Asked by: Nicholas Brown (Independent - Newcastle upon Tyne East)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, pursuant to the Answer of 6 July 2015 to Question 5063, whether the text of the EU Canada Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement will be subject to approval by Parliament once it has been laid.
Answered by Anna Soubry
The Government currently expects the EU-Canada Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) to be a “mixed agreement” i.e. between Canada, the EU and the EU’s Member States. This would mean that the complete draft text of the agreement would be laid before Parliament for at least 21 sitting days and during this time MPs and Lords may debate the treaty and vote on the proposed ratification.
CETA is an ambitious trade agreement. However, the Government has concluded that “overall a free trade agreement along the lines of EU-Canada would bring less advantageous terms for UK trade than those we currently enjoy, with particular issues for UK services losing access to the Single Market" (Paragraph 3.65, Alternatives to membership: possible models for the United Kingdom outside the European Union; March 2016).
Asked by: Nicholas Brown (Independent - Newcastle upon Tyne East)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what representations he has made to the negotiating bodies on ensuring the Government retains its ability to make public policy decisions in the public interest under investor state dispute settlement mechanisms.
Answered by Anna Soubry
The Government believes that investment protection treaties should not undermine the ability of states to make public policy decisions in the public interest. The European Union (EU) has competence to negotiate investment treaties on behalf of the EU and its Member States. The European Commission’s policy is that investment protection provisions should ensure a high level of protection for investors while fully preserving the right of governments to regulate and pursue legitimate public policy objectives, such as the protection of health, safety, or the environment, and has sought negotiating mandates from the Council of Ministers on this basis. The UK fully supports this approach, which has been adopted in recently negotiated Free Trade Agreements, such as the EU-Canada Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement.
Asked by: Nicholas Brown (Independent - Newcastle upon Tyne East)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what assessment she has made of the effect of the removal of eligibility for Renewables Obligations Certificates on businesses seeking to develop onshore wind farms.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave my hon. Friend the Member for Birmingham, Northfield to Question 22287 on Wind Power, on 18 January 2016:
Asked by: Nicholas Brown (Independent - Newcastle upon Tyne East)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what steps the Government is taking to improve the process of switching suppliers for customers with prepayment meters.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is working with Ofgem on a programme of work to radically overhaul the change of supplier process for gas and electricity customers and deliver reliable next day switching.
The Government’s commitment to ensuring every home in Britain is offered a smart meter by the end of 2020 will enable quicker and easier switching for all customers, including those with pre-payment meters. A number of suppliers are already offering or trialling smart pre-payment services to consumers.