Asked by: Keith Vaz (Labour - Leicester East)
Question to the Department for Exiting the European Union :
To ask the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, if his Department will estimate the number of UK citizens residing in EU countries who will return to the UK after 29 March in (a) 2019 and (b) 2020, in the event of the UK leaving the EU (i) with a Withdrawal Agreement and (ii) without a deal.
Answered by Robin Walker
The Withdrawal Agreement includes protections for the rights of citizens including UK nationals currently living in the EU, which will allow them to continue living their lives broadly as they do now in the countries where they currently live.
The Government has been clear that we do not want or expect a no deal scenario. However, we will continue to do the responsible thing and prepare for all eventualities. This includes the potential impact of a no deal scenario on UK nationals currently resident in the EU.
The Office for National Statistics calculates there are approximately 780,000 UK nationals who currently live in the EU, excluding Ireland. Some of them could decide to return to the UK depending on a range of factors including action by EU member states and personal circumstances.
On 19 December, the European Commission reconfirmed their commitment to putting citizens’ rights first and called on Member States to take a generous approach to the rights of UK nationals in the EU. The majority of Member States, including France, Spain and the Netherlands, have set out their no deal plans and provided reassurances that the rights of UK nationals will be protected. The Government hopes that other Member States will set out the detail of their plans to protect the rights of UK nationals, in line with our assurances to EU citizens living in the UK, so there should be no need for them to leave.
Asked by: Keith Vaz (Labour - Leicester East)
Question to the Department for Exiting the European Union :
To ask the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, when the jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice over the rights of EU citizens will end.
Answered by Robin Walker
At the end of the implementation period, the jurisdiction of the CJEU will end. The Withdrawal Agreement ensures that the UK’s membership of the EU, and the CJEU’s jurisdiction in the UK, is wound down in a sensible and orderly way. In keeping with this, and in the interests of ensuring citizens’ rights are interpreted consistently, the UK has agreed that a very narrow group of issues will be able to be referred to the CJEU for an interpretation, having due regard to whether relevant case law already exists.
For questions that relate to the settled status of EU citizens, UK courts will be able to refer questions of interpretation to the CJEU eight years from exit day, because settled status applications will be made from exit day. They will be able to refer questions that relate to other aspects of the citizens’ rights part of the agreement for eight years from the end of the implementation period, as those other aspects will only apply from the end of the implementation period.
In practical terms, this is a very limited role: our courts currently only refer two or three of this kind of case to the CJEU every year.
Asked by: Keith Vaz (Labour - Leicester East)
Question to the Department for Exiting the European Union :
To ask the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that all EU citizens are reassured of their right to remain in the UK for two years after March 2019 if the Government's proposals are agreed to.
Answered by Steve Baker - Minister of State (Northern Ireland Office)
The UK’s policy paper “Safeguarding the position of EU citizens in the UK and UK nationals in the EU” makes clear that EU citizens who have lived continuously and lawfully in the UK for at least five years automatically have a permanent right to reside under EU law. The paper also makes clear that EU citizens who have lived in the UK less than five years before the specified date will be allowed to stay until they have five years’ residence, and will then be eligible to apply for settled status.
Asked by: Keith Vaz (Labour - Leicester East)
Question to the Department for Exiting the European Union :
To ask the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, how many officials of his Department are (a) secondees from other Departments, (b) new entrants to the Civil Service and (c) on short-term contracts.
Answered by Robin Walker
All departments are equipping themselves with the resources they need to get the best deal for the UK. The department has sourced a large proportion of experienced staff from across Whitehall and a number of secondees from the private sector however we are not in a position to give a final total for particular groups of staff as recruitment is ongoing and we will not be giving a running commentary. The Department for Exiting the European Union now has over 300 staff, and is growing fast.