Question to the Department for Exiting the European Union :

To ask the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, what progress the Government is making in securing the maintenance of mutual recognition of professional qualifications after the UK leaves the EU and the expiry of the implementation period.

As the Prime Minister said in her Mansion House speech, the UK is committed to securing a continued system for the mutual recognition of professional qualifications as part of a bold and ambitious future economic partnership with the EU.

The UK has agreed with the EU the continued recognition of qualifications for residents and frontier workers, where recognition decisions were received or where recognition decisions were ongoing before the end of the implementation period. This will cover qualifications recognised under the MRPQ Directive, lawyers practising under host title and approved statutory auditors.

The March European Council agreed guidelines for negotiations on our future relationship, referencing the desire of the EU27 to include ambitious provisions on the recognition of qualifications. This is a useful starting point for the next stage of negotiations on the future economic partnership.