Question

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what recent representations he has received from private companies on the exemption of health services from the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership.

I am not aware of this department having received any representations of this nature.

The UK has protected the NHS and public services in all trade agreements and will continue to do so in this deal. This is non-negotiable.

As Commissioner Malmström and US Trade Representative Froman have said “No EU or US trade agreement requires governments to privatise any service, or prevents governments from expanding the range of services they supply to the public. Moreover, these agreements do not prevent governments from providing public services previously supplied by private service suppliers; contracting a public service to private providers does not mean that it becomes irreversibly part of the commercial sector.”