Simon Hoare

Article 15(2) of the Northern Ireland Protocol establishes that the Joint Consultative Working Group shall be composed of representatives of the United Kingdom and the European Union. The Government has committed to including representatives of the Northern Ireland Executive as part of the UK delegation to meetings. The JCWG briefly convened for a very short period on 29 January to adopt the Rules of Procedure. This was not a full meeting so was attended by limited delegations of only three officials from each side.

The Rules of Procedure adopted by that Working Group were those included as an Annex to the EU’s Council Decision 2020/1599 adopted on 23 October 2020; and no amendments were made.

The Working Group will continue to meet at dates decided by the co-chairs.

Article 15(2) of the Northern Ireland Protocol establishes that the Joint Consultative Working Group shall be composed of representatives of the United Kingdom and the European Union. The Government has committed to including representatives of the Northern Ireland Executive as part of the UK delegation to meetings. The JCWG briefly convened for a very short period on 29 January to adopt the Rules of Procedure. This was not a full meeting so was attended by limited delegations of only three officials from each side.

The Rules of Procedure adopted by that Working Group were those included as an Annex to the EU’s Council Decision 2020/1599 adopted on 23 October 2020; and no amendments were made.

The Working Group will continue to meet at dates decided by the co-chairs.

As the Command Paper underlines, the UK Government and the Northern Ireland Department for Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs will engage in a rapid exercise to identify the authorised traders able to draw on the grace period from official certification for products of animal origin, composite products, food and feed of non-animal origin and plants and plant products. The Government will not discriminate against smaller suppliers or between different companies in implementing these practical measures. This list will be in place by the end of the year.

The Alternative Arrangements Technical Advisory Group met on the 20th June, 17th July and 12th September 2019.

The Alternative Arrangements Business and Trade Union Advisory Group met on 26th June, 10th July and 29th August 2019.

The new Protocol on Ireland / Northern Ireland in the Withdrawal Agreement which was agreed with the EU on the 17th October 2019 and ratified by the UK on the 23rd January 2020 ensures the whole of the UK will be a single customs territory outside the EU Customs Union. It replaces the backstop provisions of the previous Withdrawal Agreement.

The Alternative Arrangements Technical Advisory Group met on the 20th June, 17th July and 12th September 2019.

The Alternative Arrangements Business and Trade Union Advisory Group met on 26th June, 10th July and 29th August 2019.

The new Protocol on Ireland / Northern Ireland in the Withdrawal Agreement which was agreed with the EU on the 17th October 2019 and ratified by the UK on the 23rd January 2020 ensures the whole of the UK will be a single customs territory outside the EU Customs Union. It replaces the backstop provisions of the previous Withdrawal Agreement.

The CJEU Judgement of 6 October 2020 relates to a previous power, Section 94 Directions under the Telecommunications Act 1984, that has since been replaced by provisions in the Investigatory Powers Act 2016 (IPA). The IPA sets strict requirements of necessity and proportionality for the use of these powers, and provides significant safeguards and independent oversight. All warrants permitting the use of these powers are subject to the ‘double lock’ safeguard requiring that an independent Judicial Commissioner approve the Secretary of State’s decision before the warrant is issued. This ‘double lock’ ensures that the UK has one of the strongest oversight regimes anywhere in the world.

The Judgment will now be referred back to the Investigatory Powers Tribunal for interpretation for domestic law purposes.

The UK is committed to maintaining high data protection standards for personal data, and we will continue to be a global leader in ensuring personal data is properly protected.

The consultation on clarifying the specific grant and ring-fenced status of the Dedicated Schools Grant concluded on 15 November. The Department is currently considering the responses received, and the Department’s response to the consultation will be published in due course.

Decisions on the construction of Border Control Posts are a matter for the Northern Ireland Executive.

Defra officials continue to work closely with the Northern Ireland Executive to comply with international obligations and give effect to the Protocol in a pragmatic and proportionate way, minimising impacts on the everyday lives of people in Northern Ireland, in line with its fundamental purpose.

The agri-food processes required under the Protocol continue to be discharged using the interim facilities that have been in place since 1 January.

The Government has decided that the vaccine delivery plan should prioritise preventing mortality, by directly protecting those most at risk of death and hospitalisation. With this direction, the Joint Committee for Vaccines and Immunisation (JVCI) has been tasked with putting forward advice on prioritisation. This will carefully consider the arguments for prioritising sectors within the overall goal around health outcomes. We will ensure Defra sectors, including food production workers, are fully considered in this process.

The revised National Action Plan for the Sustainable use of Pesticides (NAP) will be published for public consultation later this year. In line with the 25 Year Environment Plan, the NAP will put Integrated Pest Management at the heart of the Government’s approach to promote alternative techniques to protect crops, including physical, biological and other non-chemical methods. Through the NAP we aim to minimise pesticide use and reduce risks to human health and the environment while ensuring that farmers can protect their crops.

The intention of the pesticides provision in the UK Internal Market Bill is that each part of the UK will remain responsible for deciding which pesticide products can be authorised for sale and use in their respective territories, as they are now. After the end of the Transition Period, each administration in Great Britain will also have responsibility for approval of active substances, a pre-requirement for authorisation of products. This approach will ensure that each administration retains the ability to decide what pesticides can be used in their territory, and to take account of locally specific factors such as environmental conditions or farming practices should that be necessary.

While setting of maximum residue levels will also be devolved within Great Britain after the Transition Period, the intention of the Bill is that the mutual recognition principle will apply to rules on maximum residue levels in the same way it applies to rules on goods generally, to ensure effective functioning of the internal market. This will avoid the potential for new internal trade barriers on sale of food which has been produced lawfully should there be any divergence in maximum residue level decisions.

In practice, all administrations delegate their pesticide regulatory functions to the Health and Safety Executive to undertake on their behalf. This helps to ensure a consistent approach and we are committed to working closely together with the devolved administrations to continue to take joint decisions wherever possible.

The Board is chaired by my Rt Hon. Friend the Secretary of State for International Trade and President of the Board. She is its only standing member. The list of advisers to the Board of Trade is available on GOV.UK.

Regarding Trade Envoys, I refer my Honourable Friend to the answer given to Sir Christopher Chope by my Rt Hon. Friend the Member for Chelsea and Fulham (Greg Hands) on 9^th November 2020, UIN: 111412.

The Board is chaired by the Secretary of State for International Trade and President of the Board - its only standing member. The Board is also served by a Deputy President (currently Marcus Fysh MP) supported by a selection of advisers invited to offer views on trade and investment. Advisers represent businesses from across the UK and are crucial links into UK business sharing their specific expertise, sectoral and local knowledge.

a) 2018: Met four times: 29 March; 17 May; 6 September; and 15 November.

b) 2019: Met twice: 28 February and 16 May.

c) 2020: No meetings thus far.

The government is committed to upgrading our infrastructure, and officials are looking at a range of options to level up the country and support growth and productivity in every region.

We will set out more details on our plans to increase investment in infrastructure later this year.

The government is committed to upgrading our infrastructure, and officials are looking at a range of options to level up the country and support growth and productivity in every region.

We will set out more details on our plans to increase investment in infrastructure later this year.

The Department will set out its position when it responds to the Transport Select Committee report on pavement parking once a new committee has been formed.

Northern Ireland, Great Britain and Treasury government officials are working together on how payments from the scheme should be treated in Northern Ireland. Once that situation is clarified, then treatment of the payments in Great Britain can be decided upon.

The Housing Benefit, Pension Credit and Universal Credit schemes in Northern Ireland are matters for the Northern Ireland Assembly.

With regard to Great Britain, currently, payments made from the scheme would be treated as capital sums, with those sums taken into account in the calculation of all of the benefits mentioned above.

Northern Ireland, Great Britain and Treasury officials are working together on how payments from the scheme should be treated in Northern Ireland.

The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) is the independent expert advisory committee which advises the Government on vaccination. The JCVI reviewed data on COVID-19 mortality from OpenSAFELY, QCOVID and Public Health England (PHE). This included the PHE report on mortality in people with learning disabilities.
After consideration of the evidence, the JCVI advised that people with severe and profound learning disabilities and Down’s syndrome should be offered vaccination in the first phase of the programme.

In July 2020, the National Health Service launched the ‘Your COVID Recovery’ service to support the recovery of people who have been in hospital or suffered at home with the virus. This is a two-phase endeavour with phase one being available as an open, publicly available site containing general information on all aspects of recovering from COVID-19, including physical, emotional and psychological wellbeing. Over 100,000 people have used the online service since it was launched in July.

On 7 October the NHS announced £10 million is be invested this year to help kick start and designate ‘long COVID-19’ clinics that will be available to all patients in England. Alongside this, new guidance has been commissioned by NHS England from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) on the clinical case definition of ‘long COVID-19’. This will include patients who have had COVID-19 who may not have had a hospital admission or a previous positive test. It will be followed by evidence-based NICE clinical guidelines that will outline the support that ‘long COVID-19’ patients should receive, enabling NHS doctors, therapists and staff to provide a clear and personalised treatment plan. This will include education materials for general practitioners and other health professionals to help them refer and signpost patients to the right support.

At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, NHS England and NHS Improvement advised in-person consultations should only take place when absolutely necessary. Providers have been rolling out remote consultations using video, telephone, email and text message services as a priority, including for those with neurological conditions such as multiple sclerosis.

In-person rehabilitation services should now be resumed. The Association of British Neurologists published guidance on recommencing neurology services in the recovery phase of the pandemic, assessing which services and patients require urgent prioritisation. NHS England and NHS Improvement have also provided prioritisation advice for restarting community services, which aims to meet the needs of people with neurological conditions safely and effectively. This guidance can be found at the following links:

cdn.ymaws.com/www.theabn.org/resource/collection/65C334C7-30FA-45DB-93AA-74B3A3A20293/20.05.20_ABN_Restarting_Neurology_Services_post_COVID_v1.pdf

www.england.nhs.uk/coronavirus/publication/covid-19-prioritisation-within-community-health-services-with-annex_19-march-2020/

The Government set out its position on Mr Shawcross's report on compensation for UK victims of Qadhafi-sponsored IRA terrorism in a Written Ministerial Statement made on 23 March. The Written Ministerial Statement notes the clear practical difficulties in obtaining compensation from Libya for Qadhafi-sponsored IRA terrorism, and that the conflict, political instability and economic instability that have prevailed in Libya for most of the last ten years since the fall of the Qadhafi regime present particular challenges. Nonetheless, the UK has consistently pressed the Libyan authorities to address the Libyan State's historic responsibility for the Qadhafi regime's support for the IRA, and will continue to do so.

Mr Shawcross, supported by a senior adviser and acting in an independent capacity, produced an internal scoping report on the subject of compensation for UK victims of Qadhafi-sponsored IRA terrorism. Mr Shawcross and his senior adviser were appointed within Government guidelines for Ministerial appointments and specialist contractors. The FCDO provided secretariat and logistical support.

Mr Shawcross was commissioned to write an internal scoping report on the subject of compensation for UK victims of Qadhafi-sponsored IRA terrorism. Ministers across Government are carefully considering Mr Shawcross's report in order to do justice to the important and sensitive issues it covers, giving due respect to victims.

Mr Shawcross was commissioned to write an internal scoping report on the subject of compensation for UK victims of Qadhafi-sponsored IRA terrorism. Ministers across Government are carefully considering Mr Shawcross's report in order to do justice to the important and sensitive issues it covers, giving due respect to victims.

Mr Shawcross was commissioned in 2019 to produce an internal scoping report on the issue of compensation for UK victims of Qadhafi-sponsored IRA terrorism.

My department is aware of the situation regarding Northern Ireland Historic Abuse Payments and how they are treated within the benefit system.

As part of the New Decade, New Approach agreement, the UK Government agreed to provide financial support of £2 billion to the Northern Ireland Executive. £30 million of resource funding was provided in the current financial year. Further details, including the levels of funding in future financial years and the resource and capital split, will be provided in due course.

As part of the New Decade, New Approach agreement, the UK Government agreed to provide financial support of £2 billion to the Northern Ireland Executive. £30 million of resource funding was provided in the current financial year. Further details, including the levels of funding in future financial years and the resource and capital split, will be provided in due course.

The Home Office publishes UK data on renunciations of British Nationality in the ‘Immigration Statistics Quarterly Release’.

Data on grants and refusals for renunciations of British Nationality are published in table Cit_05 of the Citizenship summary tables, year ending December 2020 (publishing.service.gov.uk) dataset. The latest data relates to year ending December 2020.

The Home Office does not hold data on renunciations of British Nationality by location or country of residence, and so a breakdown of the data is not available for separate nations of the UK.

The Devolution White Paper to be published this Autumn will set out our transformative plans for economic recovery and renewal, and for levelling up opportunity, prosperity, and well-being across the country. These plans will include restructuring our local institutions to deliver these outcomes, establishing more mayors and more unitary councils the populations of which will depend on local circumstances but as a rule of thumb are expected to be substantially in excess of 300k-400k. Under current legislation it is open to the Secretary of State, subject to consultation and Parliamentary approval, to implement if he thinks fit any unitary proposal submitted by a council in response to an invitation which any council may request. In considering a unitary proposal the Secretary of State expects to have regard to the extent it is likely to support the delivery of the outcomes sought in the White Paper.

The Devolution White Paper to be published this Autumn will set out our transformative plans for economic recovery and renewal, and for levelling up opportunity, prosperity, and well-being across the country. These plans will include restructuring our local institutions to deliver these outcomes, establishing more mayors and more unitary councils the populations of which will depend on local circumstances but as a rule of thumb are expected to be substantially in excess of 300k-400k. Under current legislation it is open to the Secretary of State, subject to consultation and Parliamentary approval, to implement if he thinks fit any unitary proposal submitted by a council in response to an invitation which any council may request. In considering a unitary proposal the Secretary of State expects to have regard to the extent it is likely to support the delivery of the outcomes sought in the White Paper.

The Devolution White Paper to be published this Autumn will set out our transformative plans for economic recovery and renewal, and for levelling up opportunity, prosperity, and well-being across the country. These plans will include restructuring our local institutions to deliver these outcomes, establishing more mayors and more unitary councils the populations of which will depend on local circumstances but as a rule of thumb are expected to be substantially in excess of 300k-400k. Under current legislation it is open to the Secretary of State, subject to consultation and Parliamentary approval, to implement if he thinks fit any unitary proposal submitted by a council in response to an invitation which any council may request. In considering a unitary proposal the Secretary of State expects to have regard to the extent it is likely to support the delivery of the outcomes sought in the White Paper.

The Devolution White Paper to be published this Autumn will set out our transformative plans for economic recovery and renewal, and for levelling up opportunity, prosperity, and well-being across the country. These plans will include restructuring our local institutions to deliver these outcomes, establishing more mayors and more unitary councils the populations of which will depend on local circumstances but as a rule of thumb are expected to be substantially in excess of 300k-400k. Under current legislation it is open to the Secretary of State, subject to consultation and Parliamentary approval, to implement if he thinks fit any unitary proposal submitted by a council in response to an invitation which any council may request. In considering a unitary proposal the Secretary of State expects to have regard to the extent it is likely to support the delivery of the outcomes sought in the White Paper.

The Devolution White Paper will set out our transformative plans for economic recovery and renewal, and for levelling up opportunity, prosperity, and well-being across the country, including what this means for the geography of local institutions and local service providers.

The Secretary of State for Northern Ireland and officials from the Northern Ireland Office regularly meet representatives from civic society, including victims groups, community representatives, religious leaders and individuals from across academia and the peace and reconciliation sector. Engagement on the subject of legacy is ongoing.

The Government is committed to publishing details of ministers’ meetings with external organisations on a quarterly basis. Publications for the Northern Ireland Office can be found on Gov.UK.

In the Spring, the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland and officials met a number of victims groups and other key stakeholders to discuss legacy issues. Following these discussions, it was clear that the full and sensitive engagement required on this difficult subject would be difficult to deliver effectively while the challenges created by the COVID-19 pandemic were ongoing.

Notwithstanding this, a degree of engagement has and continues to take place where possible. The Secretary of State remains committed to engaging with all parts of the community in Northern Ireland, including victims groups, in order to make progress on legacy issues.

The Secretary of State for Northern Ireland and officials from the Northern Ireland Office regularly meet various representatives from civic society, including community representatives, religious leaders and individuals from across academia and the peace and reconciliation sector. Engagement on the specific issue of legacy is ongoing, where possible within the constraints imposed by current circumstances.

The Government is committed to publishing details of ministers’ meetings with external organisations on a quarterly basis. Publications for the Northern Ireland Office can be found on Gov.UK.

The Government has been clear that it will bring forward legislation to address the legacy of the Troubles in a way that focuses on reconciliation, delivers for victims, and ends the cycle of investigations, which has failed victims and veterans alike.

We have also made clear our commitment to working with all parts of the community in Northern Ireland as part of this process. While the challenging circumstances presented by the COVID-19 pandemic have had an impact on our ability to engage effectively and sensitively, we remain determined to make progress on legacy issues as quickly as possible.

The Fiscal Council is an important new part of the governance of Northern Ireland. It has the potential to make a huge contribution to fiscal sustainability in Northern Ireland over the long-term and strengthen Northern Ireland’s fiscal performance. The Northern Ireland Department of Finance is leading on developing the Terms of Reference for the Fiscal Council. The Northern Ireland Finance Minister has recently updated the Assembly that his department is now actively refocusing on this issue.

In his engagement with Executive ministers, the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland has consistently emphasised the need to press ahead with an Independent Fiscal Council as a priority in his regular communications with members of the Executive and at both previous meetings of the Joint Board.

The UK Government will continue to work with the Northern Ireland Executive to agree terms of reference that reflect our joint ambitions for this new institution and get it up and running as soon as possible.