Asked by: Liam Byrne (Labour - Birmingham, Hodge Hill)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, if she will set out (a) the free trade agreements her Department is currently actively negotiating and (b) the number of FTE officials engaged in this work.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
This Government is currently in negotiations with eight partners – India, the Gulf Cooperation Council, Canada, Mexico, Israel, Switzerland, Greenland and the Republic of Korea. We also have plans to start negotiations with Turkey and the Maldives.
With the Machine of Government, Trade Negotiation Group increased its responsibility to cover wider trade policy and FTA implementation. In October 2023, DBT had 722 staff in the Trade Policy, Implementation and Negotiations Group.
Asked by: Jonathan Reynolds (Labour (Co-op) - Stalybridge and Hyde)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, how many civil servants in her Department are currently working on negotiations for (a) free trade agreements with (i) India, (ii) Canada, (iii) Mexico, (iv) Israel, (v) the Gulf Cooperation Council and (b) memoranda of understanding with US states.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Department for Business and Trade operates a flexible resourcing model to maximise efficiency across negotiations. The Department is currently delivering seven trade negotiations, alongside work on the US. The number of staff working on these will change depending on the stage and scale of the deal. Staff work across multiple negotiations so it is not possible to quantify the number for each workstream.
With the Machine of Government, Trade Negotiation Group increased its responsibility to cover wider trade policy and FTA implementation. In September 2023, DBT had 724 staff in the newly named Trade Policy, Implementation and Negotiations Group.
Asked by: Alec Shelbrooke (Conservative - Elmet and Rothwell)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she is taking with the Secretary of State for Business and Trade to increase levels of meat and poultry exports.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
To support delivery of the Government’s Export Strategy the Prime Minister recently announced a food and drink export package to boost export capability and deliver on growing demand for our high-quality UK produce across the world. This included a further expansion of our global agrifood and drink counsellor network who negotiate removal of trade barriers in growing global markets. Within the last year we have successfully secured access for lamb to the USA and apples to India. The export package also included a £2m boost to promotional activity such as trade shows and missions that help drive demand for UK products alongside the GREAT food and drink campaign.
To further support food producers export, we have held a range of National and Regional food summits with dedicated SME workshops to highlight export opportunities and build capability.
Supporting this increased investment in exports we have an ambitious programme of negotiations for free trade agreements which is delivering results. On 31 May the UK’s first new free trade agreements with Australia and New Zealand came into force, opening markets for UK producers across all products. On 31 March, the Government substantially concluded negotiations on the UK’s accession to the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), a free trade agreement (FTA) including 11 members: Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, and Vietnam. This trade deal will see new export opportunities for food producers including exporters of meat and poultry.
We work closely with a wide range of industry representative partners to identify and prioritise barrier removal, and to seize opportunities to streamline the export process for animals and animal products. Alongside opening new market opportunities, we are also increasing resilience and mitigating risks to existing trade. This is particularly the case with poultry where we are working with trade partners to agree regionalisation agreements to allow trade from unaffected regions to continue in the context of Avian Influenza outbreaks.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, how much the then Department for International Trade spent (a) negotiating and (b) implementing free trade agreements in financial year 2022-23.
Answered by Nusrat Ghani - Minister of State (Minister for Europe)
The then Department for International Trade spent £46.2m in 2022-23 on the negotiation and implementation of Free Trade Agreements.
This enabled the Government to ratify new trade deals with Australia and New Zealand, which could lead to a £10.4 billion and £1.7 billion long run increase in bilateral trade respectively, conclude negotiations with the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), and progress negotiations with India, the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), Canada, Mexico, Israel, and Switzerland.
Asked by: Baroness Coussins (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask His Majesty's Government what progress they have made in negotiations towards a Free Trade Agreement between the UK and Mexico.
Answered by Lord Johnson of Lainston - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
Negotiations between the UK and Mexico have been positive so far, with a clear mutual intention to pursue a Free Trade Agreement which can complement and build on our new trade arrangements as members of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership. We have held three rounds of negotiations, with the latest taking place in May.
We look forward to concluding negotiations at the earliest opportunity. However, we want to make sure any new trade deal adds value to the UK economy and meets our trade policy objectives. We are prepared to take the time necessary to deliver that.
Asked by: Baroness Coussins (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they have set a date for beginning the dialogue on human rights between the UK and Mexico which both Governments agreed should be conducted in parallel with negotiations towards a Free Trade Agreement.
Answered by Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park
We have not yet set a date for a formal bilateral human rights dialogue with Mexico, however we continue to engage regularly on human rights and related issues with Mexican authorities at ministerial and official level. Most recently, on 19 June, the Minister for the Americas, David Rutley MP, spoke with the Mexican Undersecretary for Human Rights and Multilateral Affairs, Eduardo Jaramillo, and reiterated the UK's desire to formalise these conversations through the inaugural human rights dialogue.
Asked by: Priti Patel (Conservative - Witham)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she is taking to support food producers from (a) Essex and (b) the UK to increase exports of produce.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We are delivering our commitment to boost UK exports, as part of the Government’s ‘Made in the UK, Sold to the World’ export strategy, a 12-point plan to help UK businesses hit £1 trillion in exports. We want people at home and abroad to be lining up to buy British.
We have an ambitious programme of negotiations for free trade agreements (FTAs) which is delivering results. On 31 May the UK’s first new FTAs with Australia and New Zealand came into force, opening up markets for UK producers across all products. On 31 March the Government substantially concluded negotiations on the UK’s accession to the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, an FTA including 11 members: Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam. This trade deal will see new export opportunities for food producers including for exporters of dairy products, including cheese and butter, having greater access to lower tariffs in Canada, Japan, and Mexico, and exporters of chocolate will benefit from zero tariffs on exports to Mexico and Malaysia.
The Prime Minister recently announced a food and drink export package to boost export capability and deliver on growing demand for our high-quality UK produce across the world. This includes a further expansion of our global agrifood and drink counsellor network who negotiate removal of trade barriers in growing global markets. The package also includes investments of £2 million in global trade shows and missions, promotion through the £1.6 million GREAT food and drink campaign, and bespoke support for seafood (£1 million) and dairy exports (£1 million).
To further support food producers export, we have held a range of national and regional food summits with dedicated SME workshops to highlight export opportunities and how to access support.
Asked by: Martyn Day (Scottish National Party - Linlithgow and East Falkirk)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether exemptions from the Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) mechanism were sought by Government during accession negotiations to the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) with all member states.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership’s (CPTPP’s) investment chapter includes investor protections that are backed by a modern and transparent investor state dispute settlement (ISDS) mechanism. These commitments guarantee the treatment investors will receive when accessing and operating in CPTPP markets and provides an independent form of legal redress should investors not receive such treatment.
The UK already has investment agreements containing ISDS provisions with seven of the eleven CPTPP countries: Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam. Having ISDS provisions in a treaty is not new for the UK with the majority of CPTPP countries.
In light of the investment relationship the UK has with Australia and New Zealand, we have agreed to disapply the ISDS provisions in CPTPP between our countries.
Asked by: Dan Carden (Labour - Liverpool, Walton)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, if she will take steps with her Mexican counterpart to include measures on the mutual recognition of higher education qualifications in a free trade agreement with that country.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
We are looking to enhance our existing trading relationship with Mexico through a modern free trade agreement which secures additional benefits for the whole of the UK. We do not pursue the mutual recognition of higher education qualifications in our trade agreements. However, we will be seeking commitments to facilitate the mutual recognition of professional qualifications such as for architecture and audit. As well as other measures which reduce trade barriers and provide certainty for the UK’s world-leading higher education service suppliers.
Asked by: Lord Allen of Kensington (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask His Majesty's Government what progress they have made in negotiating a new trade agreement with Mexico; and when they expect an agreement to be reached.
Answered by Lord Johnson of Lainston - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
We have an ambitious programme of Free Trade Agreement (FTA) negotiations to help our nation become a truly Global Britain. We have completed two rounds of negotiations with Mexico, and three rounds of negotiations with the Gulf Cooperation Council. The fifth round of negotiations with Canada concluded on 24 March.
We look forward to concluding negotiations at the earliest opportunity, but it is the substance of trade deals that is important, not the timing.