Forty-Fifth Report - Progress with trade negotiations

Select Committee

Public Accounts Committee HC 993 18 March 2022

Report Status Government responded

Conclusions & Recommendations 29 items (8 recs)

Source View on Parliament website

Government Response (AI assessment · 20 of 29 classified)

Accepted 8

Acknowledged 8

Deferred 1

Not Addressed 2

Rejected 1

Recommendations

1 results

4 Not Addressed

The farming industry has concerns about the effect of significant competition from imported Australian meat,...

Recommendation

The farming industry has concerns about the effect of significant competition from imported Australian meat, and there is a lack of clarity on the potential environmental impacts from increased trade with Australia. The FTA with Australia signed in December 2021 … Read more The farming industry has concerns about the effect of significant competition from imported Australian meat, and there is a lack of clarity on the potential environmental impacts from increased trade with Australia. The FTA with Australia signed in December 2021 removed tariffs and quotas on many agricultural products imported from Australia. There are four safeguards to protect the agriculture sector, including a 15-year safeguard to protect UK beef and lamb from a rapid rise in Australian imports following implementation of the deal. The Department says that the safeguard is adequate given the length of the transition period and because the increase in imports is expected to be small relative to the size of the UK market. However, the National Farmers Union remains pessimistic about the impact of competition from Australia on farmers who may lose out in exchange for gains in other areas of the economy. Defra expects imports from Australia to largely displace existing imports, for example from the EU, and says that it is doing a lot to help the agriculture sector export, such as setting up a food and drink export council. The Department and also Defra tell us that they have modelled the environmental impact of the deal with Australia, and do not expect there to be Progress with trade negotiations 7 changes in greenhouse gas emissions of UK production, or that transporting goods from Australia will have a big impact on carbon emissions when compared to other parts of the production process. However, the departments acknowledge that more needs to be known about carbon emissions and the interaction between transport and trade. Recommendation: Defra should work with the Department for International Trade to monitor the impact of free trade agreements in its policy areas. In particular, it should: i) monitor imports closely to make an ongoing assessment of the impact of the Australia FTA on beef and sheep farmers, and set out what support could be provided to those farm Show less

Government Response Summary

Response refers to elective and cancer treatment waiting times, which is unrelated to the recommendation regarding monitoring the impact of free trade agreements.

HM Treasury

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Conclusions (10) Observations and findings — click to expand

1 Conclusion

On the basis of a report by the Comptroller and Auditor General, we took evidence from the Department for International Trade (the Department), the Cabinet Office and the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra).2 We were also joined for this evidence session by Mark Garnier MP and Anthony …

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7 Conclusion

In addition to the programme of negotiations, the Department also needs to implement and review existing agreements.14 The Department told us that it has set up governance committees to provide an overview of how FTAs are being implemented in practice and to discuss issues arising. However, these implementation processes are …

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8 Conclusion

The Department aims to secure agreements with countries representing 80% of total UK trade by the end of 2022. This aim is stated in the Department’s 2020–21 annual report and accounts and is a government manifesto commitment. The National Audit Office (NAO) report stated that 64% of total UK trade …

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9 Conclusion

We noted that the Department is quite a long way from reaching the 80% target and asked the Department when it expects to meet it. The Department told us that it thinks it will reach the 80% target but that the timescale will be challenging.19 The NAO found that joining …

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17 Conclusion

We asked the Department how it would benchmark its trade promotion activities against those of countries such as Singapore and Hong Kong. The Department said that it 34 Q 30; C&AG’s report, para 4.19; Department for International Trade, Impact assessment of the Free Trade Agreement between the United Kingdom of …

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18 Conclusion

We received written evidence from Logistics UK, asking for specific provisions to be included in future FTAs to make it easier for UK businesses to trade with the rest of the world. These include, for example, commitments to clear goods at the border within a pre-determined timeframe and cooperation between …

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19 Conclusion Not Addressed

The FTA with Australia signed on 17 December 2021 removed almost all tariffs and quotas on agricultural products from Australia over 15 years. Tariff-free beef quotas, for example, would increase from a current 4,669 tonnes to 35,000 tonnes immediately after the agreement comes into force, a 7.5-fold increase in the …

Government Response Summary

Response discusses DIT's commitment to monitoring and evaluation findings, publishing a biennial FTA monitoring report, and working with DEFRA to support agricultural exports. It does not address the specific concerns raised in the conclusion.

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25 Conclusion

Which? also highlighted the importance of reflecting consumer interests more generally and suggested that a consumer chapter should be included in each trade agreement.69 The Department confirmed that the UK-New Zealand trade agreement will include a “first ever” chapter on consumer protection and it said that it wants to test …

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26 Conclusion

The Department said that it is its job to explain, engage and communicate and that when communicating information about trade agreements, it tries to set out what this might mean for consumers.72 We asked the Department why its forecast of the value of UK exports arising from the agreement with …

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29 Conclusion

We also note that the House of Lords International Agreement Committee reported that the statutory framework under CRAG is insufficient to facilitate robust and effective scrutiny of international agreements. As stated in the NAO report, the International Agreement Committee has called for Parliament to strengthen its formal role earlier in …

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