Forty-Fifth Report - Progress with trade negotiations
Select Committee
Public Accounts Committee
HC 993
18 March 2022
Recommendations
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Conclusions (8) Observations and findings — click to expand
11
Conclusion
Acknowledged
We asked the Department about the value of state-to-UK bilateral agreements, in terms of contributing to the 80% target. The Department could not tell us and thought this would be hard to calculate. The Department said that it had not set a target for increasing market access at a state …
Government Response Summary
The department states that the ending of bans on UK beef and lamb exports to the US are estimated to be worth £66 million and £37 million of export opportunities respectively and will use trade data to understand export trends over time.
12
Conclusion
Acknowledged
The Department set out four measures in its Outcome Delivery Plan (ODP) for 2021–22 to measure its progress on its programme of trade negotiations. One of these measures, described in the previous section, is the percentage of UK trade with partners with whom the UK has a trade agreement. The …
Government Response Summary
DIT’s Outcome Delivery Plan (ODP) includes metrics for trade negotiations, and DIT will report on progress against each of the ODPs and continue to keep its ODP metrics under review.
13
Conclusion
Acknowledged
The Department has published an impact or scoping assessment for each new FTA it is pursuing to help businesses and the public understand the potential economic benefits of the agreement and to support Parliamentary scrutiny.29 For example, the impact assessment for the UK-Australia free trade agreement (FTA) projects that the …
Government Response Summary
The department publishes detailed impact assessments and will publish monitoring reports which will provide DIT’s analytical evidence base to inform Parliament, the public and other interested stakeholders on progress and actual benefits.
15
Conclusion
Acknowledged
We asked the Department how it planned to support businesses, particularly small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs), to take advantage of the opportunities in trade agreements.36 The Department’s 2020 survey of UK registered businesses found that just 28% of surveyed businesses who exported to non-EU countries knew whether the goods they …
Government Response Summary
The department will write within 12 months on this recommendation, setting out how it is helping businesses take advantage of trade agreements and market openings, and mentioning the Export Support Service and other initiatives.
20
Conclusion
Acknowledged
We asked Defra for its assessment of the effect of the Australian FTA on British agriculture. Defra said that it was confident that the phasing in of the liberalisation and the safeguards provide a period of adjustment for the UK agriculture sector, particularly as it goes through major domestic challenges …
Government Response Summary
DIT is committed to using monitoring and evaluation (M&E) findings to ensure benefits are maximised, publishing a biennial FTA monitoring report, and working with DEFRA to support agricultural, and food and drink exports.
21
Conclusion
Acknowledged
We asked why the National Farmers Union is so pessimistic about the trade agreement. The Department admitted that there were risks and downsides to the deal and that a body which represents the interests of farmers would be concerned about the downside, although the Department considered the downside to be …
Government Response Summary
DIT is committed to using monitoring and evaluation (M&E) findings to ensure that the benefits for businesses, workers and consumers are maximised and will publish a biennial FTA monitoring report. DIT will also work with DEFRA to support agricultural, and food and drink exports.
22
Conclusion
Acknowledged
Defra told us that it has looked very carefully into the question of carbon emissions.57 Its analysis so far suggests that carbon emissions resulting from shipping goods from Australia to the UK are not the most significant factor when looking at the carbon footprint of different sorts of production. The …
Government Response Summary
The government agrees and will continue to ensure a high level of environmental protection in new trade agreements, working with DEFRA to monitor free trade agreements and publishing a comprehensive ex-post evaluation of the UK-Australia agreement within 5 years.
24
Conclusion
Acknowledged
We asked the Department whether it thought that the general public knew about trade. The Department told us that based on its survey, the public was “highly supportive of the trade agenda”.65 However, the NAO noted that the Department has identified public concerns about the actual or feared impact of …
Government Response Summary
The government agrees and says it publishes materials before negotiations, after they conclude, and is highly consultative, publishing explanatory information on the impact of agreements. It constantly reviews its economic analysis methodologies and seeks views of the public through tools including the Public Attitudes to Trade Tracker.