Draft Construction Products (Amendment etc.) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019

Roberta Blackman-Woods Excerpts

Monday 4th February 2019 General Committees

[Dr Roberta Blackman-Woods (City of Durham) (Lab)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Bailey. I thank the Minister for outlining the purpose of the statutory instrument and for giving me some interesting reading over the weekend when, thankfully, there was a lot of snow in Durham and I was snowed in, otherwise I am not entirely sure I would have got to the end of it. I gently say to him that the regulations are very complicated. It would be helpful if he assisted the Committee in its deliberations as much as possible, which means ensuring that information is available not only to himself, but to all members of the Committee.

I am pleased that the Minister made clear that we are having to consider the SI only because the Government have refused to take off the table a no-deal scenario for leaving the EU. It would probably make much more sense to all of us in this room if the Government had, instead of having to go through this lengthy process with all the costs involved—instead of going through SI after SI to try to put in place arrangements to allow for a no-deal scenario—just agreed to take no deal off the table.

If the Government are irresponsible enough to get us to a no-deal situation, I guess we have to recognise the importance of the SI. We must pay attention to the safety of construction products, which is always important, but is especially so post Grenfell. Given that, I can see why the SI is needed.

Paragraphs 2.2 to 2.9 of the explanatory memorandum clearly set out how the Construction Products Regulations 2013, accreditation systems and notifiable bodies work under EU law. It is clear that the system must change immediately if no transition arrangements are in place for leaving the EU. The Opposition recognise that the regulations are needed and we will not press them to a vote, but I have some questions for the Minister.

Paragraph 2.14 of the explanatory memorandum states:

“Existing European harmonised standards will become UK ‘designated standards’”

and “will be identical”. How long can we expect them to be identical? Will the Minister set down a particular period before they can be reviewed or changed?

Secondly, the statutory instrument presents two routes to designate a standard. Will the designation be the same as currently? What dictates the route chosen? Is it that the Secretary of State mandates a UK standardisation body to develop a standard following appropriate consultation, or does the Secretary of State designate that a harmonised standard adopted by the EU standardisation body should be adopted? The instrument states that will happen on a case-by-case basis, but what does that mean in practice? What criteria are to be used?

Paragraph 2.17 makes it clear that existing notified bodies will become approved bodies, but new ones can also be created. Does the Minister intend to ask the Secretary of State to approve new bodies, and is the process outlined in paragraphs 40 and 41 in part 8 of schedule 1 the same one that is currently used to designate such bodies under EU law?

I understand from paragraph 2.19 of the explanatory memorandum that products that meet the EU construction products regulation will be able to be used in the UK. What is less clear, and I would appreciate the Minister saying something about this, is whether the EU, and indeed the rest of the world, will accept the new UK mark.

Paragraphs 2.20 and 2.21 of the explanatory memorandum could be read as quite alarming, and I would be grateful for reassurances from the Minister that providing a route to UK marks for products not fully covered by the CPR will be exactly the same as at present, and that that route will not lead to a lowering of the quality and safety of products entering the UK.

There are other areas of possible concern. For example, paragraph 19 in part 5 of schedule 1 gives the Secretary of State the power to withdraw the reference to the designated standard where it is no longer considered appropriate. We need more explanation of how and why that would happen, and critically an assurance that that provision would not be used to dilute standards, but only to improve them.

Also in part 5, paragraph 28 states:

“The Secretary of State may make regulations, in accordance with Article 60, to establish classes of performance…of…products.”

Again, we need reassurances that any changes to those classes, and how they are applied, will be about improving the quality of products and their safety, not diluting them once new classes are made.

Moving on to paragraphs 40 and 41 in part 8, can the Minister confirm that the process for designating approved bodies will be exactly the same process as used at present, and that the power to remove them under paragraph 50 will be the same as at present?

Lastly, can the Minister tell us what paragraphs 70 and 71 in part 12 mean? They are clearly about market surveillance. Again, we need to know whether the system of surveillance will change or remain exactly the same.

--- Later in debate ---

[Kit Malthouse]

The hon. Member for City of Durham asked a series of questions. I hope to answer them all; if I fail to, I am happy to write to her with some detail.

Although they are intended to be time limited, the hon. Lady is right that the regulations do not denote a time. That would be a matter for the Secretary of State, but fundamentally we will consult industry, as we have done in drafting the regulations, before we make any further changes.

On the hon. Lady’s question about harmonisation, as standards are introduced at EU level, our intention is, again, to consult business. As she will know, we are effectively going through a reform of the building regulations, and in particular the construction product process post Grenfell, and that process is necessarily very consultative with industry as we go. We are very keen to buy them in to a change of culture, both within the industry and regarding a new system of regulation around building safety and in particular around products. Frankly, that will be quite a large amount of work for the Department and the industry over the next few years, so it is vital that we stick together.

As for the EU accepting the UK mark, I do not believe that that matter has yet been concluded. It is obviously a matter for the EU; people would have to ask the EU about that. One would hope that, given that things will be identical—certainly initially—the EU would accept the UK mark, but that is obviously subject to the final agreement.

[Dr Blackman-Woods]

Can the Minister say something about the rest of the world, as well as the EU? What process do the Government have in place to ensure that the EU and other countries accept this mark?

[Kit Malthouse]

As I am sure the hon. Lady knows, the recognition of UK products around the world is subject to a number of agreements, some of which go via the EU and some of which do not, and are global, forming the regulatory regime that is constructed by other bodies.

We want to try to ensure through these changes to regulation that there is as much continuity—certainly initially—for the industry as possible, and that where there may be divergence or changes that are deemed to be in the best interests of the UK in the future, that is done on a very consultative basis with the industry, because although we may have views in the UK about how we want our building products to be manufactured and constructed, we obviously also have to bear in mind their saleability overseas, and where possible, we want to avoid manufacturers having to create two or more products for different sorts of markets.

Much of the attraction for somebody like me who voted to leave the EU is that we can play a much greater part in a global regulatory environment around particular product areas where we excel and where we will do well, because although there is a common regulatory environment within the EU, the hon. Lady will know that that is not true across the whole of the globe. We think that some of those growing markets in India, China and South America would benefit from having a global direction in terms of regulation, and we want to be able to play a part in that. For example, it is quite obvious that pharmaceuticals is moving to a global regulatory alignment, and that can be nothing if not good for a country such as ours, which leads in that sector.

The hon. Lady asked about trading standards being able to enforce this regime. On exit day, UK rules and standards will be the same as the EU’s. That means that the risk of products that do not comply with UK rules entering the UK will be no higher than it is now. The approach to enforcement is now, and will continue to be, intelligence-driven and risk-based.

The hon. Lady also asked a number of questions that were essentially about whether I am able to bind future Secretaries of State or Governments into an ever-upwards ratchet. Certainly, my own aspiration would be that any divergence, whether it is regulation of classes of performance or other matters to do with these products, should lead to an improvement in standards. However, as I say, I cannot speak for future Ministers, Secretaries of State or indeed Governments who might decide to do something other.

[Dr Blackman-Woods]

Does the Minister understand that that is the crux of the issue about this particular instrument? A number of consumers and citizens of this country are concerned because, when we leave the European Union, we do not want the quality and standards of our building products or any other products to be part of a race to the bottom. Therefore, I think that he needs to give the Committee at least a degree of assurance that at least this Government will seek to improve the standards of quality and safety, and will not weaken or dilute them.

[Kit Malthouse]

I am happy to give the hon. Lady exactly that assurance. As I said earlier, all this work is taking place against the backdrop of our overall work on building regulation and product standards, and indeed product testing, and the entire regime around these products. Our aspiration is to maintain or improve standards—hopefully, improve. Having said that, in the regulations before us we are keen to retain some flexibility, as I said in my speech, to cope with changes in technology and new developments, positive and negative. We now sadly know that, to our cost and in tragic circumstances, aluminium composite material cladding is not a product that should be allowed on the market. There are big questions to be asked about whether the building regulation regime and a product standard regime were functioning correctly.

Retaining flexibility to cope with new standards, technology and developments in the industry is important, not least because the UK is a world leader in some of these developments, and new products might emerge for which the EU, should we separate without a deal, does not have a regulatory regime that is immediately equivalent, and we might need to create one in real time. Who knows? There might be graphene-coated products that come forward for use in construction. We are certainly spending a lot of time and energy on modern methods of construction. The Government are supporting new forms of manufacturing homes, particularly offsite homes, but we need to retain a little flexibility.

Finally, the hon. Lady asked about market surveillance. As far as I can see, the current situation will not change, and our ability to take enforcement action is unchanged by the regulations.

The Government believe the regulations are needed to ensure that the construction products regulations continue to function if the UK leaves the EU without a deal or an implementation period. I hope the Committee has found the sitting informative and will join me in supporting the regulations.

Question put and agreed to.