Draft International Atomic Energy Agency (Immunities and Privileges) (Amendment) Order 2023
(10 months, 3 weeks ago)
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The Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (Anne-Marie Trevelyan)
I beg to move,
That the Committee has considered the draft International Atomic Energy Agency (Immunities and Privileges) (Amendment) Order 2023.
The draft order was laid before Parliament on 5 June in accordance with section 10(1) of the International Organisations Act 1968; a correction was made on 7 June to amend an error in a date to which it referred. The order is subject to the affirmative procedure and will be made once it has been approved by both Houses, before being put to the Privy Council.
The primary purpose of the draft order is to correct an omission in the privileges and immunities granted to the International Atomic Energy Agency under the International Atomic Energy Agency (Immunities and Privileges) Order 1974. In the 1959 agreement on the privileges and immunities of the IAEA, which was signed by the UK in 1961, the UK agreed to provide privileges and immunities to representatives of agency members attending
“any international conference, symposium, seminar or panel convened by”
the agency. In the 1974 order, this language was not entirely reflected. The amendment we propose will allow the UK to fulfil its obligations to provide privileges and immunities to representatives of members attending events in the UK convened by the agency. It will also clarify that “representatives of members”, as defined in the 1959 agreement, include
“governors of the Agency’s Board of Governors and representatives, alternates, advisers, technical experts and secretaries of delegations”.
The Government consider these privileges and immunities both necessary and appropriate to deliver on the interests and commitments that the UK has towards the agency. They are within the scope of the International Organisations Act and are in line with UK precedents. The amending order will confer no new privileges and immunities but will expand the range of meetings to which they apply, in line with the 1959 agreement. The provisions of that agreement have previously been applied operationally, and meetings of the agency have been held in the UK without incident. However, we cannot continue to bear the risk of our domestic legislation’s provisions being at odds with our international treaty obligations. It is therefore right that this amending order be passed to enable the UK fully to meet its commitment to provide privileges and immunities to representatives of members attending agency meetings in the UK.
The agency was established in 1957 to enable the safe, secure and peaceful use of nuclear technologies. It plays a critical global role in developing and promoting high standards of nuclear safety and security, in verifying that nuclear technologies are being used for peaceful purposes, and in supporting nuclear science and research. The UK fully supports the agency’s work. The agency is an important partner in achieving UK objectives on global security, non-proliferation and energy security. It provides an important forum for the UK nuclear industry to share its world-leading expertise and to collaborate with international partners.
One example of our commitment to collaboration is that in October this year we will be pleased to host the 29th IAEA fusion energy conference in London. The fusion energy conference represents an important opportunity to showcase the UK’s world-leading fusion energy research, institutions and scientists. Researchers from around the world will gather to discuss the theory and practice of fusion energy, including the pathway to industrial deployment.
Correcting the omission in the 1974 order will allow the UK to meet its internationally agreed obligations and ensure the successful delivery of the IAEA fusion energy conference in the UK. It will also facilitate the continued hosting of a wide range of agency events here in the UK, allowing the UK nuclear industry to continue its close collaboration with nuclear researchers and operators from around the world. I commend the draft order to the Committee.
Fabian Hamilton (Leeds North East) (Lab)
I thank the Minister for setting out the draft order for the Committee. The International Atomic Energy Agency is a vital international body, as we have heard, and has played a significant role in nuclear non-proliferation. His Majesty’s Opposition recognise the important work that it does in ensuring that nuclear technology is used for peaceful purposes. As the order has our support, I will keep my remarks and questions brief.
As has been outlined, the draft order will correct discrepancies in a 1974 order that implemented a 1959 immunities agreement with the IAEA. The 1974 order gives immunities and privileges to representatives attending a limited range of events, but the 1959 treaty agreed that these should apply for a much broader range of visits.
My questions for the Minister are about why it has taken almost 50 years to realise the error in the original order, whether anyone has been incorrectly prosecuted as a result of the original error, and finally—I think she has already answered this question—how the Government are preparing to support the 29th fusion energy conference, which will be hosted by the IAEA in London in October.
Kevin Brennan (Cardiff West) (Lab)
Could the Minister also tell us how the discrepancy was discovered 49 years after it occurred—obviously, there have been various Governments in between—and was so serious that it needed to be rectified today?
Fabian Hamilton
I thank my hon. Friend for that question, which was precisely the one that I was going to ask at the end.
Anne-Marie Trevelyan
I am grateful to hon. Members for their contributions and their support. The error was spotted during a review of the terms of the IAEA invitation in order to host the forthcoming conference. It was then agreed that the correction should be made to comply with the UK’s international legal obligations under the 1959 agreement.
I am unaware whether there have been other conferences since 1974 when we might have noticed and did not, but I will happily test that with officials and ask them to write to colleagues, as required. I trust that the Committee will support the order.
Question put and agreed to.
Draft Healthcare (International Arrangements) (EU Exit) Regulations 2023
(10 months, 3 weeks ago)
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The Minister for Health and Secondary Care (Will Quince)
I beg to move,
That the Committee has considered the draft Healthcare (International Arrangements) (EU Exit) Regulations 2023.
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mrs Murray. Reciprocal healthcare arrangements offer additional healthcare security to all UK residents and provide greater safeguards and support when they are travelling abroad. Where there is no arrangement in place, those who require treatment may face very expensive insurance premiums or may have to fund life-sustaining healthcare privately. When a reciprocal arrangement is in place, however, people can travel safe in the knowledge that they can access public healthcare in an emergency. Such arrangements particularly benefit people with long-term pre-existing conditions, such as those who need kidney dialysis.
The UK Government were therefore pleased to secure a continuation of our arrangements with European countries through the trade and co-operation agreement. The Government have also set out our ambition to extend the benefits to the public more widely, to be delivered through a number of new arrangements with countries outside the European Union. Thanks to the Healthcare (International Arrangements) Act 2019, we now have the legal powers to make good on this commitment and to implement reciprocal healthcare arrangements with our international partners. I am pleased to be introducing the secondary legislation necessary to implement our arrangements.
The draft regulations will confer functions on the NHS Business Services Authority and local health boards across the UK. They will require them to give effect to the international commitments made by the UK under each arrangement. Those functions include making payments to international partners, processing applications and claims and providing necessary information to the public.
The draft regulations are substantively very similar to those currently in force. However, I draw hon. Members’ attention to two main differences. First, the draft regulations will enable the Secretary of State to make payments outside an arrangement, but only where there are exceptional circumstances that provide justification, and where a reciprocal healthcare arrangement is already in place.
Let me expand on that a little. The power to make discretionary payments enables the Government to support UK residents should they face difficulty in extraordinary circumstances when they are abroad. Alongside the legislation, we have consulted on a policy framework that sets out the circumstances under which we would expect such a power to be used. To be absolutely clear, it will be used sparingly, but it will help those who benefit to avoid facing onerous financial consequences if funding for critical healthcare were to be refused. Given the difficulties in anticipating such circumstances, the Secretary of State will consider, on its own merits, each and every case referred by our partners.
Secondly, the schedule to the draft regulations, on pages 5 and 6, brings together all the UK’s healthcare arrangements in one place. That includes our healthcare arrangements with the EU and Switzerland, as well as new arrangements such as those with our overseas territories and Crown dependencies. It also includes our existing arrangements where no money is exchanged and where the cost of treatment is waived, such as with Australia and New Zealand.
As the Committee would expect, we have consulted devolved Administration Ministers throughout the process; they have confirmed that they are content. The draft regulations will enable the devolved Administrations to implement the planned treatment provisions that are included within our comprehensive arrangements with the European Union and Switzerland. In Northern Ireland, in the absence of an Executive, we will ensure that planned treatment functions can continue to be delivered by saving the relevant aspects of our existing legislation.
The draft regulations will allow us to honour our commitments under existing healthcare arrangements. Importantly, they will also provide us with the legal framework to extend healthcare security to UK residents when they travel abroad, through these new arrangements. I commend the regulations to the Committee.
Karin Smyth (Bristol South) (Lab)
The regulations are vital to implement international healthcare agreements following our exit from the European Union. Reciprocal healthcare agreements support our constituents to access healthcare in the listed countries. Those faced with the stress and worry of a healthcare emergency abroad will rightly expect suitable agreements to be in place where possible. That is particularly true of people with a disability, who are older or who perhaps live with a chronic condition. The Opposition will therefore support the statutory instrument.
It is important to note, however, that the regulations confer further powers on the Secretary of State. It would be helpful if the Minister outlined further details about the Government’s plan for other international healthcare co-operation outside the European economic area and Switzerland, and perhaps gave an idea of what that might look like. From our understanding, payments can be made only if both the following conditions are met: the healthcare treatment is in a country with which we have an international healthcare agreement; and the Secretary of State considers exceptional circumstances to justify the payment.
I appreciate that the public consultation on this matter has recently closed, but will the Minister say what would constitute exceptional circumstances and how the policy framework might work? An early indication of the results of the consultation would be most welcome. Otherwise, we are happy to support the regulations this morning.
Will Quince
I thank the hon. Lady for her support. Let me take both those questions in turn, starting with the one relating to exceptional circumstances. I know that the Committee will forgive me for not going into the details of specific cases, although there have been cases in which we have needed to provide help on an exceptional basis to UK citizens abroad who need health support.
The purpose of the power is to support UK residents abroad where we already have a reciprocal healthcare arrangement in place but they face difficulty, and the circumstances are therefore, by their nature, extraordinary. The policy framework set out in the regulations proposes that the Secretary of State will consider whether the healthcare treatment falls narrowly outside the scope of the arrangement in place and whether refusal to fund healthcare treatment would result in unjustifiably harsh consequences for the individual. However, the framework will retain the necessary flexibility to allow the Secretary of State to evaluate each case individually. In the one case that I am aware of—I know there have been others—it has been vital in ensuring that the UK resident and patient was able to get the support that they would not have got without the exceptional arrangements being put in place.
On the hon. Lady’s second point about scrutiny, we will of course look at other reciprocal arrangements. Some of those will be fee-waived and others will be reciprocal in relation to charging. No doubt the hon. Lady and the Labour party will rightly scrutinise any efforts that the Government take. The Committee should be assured, however, that we will only ever take those steps when they are in the interests not only of UK citizens, patients and those travelling abroad, but of our NHS. That is an absolute guarantee.
I hope that I have answered the hon. Lady’s questions. If she has any specific further questions, she knows me well enough to know that she can write to me or, indeed, call me and I will gladly answer those.
In closing, I take this opportunity to reassure right hon. and hon. Members that very little will change under the regulations. As I said, they remain substantively very similar to those that they will replace. I reiterate the importance of the regulations, as the hon. Lady did, to ensuring that the UK continues to honour our current commitments and support those requiring access to healthcare abroad. I commend the regulations to the Committee.
Question put and agreed to.