Question to the Department for International Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, pursuant to the oral contribution of the Minister of State for Trade Policy during proceedings in Committee on the Trade Bill of 30 January, at column 183, to which remarks of the hon. Member for Sefton Central he was referring on the agreement on government procurement.

The hon. Member for Sefton Central raised, at column 180, the subject of positive and negative lists that set out market access for services in the General Agreement on Trade Services (GATS) and the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA). The remarks made acted to clarify that the EU’s service commitments in the Government Procurement Agreement (GPA), which determine access to public procurements of public services, is provided as a positive list.