Asked by: Mark Hendrick (Labour (Co-op) - Preston)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, if she will make a statement on the Government’s ongoing position on the time limited waiver on covid-19 vaccine manufacture in the global south.
Answered by Mike Freer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
I shall answer on the assumption that the Hon. Member for Preston is referring to the World Trade Organisation's (WTOs) Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) waiver, proposed by South Africa and India. However, this proposal is not time limited and in scope goes beyond both COVID-19 vaccines and the global south.
As such, I refer the Hon. Member for Preston to the answer given by my Hon. Friend the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State, the Minister for International Trade, to the Hon. Member for Sefton Central on 23 November, UIN: 77440. I also note the continually increasing number of COVID-19 vaccines manufactured per month. Our challenge now is delivering vaccines and getting jabs administered.
Asked by: Mark Hendrick (Labour (Co-op) - Preston)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what recent assessment she has made of trends in the level of UK exports to the EU.
Answered by Mike Freer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
Latest official statistics for October 2021 show that UK goods exports to the EU are now 10% above average levels for 2020, although still below 2019 levels.
UK trade in services with the EU show little growth this year, as COVID continues to impact on the movement of people. Services exports to the EU remain below 2020 and 2019 levels.
On 1st October DIT launched the Export Support Service, which gives businesses across the UK one place to get answers to practical questions about exporting to Europe by using the digital service on GOV.UK or by phoning the helpline.
Asked by: Mark Hendrick (Labour (Co-op) - Preston)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what steps her Department is taking to include provisions relating to climate change, green technology and the protection of the environment in the UK’s trade policy.
Answered by Mike Freer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The United Kingdom is a world leader on climate change and environment, which are top priorities in our trade programme. We have facilitated significant multilateral progress on issues such as deforestation and the phasing out of coal at COP26, and will continue to put trade and climate change at the top of the agenda in multilateral forums, including the WTO.
In our Free Trade Agreements, we will protect our right to regulate to meet net zero and seek to co-operate on a range of environmental issues including promoting green-tech. We have already agreed such provisions with Australia and New Zealand.
Asked by: Mark Hendrick (Labour (Co-op) - Preston)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what steps her Department is taking to tackle disruptions in UK supply chains.
Answered by Mike Freer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
As the global economy has rebounded from this pandemic, we have seen pressures placed on supply chains across sectors and countries. HM Government has taken quick and decisive action to ease these pressures where immediate interventions have been required.
All parts of HM Government work together to tackle disruptions and the Department for International Trade seeks to strengthen critical international supply chains, improving the United Kingdom’s security and economic resilience through international trade.
Asked by: Mark Hendrick (Labour (Co-op) - Preston)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what recent discussions she has had with her (a) South African and (b) Indian counterpart on the Government’s position on the time limited waiver on covid-19 vaccine manufacture in the global south.
Answered by Mike Freer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
I shall answer on the assumption that the Hon. Member for Preston is referring to the proposed World Trade Organisation (WTO)’s Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) waiver.
Unfortunately, due to the disappointing but correct decision to postpone MC12, my Rt. Hon. Friend the Secretary of State for International Trade did not meet with counterparts as hoped. UK officials have met with representatives from India and South Africa on a number of occasions to discuss the issue. These meetings are part of our continued efforts to engage proactively on our collective aim of reaching a pragmatic outcome on the TRIPS debate.
Asked by: Mark Hendrick (Labour (Co-op) - Preston)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, if he will immediately suspend the export of (a) tear gas, (b) rubber bullets and (c) riot shields to the United States, following the murder of George Floyd.
Answered by Ranil Jayawardena
My Rt Hon. Friend the Secretary of State for International Trade and I have been sorry to see the violence that has taken place in the United States of America.
All export licence applications are assessed on a case-by-case basis against the Consolidated EU and National Arms Export Licensing Criteria (‘Consolidated Criteria’). In reaching a decision, the Department for International Trade receives advice from a number of Departments including the Ministry of Defence and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. Together, we draw on all available information, including reports from NGOs and our diplomatic missions. The Consolidated Criteria provides a thorough risk assessment framework and requires us to think hard about the impact of exporting any equipment. These are not decisions my Department takes lightly, and we will not license the export of items where to do so would be inconsistent with the Consolidated Criteria.
Any licence granted by my Rt Hon. Friend the Secretary of State for International Trade may be subject to conditions. In addition, in line with the Consolidated Criteria, my Department is able to review licences – and suspend or revoke as necessary – when circumstances require. There are currently eight extant licences that may be linked to law enforcement agencies. Six are Open Individual Export Licences (‘OIELs’), which have potential end users that include law enforcement agencies. Two are Standard Individual Export Licences (‘SIELs’), which have numerous potential end users that include law enforcement agencies. There are also 15 Open General Licences (‘OGLs’) for which businesses can register that cover the export of anti-riot gear.
Much information is in the public domain already. We publish information on all export licences issued, refused and revoked on a quarterly and annual basis as official statistics on GOV.UK – at: gov.uk/government/collections/strategic-export-controls-licensing-data – and whilst data on actual exports is not required to be centrally held, the licences issued until the end of December 2019 are available.