Written Statements
Trade Negotiations with Israel, Mexico and Switzerland
(1 year, 6 months ago)
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The Minister of State, Department for Business and Trade (Nigel Huddleston)
The Department for Business and Trade has made progress on three key trade negotiations in the month of May. This statement provides Parliament with an update on the UK’s trade negotiations with Israel, Mexico, and Switzerland. The Government will continue to keep Parliament updated as these negotiations progress.
UK-Israel trade negotiations
The second round of United Kingdom-Israel free trade agreement negotiations commenced on 9 May, concluding on 17 May. This round of negotiations was hosted by the UK and conducted in a hybrid manner; a group of Israeli officials travelled to London for in-person discussions, with further officials attending virtually.
Prior to the round, the Secretary of State visited Israel to meet her counterpart, Minister Nir Barkat, to discuss the negotiations and the wider UK-Israel trade and business relationship.
During this round policy officials held text-based discussions, having exchanged draft chapter texts in advance of the round. Technical discussions were held across 30 policy areas and 60 sessions in London. Negotiations covered the breadth of the upgraded agreement.
The ongoing negotiations for a new modern free trade agreement putting services and innovation at its heart will upgrade our trade relationship, worth £7.2 billion in the four quarters to the end of 2022, supporting new opportunities for our businesses.
UK-Mexico trade negotiations
The third round of United Kingdom-Mexico free trade agreement negotiations commenced on 15 May, concluding on 19 May. This round of negotiations took place in Mexico City in a hybrid format, with a UK delegation of officials travelling for in-person discussions.
Officials held discussions across 66 sessions with 39 being held in person in Mexico City. A key objective for the round, at this relatively early stage, was to develop a more in-depth understanding of Mexico’s trade policy positions and priorities and use the opportunity to move our positions closer together through detailed discussions on treaty text.
These negotiations continue to reflect our shared ambition to secure a comprehensive and updated deal and to strengthen our existing trading relationship, worth over £4.8 billion in the four quarters to the end of 2022. Both countries agree that this is an opportunity to complement and add value to the UK’s accession to the comprehensive and progressive agreement for transpacific partnership (CPTPP).
UK-Switzerland trade negotiations
The first round of UK-Switzerland free trade agreement negotiations commenced on 22 May, concluding 2 June. This round of negotiations was hosted by the UK and took place in a hybrid manner; a group of Swiss officials travelled to London for in-person discussions, with some additional officials attending virtually.
Prior to the round the Secretary of State visited Switzerland to formally launch negotiations with her counterpart, Federal Councillor Guy Parmelin, where they discussed the significant opportunities an enhanced trade deal presented for both the UK and Switzerland.
During the round, officials held discussions across 30 policy areas and 53 sessions both in person in London and virtually. Chapter negotiators focused their discussions on establishing a more detailed understanding of the outcomes the UK and Switzerland are seeking and began to share early text proposals to work from.
These negotiations demonstrate our shared ambitions to upgrade and future-proof our current trade agreement to reflect the focus of both of our economies by delivering modern provisions for services, which represent over 70% of GDP for both our economies, while also identifying opportunities to further remove tariff barriers and create commercially meaningful opportunities.
Summary
The Government remain clear that any deal we sign, including with Israel, Switzerland and Mexico, will be in the best interests of the British people and the United Kingdom economy. We will not compromise on our high environmental and labour protections, public health, animal welfare and food standards, and we will maintain our right to regulate in the public interest. We are also clear that during these negotiations, the NHS, and the services it provides is not on the table.
His Majesty’s Government will continue to work closely with Israel, Mexico, and Switzerland to ensure negotiations proceed at pace and takes place on terms that are right for the UK.
[HCWS833]
UK-Maldives Free Trade Agreement
(1 year, 6 months ago)
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The Minister of State, Department for Business and Trade (Nigel Huddleston)
Today the Department for Business and Trade has announced the launch of a public call for input into a prospective free trade agreement with the Government of Republic of Maldives (Maldives). The call for input can be accessed via the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/trade-with-maldives-call-for-input.
Maldives is one of the only remaining Commonwealth countries without preferential access to UK markets or with which the UK is not already pursuing a free trade agreement (FTA). The UK is therefore looking to negotiate a bespoke, goods-only trade deal with Maldives that seeks to build on the existing goods trade between the countries. The UK Government are clear that any deal that we sign will not compromise on our high environmental and labour protections, public health, animal welfare and food standards, and we will maintain our right to regulate in the public interest.
The call for input will run for eight weeks and invite businesses, public sector bodies, individuals, and other interested stakeholders to set out their priorities for a closer trading relationship with Maldives.
The information that the Government receive through this exercise will be beneficial in shaping our approach to negotiations and our priorities and objectives, ensuring that our final approach is informed by stakeholder needs.
Next Steps
The UK and Maldivian Governments share a desire to develop closer ties. Prior to launching official talks with Maldives, the UK Government will publish their approach to negotiations; this will include a response to the call for input and our strategic objectives. We will continue to keep Parliament, the devolved Administrations, UK citizens and businesses updated, as we make progress.
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Energy Prices Act 2022: Expenditure on Energy Schemes
(1 year, 6 months ago)
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The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero (Amanda Solloway)
I am tabling this statement to update hon. Members under the Energy Prices Act 2022, in line with the requirement under the Act for quarterly reporting to Parliament on expenditure incurred under it. £m Expenditure incurred between 1 January and31 March 23 b) Cumulative expenditure incurred to 31 March 23 Energy bills support scheme GB and NI 4,200 11,873 Energy price guarantee GB and NI 253 253 Domestic alternative fuel payment 619 619 Energy bills relief scheme GB & NI 4,006 5,558 Non-domestic alternative fuel payment 61 61
This is the second quarterly report on energy scheme expenditure under section 14 of the Act and covers the period from 1 January to 31 March 2023.
Energy prices are volatile, and changes will affect the outturn cost of the schemes.
The Government have prioritised support for those most in need, while ensuring we act in a fiscally responsible way. The Government have covered nearly half a typical household’s energy bill through the energy price guarantee and energy bills support scheme since October—with a typical household saving around £1,500. The energy price guarantee scheme will continue at £2,500 to the end of June.
Future costs
Forecasts of FY23-24—1 April 2023 to 31 March 2024 —expenditure for the energy schemes were published by the Office for Budget Responsibility on 15 March 2023 as part of the spring Budget 2023. The forecasts provided were: £4.0 billion for the energy price guarantee, £0.5 billion for the energy bills relief scheme, £0.5 billion for the energy bills discount scheme and £0.4 billion for the energy bills discount scheme heat network support.
The costs in FY23-24 for other energy support schemes are forecast to total £0.5 billion. This includes the energy bills support scheme alternative funding, the domestic alternative fuel payment, the non-domestic alternative fuel payment, and prepayment meter levelisation (energy price guarantee).
Separately, the forecast for heat networks alternative dispute resolution bodies funding is £0.3 million.
All forecasts are provided on an accruals basis. Ongoing work on the reconciliation of scheme costs may impact the FY23-24 forecasts.
To note:
Figures for expenditure incurred are on a cash basis. This includes payments made by the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero to energy suppliers, local authorities and other scheme operators. Some of the expenditure incurred in the last quarter will be recognised in FY23-24, where it relates to energy scheme support from 1 April 2023 onwards.
The figures for expenditure incurred do not include accrued costs, i.e. expected FY22-23—1 April 2022 to 31 March 2023 —costs which are yet to be paid out. Therefore the figures for expenditure incurred may not represent the full cost of schemes in FY22-23.
The energy bills support scheme in Great Britain was not made under the powers conferred by the Energy Prices Act 2022, but it is included for completeness.
The energy bills discount scheme launched for UK businesses, charities and the public sector on 1 April 2023.
Heat networks alternative dispute resolution bodies funding utilises the power conferred by section 13 of the Energy Prices Act 2022. This scheme has not incurred expenditure to 31 March 2023. This funding is separate to the energy bills discount scheme heat network support.
Administrative costs are not included in figures.
[HCWS835]
UK-EU Parliamentary Partnership Assembly Membership
(1 year, 6 months ago)
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The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs (Leo Docherty)
The Lord Ricketts has been appointed as a Vice-Chair of the Parliamentary Partnership Assembly in place of the Earl of Kinnoull.
The Baroness Bull CBE has been appointed as a full representative of the Parliamentary Partnership Assembly in place of the Earl of Kinnoull.
The Lord Krebs has been appointed as a substitute representative of the Parliamentary Partnership Assembly in place of the Baroness Bull CBE.
[HCWS834]
HIV Action Plan: Annual Update 2022-23
(1 year, 6 months ago)
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The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health and Social Care (Neil O’Brien)
I am pleased to update the House on the publication of the first annual update to Parliament on the HIV action plan. In January 2019, the Government committed to an ambition to end new HIV transmissions, AIDS diagnoses, and HIV-related deaths within England by 2030. Achievement of these ambitious commitments—including our interim commitment to an 80% reduction in transmissions by 2025—is within our grasp, and we should be encouraged by the progress already made. This progress is testament to the collective and ongoing efforts of many organisations across the UK Health Security Agency, local government, the NHS and wider health system, statutory agencies, and the voluntary and community sector.
As part of the plan, we committed to update Parliament each year on the progress made towards our ambition to end new HIV transmissions, AIDS, and HIV-related deaths within England by 2030. I am proud to present to Parliament a summary of the work undertaken towards these objectives in 2022-23.
Despite the challenging backdrop of the covid pandemic, England has seen a 33% fall in new HIV diagnoses since 2019. NHS England has committed £20 million in funding for 2022 to 2025 to expand HIV opt-out testing in emergency departments in areas with the highest HIV prevalence. This has helped diagnose 2,000 new cases of blood-borne viruses (hepatitis B and C as well as HIV) in the first year of the programme. During National HIV Testing Week 2023 almost 22,000 free HIV testing kits were ordered by the public—with self-testing kits that provide instant at-home results available for the first time. We have also established the HIV Action Plan Implementation Steering Group to oversee progress, as well as a Community Advisory Group and four task and finish groups to support PrEP access and equity; workforce; HIV control strategies in low prevalence areas; and retention and engagement in care, and I look forward to seeing the impact they will make.
[HCWS838]
Illegal Migration Update
(1 year, 6 months ago)
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The Minister for Immigration (Robert Jenrick)
Provisions within the Nationality and Borders Act 2022 (NABA), which came into force on 28 June 2022, set out the framework to differentiate between two groups of refugees who ultimately remain in the UK: “group 1” and “group 2”.
The primary way in which the groups are differentiated is the grant of permission to stay: group 1 refugees are normally granted refugee permission to stay for five years, after which they can apply for settlement, whereas group 2 refugees are normally granted temporary refugee permission to stay for 30 months on a 10-year route to settlement.
The differentiation policy was intended to disincentivise migrants from using criminal smugglers to facilitate illegal journeys to the UK. This was the right approach. Since then, the scale of the challenge facing the UK, like other countries, has grown— and that is why the Government introduced the Illegal Migration Bill. The Bill goes further than ever before in seeking to deter illegal entry to the UK, so that the only humanitarian route into the UK is through a safe and legal one. The Bill will radically overhaul how we deal with people who arrive in the UK illegally via safe countries, rendering their asylum and human rights claims (in respect of their home country) inadmissible and imposing a duty on the Home Secretary to remove them. This approach represents a considerably stronger means of tackling the same issue that the differentiation policy sought to address: people making dangerous and unnecessary journeys through safe countries to claim asylum in the UK.
We will therefore pause the differentiation policy in the next package of immigration rules changes in July 2023. This means we will stop taking grouping decisions under the differentiated asylum system after these rules changes and those individuals who are successful in their asylum application, including those who are granted humanitarian protection, will receive the same conditions. Our ability to remove failed asylum applicants remains unchanged.
Individuals who have already received a “group 2” or humanitarian protection decision under post-28 June 2022 policies will be contacted and will have their conditions aligned to those afforded to “group 1” refugees. This includes length of permission to stay, route to settlement, and eligibility for family reunion.
On 23 February 2023 the Home Office announced the streamlined asylum processing model for a small number of cases of nationalities with high asylum grant rates: Afghanistan, Eritrea, Libya, Syria, Yemen. Because this model focuses on manifestly well-founded cases, positive decisions can be taken without the need for an additional interview. No one will have their asylum application refused without the opportunity of an additional interview. Those claims made between 28 June 2022 and the date of introduction of the Illegal Migration Bill (7 March 2023) will be processed according to this model. This will also include claimants from Sudan. Sudanese legacy claimants are already being processed in-line with established policies and processes and will be decided in-line with the Prime Minister’s commitment to clear the backlog of legacy asylum claims by the end of 2023.
[HCWS837]
Pensions Dashboards
(1 year, 6 months ago)
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The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (Laura Trott)
Pensions dashboards will transform the way in which people plan for retirement. On 2 March 2023, I announced that the pensions dashboards programme would require additional time to deliver the connection of pension providers and schemes, in accordance with the connection deadlines set out in the Pensions Dashboards Regulations 2022 and the Financial Conduct Authority’s corresponding pensions dashboard rules.
More time is needed to deliver this complex build, and for the pensions industry to help facilitate the successful connection of a wide range of different IT systems to the dashboards digital architecture. As part of our reset of the pensions dashboard programme, I am today laying amending regulations with a new approach to delivery that allows us to work more collaboratively with the pensions industry. Rather than setting out the entire staging timeline in legislation, we will instead set this out in guidance which we will collaborate on with industry this year. This will give the pensions dashboards programme the flexibility it needs to ensure this complex project is completed effectively.
In recognition that the requirement to connect to the digital architecture should remain mandatory, we will include a connection deadline in legislation of 31 October 2026. This is not the dashboards available point—the point at which dashboards will be accessible to the public —which could be earlier than this.
The Government remain as committed as ever to making pensions dashboards a reality and we are ambitious about their delivery. I am confident that this reappraised approach will enable us to make significant progress on delivering dashboards safely and securely, enabling consumers to take advantage of their benefits to plan for retirement.
[HCWS836]