Select committee: Foreign Affairs Committee
Recommendation 1
Third Report - Sovereignty for sale: the FCDO’s role in protecting strategic British assets
Published 14 Jul 2021
Paragraph 21
Addressed to Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office
Foreign Affairs Committee The FCDO’s role in blocking foreign asset stripping in the UK All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Recommendation (the committee's words)
The takeover of Newport Wafer Fab by Nexperia represents the sale of one of the UK’s prized assets to a strategic competitor, at a time when global chip shortages means that the products manufactured by NWF are of vital national importance. Failure to conduct a detailed assessment of this transaction under the NSI Act would indicate that the Government continues to hold an unrealistically optimistic understanding of the Chinese government’s intentions and is prioritising short-term commercial interests over the long-term security of our country. The case of NWF may yet serve to demonstrate that, despite the stated intentions of the NSI Bill, the Government has not yet learned the lessons of previous years.
From: Foreign Affairs Committee, Third Report - Sovereignty for sale: the FCDO’s role in protecting strategic British assets (HC 197), paragraph 21, 14 July 2021
Government response
The government responded to the whole report on 25 October 2021 (deadline 14 September 2021).
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The Government "notes" the Committee's recommendations and agrees that the FCDO has a key role in supporting the Investment Security Unit, while not setting out a position on Newport Wafer Fab pending a National Security Adviser review.
- On the call-in of the Newport Wafer Fab acquisition, the Government says the National Security Adviser is "presently conducting a review" and that it "would be inappropriate to comment further" before it concludes.
- It agrees that the FCDO holds the key role in supporting the ISU, and says a dedicated FCDO team has been established and it is "identifying and securing the short and long-term capabilities required".
- On seconding 10 per cent of ISU staff from the FCDO, it does "not consider it necessary to mandate" a specific percentage, and says it will keep staffing and structures "under close review".
- On parliamentary scrutiny, it believes it is "right" that the BEIS Select Committee oversees the ISU, and says a Memorandum of Understanding on information access "will be published in due course".