Written Statements

Monday 5th June 2023 Written Statements

Monday 5 June 2023

Entry into Force of UK-Australia and UK-New Zealand Free Trade Agreements

Monday 5th June 2023 Written Statements

[The Minister of State, Department for Business and Trade (Nigel Huddleston)]

I am pleased to report to the House that on 30 May 2023 the Government, alongside the Governments of Australia and New Zealand, ratified the UK-Australia and UK-New Zealand free trade agreements and they entered into force on 31 May.

Businesses in the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand are now able to access the benefits of the agreements. Our ongoing priority is to ensure businesses of all sizes across the United Kingdom feel confident in using the agreements. Guidance can be found on www.gov.uk.

The agreements remove tariffs on 100% of UK goods exports, slash red tape, guarantee access for UK services and digital trade and will make it easier for UK professionals to live and work in Australia and New Zealand. They are uncompromising in their maintenance of the UK’s high environmental, animal welfare and food safety standards.

There are robust protections for British farmers in both deals, including staging tariff liberalisation for sensitive goods over time. Protecting the NHS is also a fundamental principle of our trade policy, and these deals deliver on the Government’s commitment to that principle. The NHS, the price it pays for medicines, and its services have remained off the table throughout negotiations.

These agreements are the first the UK has negotiated “from scratch” since EU exit and demonstrate what the UK can do as an independent trading nation. Alongside the conclusion of negotiations to accede to the comprehensive and progressive agreement for trans-Pacific partnership (CPTPP), these agreements are part of our tilt towards the growing Indo-Pacific region.

I would once again like to thank the House for its support and engagement in the ratification of these free trade agreements.

[HCWS815]

Trade Measures to Support the Moldovan Economy

Monday 5th June 2023 Written Statements

[The Minister of State, Department for Business and Trade (Nigel Huddleston)]

The Republic of Moldova has been heavily impacted by the crisis unleashed by Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine. The UK stands resolutely with Moldova and its people as they pursue their own democratic choices and offer courageous support to their neighbours in Ukraine, in the face of Russian aggression.

The UK continues to do all that it can to support our friends and allies at this time. With this in mind, and in response to a request from Moldova, the Government have come to an agreement in principle with the Government of Moldova that the UK will liberalise all remaining tariffs on imports from Moldova under the UK-Moldova strategic partnership, trade and co-operation agreement.

The liberalisation package we are delivering will assist the Republic of Moldova during this crisis and provide opportunities to export greater volumes of goods to the UK. The UK Government offered this policy on a non-reciprocal basis as part of the UK’s commitment to its economic stability, with no expectation or ask of the Moldova Government in return. The liberalisation of all tariffs for imports from Moldova will be applied to the whole of the United Kingdom and the Crown dependencies.

Key details include:

Liberalising all tariffs under the free trade agreement on goods originating from Moldova. This will see tariff rate quotas on tomatoes, garlic, grapes, apples, plums, grape juice and cherries removed.

Putting in place a temporary safeguard measure to protect domestic industry in the event a surge of Moldovan imports cause serious injury or threat thereof, and will continue to protect domestic consumers by retaining all existing sanitary and phytosanitary checks and standards, mitigating any potential food safety risks.

These changes will be for an initial period of 12 months and will be kept under review.

The Government will shortly lay a statutory instrument to amend our domestic legislation accordingly.

As the Government have made clear on many occasions, the United Kingdom will continue to support the region for as long as required following Putin’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine and ensure the security and prosperity of those countries impacted.

[HCWS817]

Life Sciences Growth Package

Monday 5th June 2023 Written Statements

[The Chancellor of the Exchequer (Jeremy Hunt)]

On 26 May the Government announced a package of measures totalling over £650 million to drive growth and innovation in the life sciences sector.

The UK is rightly recognised as a world leader in life sciences; it is home to two of the top five universities in the world for life sciences and nearly a third of European life sciences start-ups. The sector is a key pillar of the economy, attracting the most foreign direct investment in Europe. It employs over 280,000 people across the UK, with 66% of these in high productivity, high wage jobs based outside London and the south east.

The Government are committed to making the UK the most attractive destination for life sciences companies and have developed a comprehensive package of policies spanning regulation, research and development (R&D), infrastructure, skills and planning which is aimed at driving investment, growth and innovation. To that end, we have announced:

The Government response to the Independent Review of Clinical Trials led by Lord O’Shaughnessy. The response announces five headline commitments where the Government are taking immediate action backed by £121 million of funding, including developing a clinical trial directory and establishing clinical trial acceleration networks. This will be followed by a more detailed implementation report in the autumn. These policies apply to England only.

The Government response to the Pro-innovation Regulation of Technologies Review on Life Sciences. The response accepts all the recommendations in the report and commits to delivering accelerated regulatory pathways for innovative products and technologies and establishing Centres of Excellence in Regulatory Science and Innovation (CERSIs) to provide regulators with access to additional skills and expertise. The review and response cover a range of policies, with varying territorial extents.

The development of an end-to-end Medtech pathway, including the innovative devices access pathway, to support innovators generating the evidence they need to support regulatory approval and National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) assessment to get innovative products helping patients faster. This policy applies UK-wide.

A new biomanufacturing fund of up to £38 million to incentivise investment and bolster the UK’s biomanufacturing capability for vaccines and other medicines, and a further £10 million to expand the transforming medicines manufacturing programme to support the development of manufacturing processes for next-generation vaccines and advanced therapies. This policy applies UK-wide.

An additional £6.5 million of funding on skills to secure the legacy of skills pilots delivered by the Cell and Gene Therapy Catapult to ensure we have the talent and skills to support our domestic medicines manufacturing capability. This policy applies UK-wide.

Further details regarding the mental health and addiction healthcare missions, including the allocation of £42.7 million to support new mental health treatments and set up new research centres in Liverpool and Birmingham, and £10 million to help develop new treatments for addiction. The Government have also announced the chairs of the mental health, addiction, and cancer missions. These policies apply UK-wide.

Reform and rebranding of the Academic Health Science Networks to become Health Innovation Networks. These will have an enhanced focus on working with local partners, ensuring innovation is identified and adopted at the local level to directly address the needs of those communities. This policy applies to England only.

A further £31 million in Government and industry backing for life sciences manufacturing, under the life sciences innovative manufacturing fund, taking combined investment since 2021 to £383 million. This policy applies UK-wide.

A new £154 million investment to significantly upgrade UK Biobank to meet increasing demand for this world leading biomedical research database. This will include the construction of a new purpose-built facility at Manchester Science Park to accommodate a new archive. This investment will increase sample throughput by four times, allowing for up to 1.2 million accesses per year. This policy applies UK-wide.

A call for proposals on the Government’s long-term investment for technology and science initiative, which will offer £250 million of Government support to spur the creation of new vehicles for pension schemes to invest in the UK’s high-growth science and technology businesses, benefiting the retirement incomes of UK pension savers and driving the growth of critical sectors like life sciences. This policy applies UK-wide.

Planning reforms to boost the supply of life sciences lab space, including consulting on factoring R&D considerations into planning decisions, working with stakeholders to update the planning practice guidance to help local authorities take fuller account of commercial land needs of businesses and making investment into the relevant sites more attractive by working with local planning authorities to encourage proactive planning tools, such as local development orders and development corporations, to bring forward development. This policy applies to England only.

The preferred route alignment for the third section of East West Rail between Bedford and Cambridge, including a direct link to the Cambridge Biomedical Campus, marking a significant step towards delivering the scheme and helping to drive growth and jobs in the life sciences “golden triangle”.

Overall this represents a comprehensive package to boost growth and investment in the sector across the UK, and help get innovative drugs and medicines to NHS patients faster.

Documents are available at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/commercial-clinical-trials-in-the-uk-the-lord-oshaughnessy-review

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/pro-innovation-regulation-of-technologies-review-life-sciences

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/biomanufacturing-fund

Copies of the review documents and the Government responses will also be deposited in the Libraries of both Houses.

[HCWS819]

RSHE Review

Monday 5th June 2023 Written Statements

[The Secretary of State for Education (Gillian Keegan)]

The Government announced on 31 May 2023 further details of the independent panel, at https://www.gov.uk/government/news/next-steps-taken-to-ensure-age-appropriate-relationships-sex-and-health-education. This work will inform the Secretary for State for Education’s review of the statutory guidance on relationships, sex and health Education (RSHE), which was announced on 31 March 2023, at https://www.gov.uk/government/news/review-of-relationships-sex-and-health-education-to-protect-children-to-conclude-by-end-of-year.

This is the first review of the statutory guidance since it came into force in 2020. It will provide an opportunity to consider whether the guidance covers the appropriate topics and offers sufficient clarity on how to teach sensitive subjects and engage parents positively, including sharing curriculum materials. The review will engage widely with those working with children across the education and health sectors. In addition to the work of the panel, the review will draw on work led by Ofsted to gather evidence on how RSHE is taught in school.

The panel will bring together expertise on health, teaching, curriculum development, and safeguarding. It will advise on the application of suitable age limits for some topics to ensure pupils are protected from inappropriate concepts they are too young to understand. In doing so, it will draw on wider expertise on specific matters.

The panel members are:

Professor Dame Lesley Regan, professor of obstetrics and gynaecology at Imperial College London and the Government’s first ever Women’s Health Ambassador.

Sir Hamid Patel, chief executive of Star Academies.

Helena Brothwell, regional director of school improvement for David Ross Academy Trust.

Alasdair Henderson, barrister specialising in public law, human rights and equality law.

Isabelle Trawler, Chief Social Worker for Children and Families in England.

The panel will provide their recommendations to the Secretary of State for Education in the summer. These recommendations will inform an updated draft of the statutory RSHE guidance, which will be published for consultation in autumn 2023. It is the intention to publish final guidance early in 2024.

[HCWS814]

Gamebirds General Licence

Monday 5th June 2023 Written Statements

[The Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Dr Thérèse Coffey)]

The Government support shooting for all the benefits it brings to individuals, the environment and the rural economy. The Government want to see a vibrant working countryside that is enhanced by a biodiverse environment.

Following a legal challenge in 2019 regarding the release of pheasants and red-legged partridges, the Government initiated a review on gamebirds and a consultation on licensing in 2020. This led to the issuing of the gamebirds general licence, known as GL43, in 2021 and again in 2022 regarding the release near special areas of conservation for flora and fauna (special areas of conservation) and special protection areas for birds (special protection areas) with conditions including a buffer zone. By law, the Government must consult Natural England, as the statutory nature conservation body, before issuing GL43.

Recognising that the current global outbreak of avian influenza is the worst on record, when considering GL43, the Government received advice that the conditions of the former GL43 (2022-23) would be insufficient for potential avian influenza impact on wild bird populations within SPAs.

Given the scale of the risk, it has been decided as a temporary emergency measure that the release of gamebirds within special protection areas and their 500 metre buffer zones will need individual licences because of the unprecedented risk of avian influenza to wild bird populations. This is not a decision Ministers have made lightly, and we will review the evidence around the impact of avian influenza, in particular in light of the spread of the disease this year. This means that those wishing to release on, or within 500 metres of, a special protection area after 31 May 2023 will need to apply for an individual licence from Natural England, or else move their release activities beyond the 500 metre buffer zone limit. This includes releases on special areas of conservation or the 500 metre buffer zone if the site is also designated as a special protection area or is within the 500 metre buffer zone of one.

Release data from 2022 received from authorised licence users shows less than 1% of the gamebirds released in England last year were on special protection areas. We recognise that some shoots did not release birds in 2021 or 2022. We will work with industry at pace to support any affected sites through the licensing process.

Natural England has published a tool kit to help those who wish to release gamebirds understand whether they are impacted by this announcement. In summary:

Outside of protected areas, no licence for the release of gamebirds is needed at all. This covers 99% of releases.

Releases on or within 500 metres of special conversation areas can be made under GL43.

Releases on or within 500 metres of special protection areas are not covered by GL43. Those interested in releasing gamebirds in these areas will need to apply for an individual licence.

I have been clear that I expect the individual licensing process to be efficient, and I will continue to monitor this closely. Natural England has updated its online advice service to help users understand whether they can act under the general licence or will need an individual licence, and we will work with them to ensure any licence applications are dealt with swiftly. Furthermore, I have decided that Ministers will take all individual licensing decisions on applications submitted to Natural England for releases on or within 500 metres of special protection areas under this arrangement.

It is my intention to keep this change on GL43 under close review and to modify the general licence as necessary, in particular should the level of risk of avian influenza to protected birds reduce to acceptable levels. I have asked DEFRA’s chief scientific adviser to lead this work.

The Government also announced on 31 May 2023 that GL43, for over 99% of releases in England, will continue, as it has in previous years. However, to give clarity to the industry, I have decided to issue this general licence for two years. The general licence will permit releases on and within the buffer zones of special areas of conservation. I am confident that extending to a two year licence indicates my desire to increase certainty for stakeholders for the duration of this interim licensing arrangement. I have no intention of moving towards individual licences across the board.

[HCWS820]

Investigatory Powers Act 2016: Consultation on Notices Regimes

Monday 5th June 2023 Written Statements

[The Secretary of State for the Home Department (Suella Braverman)]

On 9 February 2023, I published a report on the operation of the Investigatory Powers Act 2016, in line with statutory obligations. Prior to that, in January 2023, I appointed Lord Anderson KBE KC to conduct an independent report on the Investigatory Powers Act. His terms of reference are available on gov.uk and his report will be published shortly.

Alongside this work, we have also considered the Investigatory Powers Act 2016’s notices regimes and today the Government are publishing a consultation on revising the notices regimes. Our objective is to ensure the continued efficacy of these notices regimes, in the face of technology changes and the increase in data being held overseas. These shifts in technology risk having a negative effect on the capabilities of our law enforcement and intelligence agencies to keep our citizens safe.

The Investigatory Powers Act 2016 provides for three types of notices—data retention, technical capability and national security. These can be imposed on tele-communications and postal operators and require them to undertake various actions, depending both on the type of notice and its exact contents. All Investigatory Powers Act 2016 notices are signed by the Secretary of State and then approved by an independent judicial commissioner.

Notices have existed since the Telecommunications Act 1984 and have proven effective in supporting the use of the other investigatory powers as well as resulting in a collaborative approach to issues between the Government and industry.

The consultation proposes five objectives for changes to the notices regimes to support the overall intention of improving the efficacy of the existing regimes while adhering to the Investigatory Powers Act 2016’s fundamental principles of necessity and proportionality and independent judicial oversight through the double lock.

We are consulting to understand further the views of relevant industries on these objectives and whether there is support for adjusting the notices regimes to reflect more accurately the modern digital economy.

The consultation will run for eight weeks from 5 June, and the Government will publish their response once they have considered the responses to the consultation. A copy of the consultation will be placed in the Libraries of both Houses and published on gov.uk.

[HCWS818]

East West Rail: Route Announcement Update

Monday 5th June 2023 Written Statements

[The Secretary of State for Transport (Mr Mark Harper)]

East West Rail offers a huge opportunity to unlock productivity in the Oxford-Cambridge region, boosting economic growth both locally and nationally through improved connectivity and access to jobs, education and training, housing, and leisure. In particular, the region plays host to research and development hubs across a variety of highly skilled and highly productive sectors such as life sciences research at the Cambridge Biomedical Campus. East West Rail will allow us to connect these vital sites with a much greater talent pool and allow the region to retain and grow its reputation globally. The first stage of the railway is currently in delivery and services will begin to run from 2025.

The autumn statement in November 2022 recommitted to the Government’s transformative growth plans for our railways, including the intention to deliver the remainder of the East West Rail project between Bletchley and Cambridge. The Budget delivered by this Government in March 2023 further underlined the Government’s commitment to the project, setting out plans for a route update announcement and the next steps for the project in May 2023.

This announcement has been made and confirms the proposals which will be taken forward for further development. These include:

Confirming a preferred route alignment between Bedford and Cambridge, including new stations which would serve Tempsford and Cambourne, and a southern approach to Cambridge.

Revised service frequencies along the line of route to best meet demand.

Six-tracking of the midland mainline at Bedford to boost capacity and improve resilience.

Relocation of Bedford St. John’s station to better serve Bedford Hospital.

Potential level crossing changes and closures which account for increased EWR traffic but preserve public access.

The launch of a “need to sell” property support scheme to help affected homeowners.

The East West Rail Company will consult further on its proposals as part of a statutory consultation ahead of an application for a development consent order. This consultation is due to take place in 2024.

Taking forward these next steps for the East West Rail scheme exemplifies this Government’s commitment to long-term economic growth supported by improved connectivity, and the access to the skills, education and jobs needed to deliver national growth and individual prosperity.

[HCWS816]