Republic of Korea: Upgraded Free Trade Agreement
(1 week ago)
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The Minister for Trade Policy and Economic Security (Mr Douglas Alexander)
The fourth round of negotiations on an upgraded free trade agreement (FTA) with the Republic of Korea (RoK) took place in London between 10 and 21 March 2025.
Total trade between the UK and RoK was worth £15.3 billion in the 12 months ending September 2024. An upgraded FTA is intended to support growth in this trade and strengthen our broader relationship with RoK.
Specifically, an upgraded UK-RoK FTA will help secure and future-proof current goods market access. Negotiators are also seeking to update the agreement in key areas where trade policy has progressed in recent years, including digital and services trade. Discussion is also progressing on a range of areas where increased co-operation will future-proof our UK-RoK strategic relationship, such as commitments on supply chains.
Negotiators made good progress on a number of areas, including but not limited to:
Rules of origin
Sides continue to make good progress on a new chapter, building on constructive discussions held virtually in February. Discussions covered both the chapter’s main text and product specific rules (PSRs) for a range of sectors, including automotives, textiles and apparel, and food and drink. Sides are seeking to ensure that the chapter accounts for current and future supply chains.
Digital trade
Further positive discussions were held on an ambitious digital chapter, including on commitments such as data, trade digitalisation and business safeguards. Additionally, the UK is seeking digital commitments that will help foster UK-RoK co-operation on a range of areas, such as emerging technologies.
Services and business mobility
The UK is seeking upgraded commitments to boost UK services exports to RoK. This round included discussions on commitments to provide improved certainty and access for the mobility of business persons. Further discussions were also held on professional and business services and domestic regulation.
Trade and Gender Equality (TGE)
Negotiators made significant progress before the round towards agreeing ambitious TGE commitments. Commitments being sought here will help foster UK-RoK co-operation on specific areas, including improving women’s access to global markets, financial resources and business networks, so that they can further benefit from trade.
Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs)
Notable progress was made towards agreeing a new SMEs chapter. The outcomes being sought here will help SMEs access important information on the UK-RoK trading arrangement online and encourage co-operation between parties to reduce trade barriers for SMEs.
Supply Chains and Customs and Trade Facilitation (CTF)
Good progress was made prior to the round to upgrade the existing CTF chapter. Good progress was made during the round towards agreeing new supply chains commitments. These will help cement ongoing UK-RoK co-operation on critical supply chains through mechanisms that facilitate Government-to-Government dialogue during supply chain disruptions.
Other Areas
Positive discussions were held across a range of further areas of the FTA, including anti-corruption and the environment.
The Government will only ever sign a trade agreement which aligns with the UK’s national interests, upholding our high standards across a range of sectors, including protections for the national health service.
The fifth round of negotiations is currently expected to take place in Seoul in the summer of 2025. The Government will continue to work towards delivering outcomes in the FTA that secure economic growth for the UK and will update Parliament on the progress of discussions with RoK as they continue to develop.
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Horizon: Redress
(1 week ago)
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The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Business and Trade (Gareth Thomas)
I will deliver the planned statement orally today, as Minister for services, small business and exports.
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Oil and Gas Decommissioning Relief Deeds
(1 week ago)
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The Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury (James Murray)
The Government’s fiscal approach for oil and gas aims to balance encouraging investment with ensuring a fair return for the nation in exchange for the use of its resources. Currently, inclusive of the temporary Energy (Oil and Gas) Profits Levy, companies engaged in the production of oil and gas in the UK and on the UK continental shelf (UKCS) are subject to a 78% headline tax rate on their profits.
At Budget 2013, the Government announced that they would begin signing decommissioning relief deeds. These deeds represented a new contractual approach to provide oil and gas companies with certainty on the level of tax relief they will receive on future decommissioning costs.
Since October 2013, the Government have entered into 109 decommissioning relief deeds. Offshore Energies UK estimates that these deeds have so far unlocked approximately £14.7 billion of capital, which can now be invested elsewhere.
The Government committed to report to Parliament annually on progress with the decommissioning relief deeds. The report for financial year 2023-24 is provided below.
Number of decommissioning relief agreements entered into: the Government entered into three decommissioning relief agreements in 2023-24.
Total number of decommissioning relief agreements in force at the end of that year: 108 decommissioning relief agreements were in force at the end of the year.
Number of payments made under any decommissioning relief agreements during that year, and the amount of each payment: three payments were made under a decommissioning relief agreement in 2023-24, for £87 million in total. These were made in relation to the provisions recognised by HM Treasury from 2015 onwards as a result of companies defaulting on their decommissioning obligations.
Total number of payments that have been made under any decommissioning relief agreements as at the end of that year, and the total amount of those payments: 19 payments have been made under any decommissioning relief agreement as at the end of the 2023-24 financial year, totalling around £347 million.
Estimate of the maximum amount liable to be paid under any decommissioning relief agreements: the Government have not made any changes to the tax regime that would generate a liability to be paid under any decommissioning relief agreements. HM Treasury’s 2024-25 accounts will recognise a provision currently estimated to be £123 million in respect of decommissioning expenditure incurred as a result of companies defaulting on their decommissioning obligations[1]. The majority of this is currently expected to be realised over the next several years.
[1] This figure, which is an estimate at the last interim reporting period, is unaudited and takes into account payments made subsequent to the financial year covered by this written ministerial statement. The estimate is under review ahead of the year end reporting period and may be updated to reflect newer information.
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Clinical Trials and Health Data Research Service
(1 week ago)
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The Secretary of State for Health and Social Care (Wes Streeting)
Today I am updating the House on plans to create a new Health Data Research Service and fast track the set-up of clinical trials to accelerate the development of the medicines and therapies of the future. These changes will improve patient care and help to make Britain the best place in the world for medical research.
We will invest up to £500 million to establish a new Health Data Research Service. This will improve access to data for medical research by providing a secure single access point, meaning a researcher does not have to navigate different systems or make multiple applications for information for the same project. This will unlock the power of NHS data to transform research and lead to breakthroughs that improve care for patients.
The Wellcome Trust will be the first charitable funder supporting this groundbreaking initiative, committing an additional £100 million towards its development. The service will be hosted for at least the first five years at the Wellcome Genome Campus near Cambridge, leveraging the campus’s world-class facilities and expertise.
We will involve the public as we design the service, building trust and understanding through transparent communication and discussion about how patient data is used to deliver health benefits to patients across the UK.
We will work closely with Wellcome and other stakeholders to ensure the successful implementation of a service that will drive faster research that benefits patients sooner.
This Government’s work to make the UK a world-leading destination for commercial interventional clinical trials also supports our clear focus on driving economic growth, alongside improving health outcomes for patients and the public.
We will also accelerate clinical trials and deliver radical improvement in regulatory, set-up and recruitment processes over the next year. This will help to bring down the time it takes to move from the trial being submitted for regulatory approval from over 250 days to 150 days.
We will do this by streamlining approval processes for clinical trials by moving to standardised contracts, with contracting undertaken by a single lead research site. We will reduce the unnecessary duplication of checks that can be best conducted centrally. We will publish NHS trust level set-up performance data for the first time, and continue to work with industry and the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry to improve data on our metrics to compare our performance with international competitors.
We will also implement the new clinical trials regulatory framework announced in December 2024 by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, to speed up trial approvals and encourage innovation in trial design without compromising patient safety.
I will continue to keep Parliament updated on the progress of this work.
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General Practitioner Recruitment
(1 week ago)
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The Minister for Care (Stephen Kinnock)
General practice sits at the heart of our NHS and is its front door, but it has been neglected for far too long.
We are committed to getting primary care back on its feet and have already taken decisive action to get more GPs onto the frontline. This Government inherited a ludicrous situation where patients could not get a GP appointment, while GPs leaving training could not get a job.
Within weeks of coming into office, we committed to recruiting over 1,000 recently qualified GPs through an £82 million boost to the additional roles reimbursement scheme over 2024-25, as part of an initiative to address GP unemployment and secure the future pipeline of GPs. I am delighted to announce the Government have exceeded this target.
By cutting red tape and investing more in our NHS, we have put an extra 1,503 GPs into general practice to deliver more appointments. See: GPs recruited through the Additional Roles Reimbursement Scheme (ARRS) - NHS England Digital. https://digital.nhs.uk/supplementary-information/2025/arrs-claims-for-gps---to-31-march-2025
The recruitment boost, part of the Government’s plan for change, will help to end the scandal of patients struggling to see a doctor—easing pressure on GPs and cutting waiting times. Alongside changes to the GP contract for 2025-26, these additional GPs will help end the 8 am scramble for appointments, which so many patients currently endure every day.
Previously, primary care networks were limited in how they could use their funding. We have changed that. Now they can hire recently qualified doctors through the additional roles reimbursement scheme—a practical solution that is boosting GP numbers across the country. For 2025-26 we have gone further, delivering more flexibilities to the scheme to allow local systems to respond better to local workforce needs. GPs will be central to our 10-year health plan and shifting healthcare from hospitals to the community.
In February we reached agreement with the British Medical Association on a new GP contract for the first time in four years. We are investing an additional £889 million in general practice to fix the front door of the NHS. That comes alongside reforms to improve access, incentivise greater continuity of care and streamline targets to focus on preventing the biggest killers. And at the autumn Budget, the Chancellor announced £100 million of capital for GP estate upgrades over the next financial year, the biggest central GP capital investment since 2019-20.
Thanks to these decisions, the Government have already delivered over 2 million additional elective appointments since July, meeting their target seven months early, and brought the referral to treatment waiting list down by 193,000. But we are not complacent, and we know the job is not done. We are determined to go further and faster to deliver more appointments, faster treatment, and an NHS that the British public deserve as part of our plan for change.
[HCWS586]
Victim Information and Counselling Services: Public Consultation
(1 week ago)
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The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department (Jess Phillips)
The Victims and Prisoners Act 2024 introduces duties mandating that police and other authorised persons may request victim information such as medical records only when it is necessary and proportionate, and in pursuit of a reasonable line of enquiry. These duties also create special protections for victims’ counselling records, reflecting the highly sensitive nature of these records.
I am confident that these new duties, once in force, will help protect the privacy and dignity of victims within the criminal justice system and help the Government deliver on our ambitious aim to halve violence against women and girls over the next decade.
However, before we can bring in these essential reforms it is first necessary to define counselling services and issue a code of practice to which authorised persons such as police must adhere.
That is why I am pleased to announce that the Government are today publishing a public consultation on both a draft code of practice for third-party material requests and a definition of counselling services.
The consultation will run for a 12-week period and will provide a valuable opportunity for the public to have their say.
A copy of the consultation and draft code of practice will be placed in the Libraries of both Houses and published on www.gov.uk.
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