Baroness McIntosh of Pickering

The UK Government uses a Lead Government Department model for the oversight of Critical National Infrastructure security and resilience policy. Each Lead Government Department is responsible for routinely undertaking risk assessments for their sector, including assessing Critical National Infrastructure risks within the internal, classified National Security Risk Assessment.

The National Risk Register is the external version of the National Security Risk Assessment. It was most recently updated in January. All risks in the National Risk Register, including those related to Critical National Infrastructure, are kept under review to ensure that they are the most appropriate scenarios to inform emergency preparedness and resilience activity. A number of risks will be subject to reassessment over the next few months. An updated risk will be subsequently published to reflect these changes.

Policy interventions, to address Critical National Infrastructure risks, are sector specific and led by the relevant Lead Government Department.

The primary focus of the Emergency Planning College (EPC) is to build resilience through training and exercising. It helps organisations to build capabilities to manage emergency and crises situations. All learning material is regularly reviewed to ensure alignment with the latest government direction, policy and legislation. The EPC does not have a role in assessing risks to Critical National Infrastructure (CNI) but uses the National Risk Register (NRR) in the development of its training materials and courses.The NRR is the external version of the government’s internal, classified National Security Risk Assessment. All risks in the NRR, including those related to CNI, are kept under review to ensure that they are the most appropriate scenarios to inform emergency preparedness and resilience activity.

The UK Resilience Academy (UKRA) will be established in April 2025 to ensure that all those who work on resilience have the capability, knowledge and skills they need to play their part in making resilience a ‘whole of society’ endeavour.

The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority.

Please see the letter attached from the National Statistician and Chief Executive of the UK Statistics Authority.

Professor Sir Ian Diamond | National Statistician

The Baroness McIntosh of Pickering

House of Lords

London

SW1A 0PW

11 March 2025

Dear Lady McIntosh of Pickering,

As National Statistician and Chief Executive of the UK Statistics Authority, I am responding to your Parliamentary Question asking what are the trade data on (1) exports, and (2) imports, with (a) the United States of America, (b) the EU, and (c) European countries including those outside of the EU, in each of the last three years (HL5557).

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) publish UK trade data at country level in our UK total trade, all countries release[1] which is published on a quarterly basis. These data are available up to Quarter 3 (July to Sept) 2024. The latest full year of data available is 2023.

Data on UK trade with the United States, the European Union and Europe can be found in Tables 1, 2 and 3 respectively. Please note that all data are in current prices and, as such, include the effect of inflation.

Yours sincerely,

Professor Sir Ian Diamond

Table 1: UK total trade, trade in goods and trade in services with the United States, exports and imports, 2021-2023[2].

£ billion, current prices

Source: Office for National Statistics

Table 2: UK total trade, trade in goods and trade in services with the European Union, exports and imports, 2021-20232.

£ billion, current prices

Source: Office for National Statistics

Table 3: UK total trade, trade in goods and trade in services with Europe, exports and imports, 2021-20232,[3].

£ billion, current prices

Source: Office for National Statistics

[1]https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/nationalaccounts/balanceofpayments/datasets/uktotaltradeallcountriesseasonallyadjusted

[2]Data may not sum due to rounding.

[3]These data include all countries in Europe as set out in Appendix 5 of the Balance of Payments (BoP) Vademecum: https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/documents/39118/18471074/vademecum-balance-payment-november-2023-january-2024.pdf. This total includes European Union countries.

Under the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement there are 19 Specialised Committees. These are co-chaired by a UK and EU senior official, and have met 67 times since 2021. The Specialised Committees report into the Partnership Council, which is the ministerial body set up by the TCA. It has met three times since 2021 and is currently chaired by Minster for the Cabinet Office Nick Thomas-Symonds and Commissioner Maroš Šefčovič. Further information is provided on GOV.UK.

Post Offices play an important role in communities across the country, and particularly in rural areas where some branches act as a community hub. We are listening carefully to stakeholders to ensure the whole network, including these important rural branches, is sustainable.

The Government-set Access Criteria ensures that however the network changes, services remain within local reach of all citizens. Government's minimum access criteria for Post Offices mean that 99% of the UK population must be within three miles of their nearest post office outlet and 90% must be within one mile of their nearest post office outlet.

The report on the last statutory review of the Groceries Code Adjudicator (GCA), which was published in July 2023 concluded that a decision by the GCA to launch an investigation should be based upon some evidence or intelligence of non-compliance. The government will conduct the next statutory review of the GCA next year and all interested parties will have an opportunity to contribute their views.

‘Fair Dealings’ Regulations under the Agriculture Act 2020, including those which have already been introduced to cover the UK dairy sector, will be enforced by the Agricultural Supply Chain Adjudicator.

The Government recognises that too much of the burden of the bill is placed on standing charges.

In February, Ofgem launched a consultation which sought views on introducing a zero standing charge energy price cap variant, providing households with more choice over how they pay for their energy. The consultation closed on 20 March.

The Government is committed to lowering standing charges and will continue working constructively with Ofgem on this issue.

The Government recognises the important role community groups play in our efforts to tackle climate change and the sector’s asks around future funding. Great British Energy will build on existing support for community energy by partnering with, and providing funding and support to community energy groups, to roll out up to 8GW of cleaner power. Further details will be set out in due course.

There are currently no plans to review the Warm Home Discount rebate value, and this will remain at £150 for the remainder of the scheme.

We have recently published a consultation on expanding the Warm Home Discount Scheme for next winter, where we propose to remove the high cost to heat threshold, making all those on means tested benefits eligible for the scheme. These proposals would bring around 2.7 million households into the scheme – pushing the total number of households that would receive the discount next winter up to around 6 million.

We are exploring options to improve the design of the scheme beyond the current regulations which expire in 2026.

The creation of the Framework Document is linked to the set-up of Great British Energy (GBE) and the document itself will be published in 2025, following Royal Assent, to ensure it reflects the final form of the legislation.

Regarding progress and parliamentary scrutiny, following the requirements of Managing Public Money, the Framework Document will be agreed between the Secretary of State and GBE itself, as well as HM Treasury and Cabinet Office. It will then be published on both the Department and GBE’s website.

Once published, the relevant select committees will be free to scrutinise GBE’s governance arrangements alongside any other matters they consider appropriate.

As set out in the Clean Power Action Plan, we are committed to nature restoration and to ensuring joined up delivery of our climate and nature targets. We are considering how to use clean energy development to fund nature recovery unlocking a win-win outcome for the economy and for nature. We will be launching an engagement exercise this year to invite communities, civil society and wider stakeholders to submit their ideas on how government can best encourage nature‑positive best practice into energy infrastructure planning and development.

The copper landline network, also known as the Public Switched Telephone Network, is a privately-owned network and the decision to upgrade it has been taken by the telecoms industry. The industry’s decision to upgrade the PSTN is due to necessity, as the network is increasingly unreliable and prone to failure. In 2024, Ofcom (the independent telecoms regulator) recorded a 45% increase in PSTN resilience incidents. The PSTN is not being retained anywhere.

In the event of a power cut caused by extreme weather events, telecoms companies have a regulatory obligation to ensure that customers have access to emergency services for a minimum of one hour, for example by providing them with battery back-ups that power telephones during a power outage. In practice, many are offering solutions which exceed these minimum standards.

Superfast broadband (>=30Mbps) is now available to 98% of UK premises, with Project Gigabit delivering gigabit-capable broadband (>=1000 Mbps) to those not included in suppliers' commercial plans.

Over 86% of UK premises can now access gigabit-capable broadband, according to the independent website Thinkbroadband.com. Our goal is that at least 99% of UK premises will be able to access gigabit coverage by 2030.

Some rural and remote premises will remain too expensive to build a gigabit-capable connection to. The government is considering what policy measures may be required to help provide them with ultrafast (>=100Mbps) connections.

This is a very important issue which the government has been closely engaged with since it took office. It is important to note that landlines are not being withdrawn, but their underlying technology is being moved from Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) to Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP).

The switchover is an industry led programme. The Government is determined to ensure that any and all risks of the industry-led migration from PSTN to VoIP are mitigated. Communication providers and network operators signed voluntary charters in December 2023 and March 2024, ensuring their commitment to protect vulnerable consumers during the PSTN migration. On 18 November 2024, the major communication providers agreed to adhere to further safeguards set out in the non-voluntary migrations checklist before restarting non-voluntary migration of customers from PSTN to VoIP.

Co-productions are integral to the success of the UK film industry, not only providing varied sources of funding and broadening audience reach, but allowing filmmakers to collaborate creatively with diverse partners from across the globe.Our film sector has strong ties with partners across Europe and a rich history of co-production both under the Council of Europe Convention on Cinematographic Co-production and through unofficial collaborations.

To further stimulate international exposure of the UK film industry the government has committed an additional £7 million for the UK Global Screen Fund for 2025/26. In addition to offering support for business development and distribution of UK films internationally, this fund offers specific support to promote international co-productions.

We are committed to working closely with the Gambling Commission to ensure that illegal gambling, in all its forms, is addressed. The Gambling Commission assesses information gathered from multiple sources and works closely with partner agencies to prevent access to illegal websites by consumers in Great Britain, regardless of where the website itself is based.

In the past year, the Commission has significantly increased its disruption activity and has a renewed focus on finding innovative ways to tackle the illegal market. The Crime and Policing Bill, introduced in Parliament on 25 February 2025, will also grant the Gambling Commission with new powers to more quickly and effectively take down illegal gambling websites.

Having the opportunity to study a modern foreign language should be part of the broad and rich education that every child in this country deserves.

Languages provide an insight into other cultures and can open the door to travel and employment opportunities. They also broaden pupils’ horizons, helping them flourish in new environments.

The government is committed to providing enriching opportunities for students and young people to experience other countries and cultures, including through school trips and exchanges. We also recognise the difficulties that schools have faced in recent years when it comes to organising visits. The UK has agreed measures with France which make school trip travel between the UK and France easier.

The Turing Scheme is the UK government’s global programme for students to study and work abroad. Students can develop new skills, including language skills, gain international experience and boost their employability. The scheme has been helping tens of thousands of UK students to study and work abroad for four years and we have recently announced that the scheme will be running for a fifth year.

The UK has a bilateral student exchange programme with Germany, the UK German Connection (UKGC), which provides opportunities for children, young people, and a limited number of language teachers in the UK and Germany to engage in a range of activities, including seminars, exchanges, visits and study courses. UKGC seeks to support current German learners in the UK and encourage more to learn the language.

The department also has a long-standing Language Assistants Programme, delivered by the British Council, to improve modern foreign language skills through direct interaction with native speakers from around the world. This includes arranging placements in the UK for non-UK residents to assist with teaching French, Spanish, Mandarin, German and Italian (as Modern Language Assistants). In the 2024/25 academic year, there are 700 Modern Language Assistants allocated to UK schools.

On 8 May, the UK Government announced a landmark economic deal with the United States, making the UK the first country to reach an agreement with President Trump. This delivers on the commitment by the Prime Minister and the President on 27 February to agree an economic deal in our respective national interests.

The deal protects jobs in the automotive, steel, aluminium, pharmaceutical and aerospace sectors - sectors that employ over 320,000 people across the UK. For the first time ever, this deal will also open up exclusive access for UK beef farmers to the US market.

We have always been clear that this Government will protect British farmers, secure our food security and uphold our high food, animal welfare and environmental standards in trade deals. That is exactly what we have done and will continue to do. Imports of genetically modified beef or hormone-treated beef will remain illegal. Any agricultural imports coming into the UK will have to meet our high sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) standards.

There will be no changes to labelling requirements as a result of what has been agreed so far within the UK-US agreement.

The Government has worked closely with industry, including the brewing and hospitality sectors, throughout development of Extended Producer Responsibility for Packaging (pEPR). In October 2024, the Government published an updated assessment of the impact of introducing the pEPR scheme on packaging producers as a whole. This impact assessment did not split the assessment by sector.

Since Autumn 2024, the Government has been working with stakeholders, including representatives of the brewing and hospitality sector, to consider potential amendments to the definition of household packaging. Despite considering multiple approaches, a consensus on a single approach that works for all sectors and within the bounds of legal and regulatory requirements, was not reached.

We are continuing to explore options with producers and will bring forward a consultation as soon as possible. We recognise the strength of feeling but also the need for a system that can be effectively monitored and enforced, given the impact on the pEPR fees for the packaging remaining in scope of fees.

Defra works closely with other Government Departments on plans to support the economic opportunities data centres bring, whilst making sure these developments are sustainable for local water supplies. Defra will continue to work with Ofwat to identify ways in which we can reduce overall water demand and achieve a secure supply of water for customers and the environment.

The water requirements of data centres vary, largely depending on the type of cooling systems used. Air cooled systems do not require very much water but are much more energy intensive. Closed loop systems reuse water, so have much lower water requirements than open loop systems.

As part of meeting the national statutory target to reduce the use of public water supply in England per head of population by 20% by 2038, Defra have set out an interim target to reduce non-household water use by 9% by 2030. We are currently working with TechUK, the trade association for data centres, to increase Defra and the Environment Agency's understanding of current water usage and cooling technologies being used.

When data centres are planned and designed, consideration should be given to the types of cooling technology being selected and the corresponding water needs. The water for cooling systems does not need to be drinking water quality. Consideration must also be given to where the data centre is going to be located to ensure that any water needs can be met.

The Environment Agency’s upcoming National Framework for Water Resources (2025) highlights the need for joined-up planning between different water-using sectors to identify collaborative solutions for water resources.

We share guidance about Environmental Land Management (ELM) and other scheme offers on our farming blog and on the relevant scheme pages at gov.uk. Details of the expanded SFI 2024 offer were first shared at https://defrafarming.blog.gov.uk/2024/05/22/this-years-sustainable-farming-incentive-offer/) on 22 May 2024. Defra and the Rural Payments Agency (RPA) regularly attend industry events to share scheme offers and advice with farmers. The RPA helpline supports farmers, including tenant and family farmers, with general questions about SFI and other ELM schemes on their helpline

Furthermore, for the beginning of the agricultural transition, the Farming Resilience Fund (FRF) provided free business support to farmers and land managers in England. FRF was available from October 2022 to March 2025.

The 350kg licence cap on some English 10 metre and under vessels was removed in December 2024 enabling them to fully utilise their fishing opportunities. The capping of UK fishing licences is a domestic decision and has not been affected by the UK leaving the EU. The measures used to manage the UK fleet, including quota allocation, are reviewed regularly with the most recent change being the decision to remove the cap in December 2024.