Asked by: Lord Lester of Herne Hill (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
Her Majesty's Government what is their assessment of the benefits and costs to the UK of membership of the European Banking Authority.
Answered by Lord Bates
As a set of single market authorities, the memberships of the European Securities and Markets Authority, European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority and the European Banking Authority (EBA) consist only of EU and EEA national competent authorities. As the UK is leaving the European Union, our relationship will change.
The EU has also stated its intention to relocate the EBA. The future relationship will be a matter for negotiations. We are seeking a comprehensive trade agreement, which includes financial services and is based on a deep and special partnership between the EU and UK that goes much wider than trade.
The financial costs of the three bodies are divided on a 60:40 ratio between national competent authorities across the EU, and a contribution from the European community. Details of the budgets and the activity conducted by the agencies are available on the respective websites.
Asked by: Lord Lester of Herne Hill (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
Her Majesty's Government what is their assessment of the benefits and costs to the UK of membership of the European Agency for Law Enforcement Cooperation.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
The Government values the role of Europol in helping law enforcement agencies coordinate investigations in cross border serious and organised crime. That is why the UK opted-in to the new Europol Regulation, which came into force on 1 May 2017, enabling us to maintain our current access to the agency and to continue to benefit from its cooperation and operational advantages.
Europol has a budget of £82mn (€95mn) and is centrally funded from the EU budget. The UK contributes to the budget as a whole, not to individual projects. The UK financing share (net of the rebate) of the 2016 EU budget was 13.45%.
Asked by: Lord Lester of Herne Hill (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
Her Majesty's Government what is their assessment of the benefits and costs to the UK of membership of the European body for the enhancement of judicial cooperation.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
The Government values the role of Eurojust and that is why Eurojust was one of the measures we rejoined in December 2014 as part of the decision under Protocol (No. 36) to the EU Treaties to opt out of all pre-Lisbon JHA legislation and opt back into 35 key measures.
Eurojust can lead to improved criminal justice outcomes by ensuring that investigators and prosecutors share information and evidence, agree strategies and co-ordinate activity in order to tackle cross-border criminality in a more efficient and effective manner.
Eurojust has a budget of £29.285m (€34m) and is centrally funded from the EU budget. The UK contributes to the budget as a whole, not to individual projects. The UK financing share (net of the rebate) of the 2016 EU budget was 13.45%.
Asked by: Lord Lester of Herne Hill (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
Her Majesty's Government what is their assessment of the benefits and costs to the UK of membership of the Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators.
Answered by Lord Prior of Brampton
Within the Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators budget it is not possible to identify the membership costs for any individual member state. Details of their costs and the work they do are set out in their Programming Document[1] for 2017-2019.
In common with other EU agencies, as part of exit negotiations the government will discuss with the EU any potential future relationship with the Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators.
Asked by: Lord Lester of Herne Hill (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
Her Majesty's Government what is their assessment of the benefits and costs to the UK of membership of the European Agency for the operational management of large IT systems in the area of freedom, security and justice.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
The European Agency for the operational management of large IT systems in the area of freedom, security and justice (also known as eu-LISA) manages the Second Generation Schengen Information System (SIS II), the EURODAC system for storing the fingerprints of asylum seekers and certain illegal migrants and the Schengen Visa Information System (VIS). Of these, the UK takes part in EURODAC and the police and judicial cooperation aspects of SIS II. The Government considers that eu-LISA manages these systems effectively.
The UK contributes to eu-LISA for the management of the systems we take part in. Our contribution is made through our payment to the EU budget as a whole, and not through a direct payment to eu-LISA.
Asked by: Lord Lester of Herne Hill (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
Her Majesty's Government what is their assessment of the benefits and costs to the UK of membership of the European Asylum Support Office.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
The European Asylum Support Office (EASO) plays an important role in supporting asylum cooperation between Member States and in helping those Member States whose asylum and reception systems are under pressure. EASO is funded directly by the EU budget.
The Government continues to support the principle of EU hotspots and has deployed resources through EASO to the hotspots in Italy and Greece.
Last year, the Government took a decision not to opt in to the proposed EU Agency for Asylum, which will replace EASO. The Government’s key consideration was the significant amount of oversight of the UK asylum system, which would be given to the Agency should the UK choose to participate. Written Ministerial Statement HCWS373 of 16 December refers.
Until the UK leaves the EU, there will be no immediate changes to how the UK engages with EASO. Until then, we remain a full member of EASO, maintaining voting rights at the management board and playing a strong role in influencing EU asylum policy.
The Government will consider the UK’s future relationship with the EU in terms of asylum cooperation as part of the broader EU exit negotiations.
Asked by: Lord Lester of Herne Hill (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
Her Majesty's Government what is their assessment of the benefits and costs to the UK of membership of the EU Satellite Centre.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The EU Satellite Centre produces satellite imagery and analysis in support of EU missions and operations in fulfilment of the EU’s Common Foreign and Security Policy and Common Security and Defence Policy. The UK is able to draw on the Centre’s output for defence and security purposes. This year the UK’s financial contribution is approximately 2.17 million Euros.
Asked by: Lord Lester of Herne Hill (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
Her Majesty's Government what is their assessment of the benefits and costs to the UK of membership of the Euratom Supply Agency.
Answered by Lord Prior of Brampton
The European Supply Agency forms part of Euratom Treaty arrangements. The UK will leave the European Supply Agency at the same time that it leaves Euratom.
The nature of future arrangements with Euratom and the EU will be subject to negotiation which started this month. Our aim throughout the negotiations with the European Commission will be to maintain our mutually successful civil nuclear cooperation with Euratom and the rest of the world.
The UK is keen to ensure that there is minimal disruption to civil nuclear trade following the UK’s withdrawal from Euratom. We have bilateral Nuclear Cooperation Agreements (NCAs) in place with several countries that we will continue to rely on after our exit from Euratom.
We intend to maintain continuity of cooperation with our international partners and will develop new arrangements as necessary.
Asked by: Lord Lester of Herne Hill (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
Her Majesty's Government what is their assessment of the benefits and costs to the UK of membership of the Euratom Joint Undertaking for ITER and the Development of Fusion Energy.
Answered by Lord Prior of Brampton
The EU’s Joint Undertaking for ITER (F4E) funds the €540m p.a. EU contribution to the ITER programme. This is funded primarily through the EU central budget with small additional membership fees from member states. The UK pays a €290,000 annual membership fee directly to F4E.
UK membership of F4E gives UK scientists and engineers the opportunity to work at, and in partnership with, ITER on development of fusion as a clean, safe and virtually inexhaustible energy source. It also gives the UK access to intellectual property developed at ITER and helps the UK maintain its position as a world leader in fusion technology.
F4E membership has enabled the UK to win high-value ITER construction contracts, with opportunities to bid for significantly more during the construction which has a current budget of €14.4bn overall and will be complete in 2025.
Asked by: Lord Lester of Herne Hill (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
Her Majesty's Government what is their assessment of the benefits and costs to the UK of membership of the Fundamental Rights Agency.
Answered by Lord Keen of Elie
The Fundamental Rights Agency (FRA) provides assistance and advice on fundamental rights issues to the EU institutions and to Member States when implementing Union law. The FRA is also tasked with promoting fundamental rights within the EU, which it does through the collation, analysis and dissemination of data on fundamental rights across the Member States. As the Balance of Competencies Review in 2014 showed, a small number of UK NGOs have used FRA data to support their work.
The UK contributes to the FRA budget through its contribution to the overall EU budget. The FRA’s budget for 2017 is 22.7 million euro. While civil service time is spent dealing with FRA reports and activities, time costs are not logged on this basis. A UK official attends National Liaison Officer network meetings at the FRA; travel and accommodation expenses for these meetings are covered by the FRA.