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Written Question
Arms Trade: Saudi Arabia
Tuesday 8th September 2020

Asked by: Gill Furniss (Labour - Sheffield, Brightside and Hillsborough)

Question to the Department for International Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, with reference to the Written Statement of 7 July 2020, WS339, what her Department's definitions are of (a) any patterns of non-compliance, (b) lack of commitment to comply with IHL and (c) a lack of capacity or systemic weaknesses which might give rise to a clear risk of IHL breaches.

Answered by Ranil Jayawardena

The Department does not place its own specific definitions on these phrases.


Written Question
Iron and Steel: USA
Thursday 14th February 2019

Asked by: Gill Furniss (Labour - Sheffield, Brightside and Hillsborough)

Question to the Department for International Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, whether the European Commission Safeguard Measures on imports in relation to section 232 tariffs introduced by the US administration will be in force in UK law on the day that the UK leaves the EU.

Answered by George Hollingbery

In the event that the UK leaves the EU with no deal, the Government’s priority is to provide continuity for UK industry. Our transition policy is therefore to ensure UK industry retains trade remedy protections on exit, and so we are committed to carrying across existing measures where there is a UK interest, and then reviewing them to make them UK specific. We will follow this approach for any definitive safeguard measures that are in place on exit, as well as for existing anti-dumping and anti-subsidy measures.


Written Question
Iron and Steel: Imports
Thursday 14th June 2018

Asked by: Gill Furniss (Labour - Sheffield, Brightside and Hillsborough)

Question to the Department for International Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what assessment he has made of the effect on the UK steel industry of the trend in the amount of steel imported to the UK from non-EU sources since the beginning of 2018; and if he will make a statement.

Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)

The pattern of UK steel imports since 2018 varies significantly product by product.

In the first quarter of 2018, the volume of UK steel imports from non-EU countries was 658,000 tonnes. The volume of UK steel imports from non-EU countries in the first quarter of 2017 was 680,000 tonnes.

This was a 3.2 percent decrease.


Written Question
Iron and Steel: Dumping
Thursday 14th June 2018

Asked by: Gill Furniss (Labour - Sheffield, Brightside and Hillsborough)

Question to the Department for International Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what steps he is taking to implement measures to prevent steel dumping.

Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)

Trade remedies are currently under EU competence while we remain a Member State. It is for industry to demonstrate prima facie evidence of dumping that is causing material injury to EU producers, to the European Commission. We encourage industry to present such evidence to the Commission. Where evidence is sufficient to justify an investigation, the Commission will do so and present any proposals for imposing duties to Member States.

The UK is committed to a rules based international trade system and is in the process of establishing the Trade Remedies Authority to ensure that UK businesses continue to be protected from unfair and injurious trade practices once we leave the EU.


Written Question
EU Trade
Monday 4th June 2018

Asked by: Gill Furniss (Labour - Sheffield, Brightside and Hillsborough)

Question to the Department for International Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, for what reasons the Government voted against the proposed Modernisation of Trade Defence Instruments in the EU Council on 16 April 2018.

Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)

The Government voted against the EU Modernisation of Trade Defence Instruments due to the proposed restrictions to the Lesser Duty Rule. The Lesser Duty Rule provides producers with robust and proportionate protections they need against unfair trade from dumped and subsidised imports, but without imposing punitive measures that could harm downstream users or consumers.

Our view is that the Lesser Duty Rule helps to balance the interests of all and that limiting it will mean increased costs, with no evidence of benefits.


Written Question
Iron and Steel: USA
Friday 25th May 2018

Asked by: Gill Furniss (Labour - Sheffield, Brightside and Hillsborough)

Question to the Department for International Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what representations he is making to (a) the EU and (b) his counterparts in EU member states on the UK's preferred options for when the exemption from US steel tariffs ends on 1 June 2018; and if he will make a statement.

Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)

I have been in regular contact with EU Trade Commissioner Malmström and my EU counterparts on this issue, most recently at the Trade Foreign Affairs Council on 22 May. We are working closely with the US and our EU partners to secure a permanent EU exemption to these tariffs. The UK continues to raise at the highest levels with the US Administration our concerns about the potentially damaging impact of tariffs on our steel and aluminium industries.


Written Question
Arms Trade: Saudi Arabia
Monday 16th April 2018

Asked by: Gill Furniss (Labour - Sheffield, Brightside and Hillsborough)

Question to the Department for International Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what proportion of the ML4 rated arms licenses issued for export to Saudi Arabia was utilised in the period (a) 1 March 2013 to 28 February 2015 and (b) and 1 March 2015 to 30 June 2017.

Answered by Graham Stuart - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)

Our records show the following:

Period a) 20 Licences were issued, 12 Licences were fully utilised; 3 licences were partially utilised and 5 licences were not utilised;

Period b) 28 Licences were issued, 11 Licences were fully utilised; 7 licences were partially utilised and 10 licences were not utilised.

Licensing usage records rely on data provided directly by HMRC. The Department for International Trade is not responsible for the data and cannot verify its accuracy


Written Question
Import Duties: USA
Tuesday 27th March 2018

Asked by: Gill Furniss (Labour - Sheffield, Brightside and Hillsborough)

Question to the Department for International Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what representations he made to the US administration on the process for UK manufacturers securing an exemption from steel tariffs in the time period after the announcement of the US section 232 investigation and up until that administration's announcement of such tariffs.

Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)

I refer the Hon. Member to the answer I gave to the Hon. Member for Brent North on 27 March 2018, UIN: 133574.

The US has granted a temporary exemption to the UK as part of the EU until 1 May. The EU will continue to make representations to the US on extending any exemption, and the UK is working with UK businesses to continue to understand the impacts that this may have.


Written Question
Iron and Steel: USA
Tuesday 20th March 2018

Asked by: Gill Furniss (Labour - Sheffield, Brightside and Hillsborough)

Question to the Department for International Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what estimate his Department has made of the volume of steel that will be re-directed to the UK which would have otherwise gone to the US as a result of the recent announcement on steel tariffs by the US administration.

Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)

We are working closely with the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy and the UK steel and aluminium industries to assess the potential direct and indirect impacts of these measures.

The President of the United States of America announced there would be a mechanism for U.S. parties to apply for exclusion of specific products based on demand that is unmet by domestic production or on specific national security considerations. Details of this process are yet to be announced.

We are working closely with UK industry to help support them with this process via their US customers.


Written Question
Iron and Steel: USA
Tuesday 20th March 2018

Asked by: Gill Furniss (Labour - Sheffield, Brightside and Hillsborough)

Question to the Department for International Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, if he will make an assessment of whether a UK steel company can individually request an exemption for its product from the steel tariffs imposed by the US administration under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act; and if he will make a statement.

Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)

We are working closely with the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy and the UK steel and aluminium industries to assess the potential direct and indirect impacts of these measures.

The President of the United States of America announced there would be a mechanism for U.S. parties to apply for exclusion of specific products based on demand that is unmet by domestic production or on specific national security considerations. Details of this process are yet to be announced.

We are working closely with UK industry to help support them with this process via their US customers.