Asked by: Richard Thomson (Scottish National Party - Gordon)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what information her Department holds on whether any UK-manufactured components for the Hermes 450 drone have been exported to Israel (a) in the last five years and (b) since 7 October 2023.
Answered by Alan Mak - Shadow Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology
It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.
Asked by: Richard Thomson (Scottish National Party - Gordon)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what information her Department holds on the (a) types of fuel and (b) amount of jet fuel that has been exported to Israel for military purposes since 7 October 2023.
Answered by Alan Mak - Shadow Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology
DBT publishes data on export licences for controlled goods on a quarterly basis, including data on end user destination, value, type (e.g. military, other) and a summary of the items covered by these licences.
However, DBT has no record of any current export licences for Israel for aircraft fuels formulated for military purposes.
There are no UK exports of any jet fuel to Israel from October 2023 to March 2024 (the latest data available) according to HMRC’s Overseas Trade in Goods Statistics.
Asked by: Richard Thomson (Scottish National Party - Gordon)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether (a) Jet-A and (b) JP-8 fuel for Hermes 450 drones has been exported to Israel in the last 12 months.
Answered by Alan Mak - Shadow Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology
Data on UK exports is published by HMRC. For the latest 12-month period where data is available (until March 2024) there were no exports of any kerosene-type jet fuel to Israel.
Asked by: Richard Thomson (Scottish National Party - Gordon)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether she has made a recent assessment of the potential impact of the investor-state dispute settlement within CPTPP on the water utilities sector.
Answered by Greg Hands
The Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership investment chapter includes investment protections that are backed by a modern and transparent investor-state dispute settlement mechanism. These provisions play an important role in protecting UK investors abroad and levelling the playing field. The Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership also protects states’ right to regulate proportionately, fairly and in the public interest, including in relation to the UK’s water industry.
The UK already has investment agreements containing investment protections and Investor-State Dispute Settlement provisions with over 90 trading partners and there has never been a successful Investor-State Dispute Settlement provisions claim brought against the UK.
Asked by: Richard Thomson (Scottish National Party - Gordon)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, pursuant to the Answer of 7 November 2023 to Question 218 on Audit: Reform, what estimate she has made of the potential cost to the public purse of her Department's work on legislative proposals on reform of audit and corporate governance since the publication of the Restoring trust in audit and corporate governance white paper, CP382.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Shadow Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities
The Department does not have an estimate of the cost of the Department’s work on reform of audit and corporate governance. Information on internal costs is not broken down in this way.
Asked by: Richard Thomson (Scottish National Party - Gordon)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what recent assessment she has made of the implications for her policies of the letter from civil society organisations to the Prime Minister entitled, excluding investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) as a condition of UK accession to the CPTPP, published 23 October 2023; and if she will take steps to negotiate a side-letter with the CPTPP that removes access to ISDS provisions for UK investors.
Answered by Greg Hands
The Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership is a comprehensive agreement that provides investors with investor protection provisions that seek to guarantee the treatment they can expect to receive when accessing and operating in the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership markets.
The agreement contains a modern, transparent investor-state dispute settlement mechanism for investors to seek independent legal redress should they not receive this treatment.
These provisions play an important role in protecting UK investors abroad and levelling the playing field. At the same time, the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership protects states’ right to regulate proportionately, fairly and in the public interest.
Asked by: Richard Thomson (Scottish National Party - Gordon)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what is her Department's planned timescale on introducing the draft Audit Reform Bill.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Shadow Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities
The Government has not set out a timescale for introducing legislation relating to audit reform. The Government is committed to legislating when Parliamentary time allows.
Asked by: Richard Thomson (Scottish National Party - Gordon)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether her Department has held discussions with the devolved Administrations on trade negotiations with the US; and whether she plans to include the devolved Administrations in future negotiations.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston
As set out in my letter to Devolved Administrations on 15 June, the UK and U.S. are expanding the work we do together across the full spectrum of our economic, technological, commercial and trade relations through the Atlantic Declaration. Discussions with the U.S. on next steps under this first-of-its-kind agreement are ongoing.
The UK Government and the Devolved Administrations have recently adopted a wider and deeper approach to close collaboration on trade policy. As part of this, the Department for Business and Trade continues to engage regularly with the Devolved Administrations on the Atlantic Declaration and wider U.S. trade policy.
Asked by: Richard Thomson (Scottish National Party - Gordon)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what proportion of officials in her Department on temporary contracts are women.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston
In the upcoming Public Sector Employment Survey at 30 September 2023 for the Department for Business and Trade there are no staff on temporary contracts.
Asked by: Richard Thomson (Scottish National Party - Gordon)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what proportion of officials in her Department who are graded as senior civil servant two (SCS2) and on full-time equivalent contracts are women.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston
Of the Department for Business and Trade staff who are graded as Senior Civil Servant 2, 31% are women on full time contracts.