minister’s trade envoy to Tanzania. These new appointments take the total number to 33 parliamentarians covering 63 markets. The Prime Minister’s trade envoy programme is an unpaid and voluntary cross-party network, which supports the UK’s ambitious trade and investment agenda in global markets.

[HCWS1030]

World Trade Organisation Update

Thursday 25th October 2018 Written Statements

[The Secretary of State for International Trade and President of the Board of Trade (Dr Liam Fox)]

I am pleased to announce to the House that following the circulation of our goods schedule at the World Trade Organisation in Geneva, the period for certification has ended. As expected, some trading partners have expressed reservations about our proposed treatment of tariff rate quotas (TRQs). I am therefore announcing today that the UK intends to enter negotiations with relevant partners under article XXVIII of the general agreement on tariffs and trade. The notification to formally invite claims in that process is now being prepared. Through the article XXVIII process the aim is to reach a mutually satisfactory conclusion that maintains the balance of rights and obligations for the UK and our trading partners.

[HCWS1034]

Justice Programme: Opt-in Decision

Thursday 25th October 2018 Written Statements

[The Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice (Mr David Gauke)]

The Government have decided not to opt in to a proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and the Council establishing a justice programme.

The justice programme aims to support judicial co-operation in civil and criminal matters, promote judicial training and facilitate access to justice. It forms part of the justice, rights and values fund within the proposals for the EU’s new multiannual financial framework, the EU’s budget for the period 2021-27. The proposal has a justice and home affairs legal base, and so the UK must take an opt-in decision under title V of the treaty on the functioning of the European Union.

Given that the justice programme will run from January 2021 to December 2027, the UK will have left the EU and come to the end of any anticipated implementation period (which would conclude in December 2020) before the programme comes into effect. The European Commission has therefore drafted the regulation establishing the programme on the basis that the UK will not be able to participate as an EU member state, as it will no longer be part of the European Union. Opting in to the proposal would not automatically allow us to participate in the justice programme when it comes into effect, but it would allow the UK to have a vote on the proposals until March 2019 and potentially influence its development. If we wanted to join the programme after leaving the EU, we would need to negotiate with the European Commission to do so as a third country.

The UK did not opt in to the existing justice programme running from 2014-20. It was considered that the benefits to the UK from the programme (in terms of receiving funding for UK organisations to carry out activities under the programme) did not outweigh its costs to the Government.

Given these reasons, the Government have concluded that it is not in the national interest to opt in to the justice programme.

[HCWS1037]