Select committee: Foreign Affairs Committee

Sixth report - Sovereignty for sale: follow-up to the acquisition of Newport Wafer Fab

HC 1245 Published 5 April 2022

Foreign Affairs Committee The FCDO’s role in blocking foreign asset stripping in the UK Report on parliament.uk ↗

At a glance2 conclusions · Government response published 28 April 2022 (deadline 5 June 2022)

The government's response

Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.

The Government "takes careful note" of the Committee's report and conclusions, responds to each, and says no decisions have been made on the acquisition of Newport Wafer Fab by Nexperia.

On the National Security Adviser's role, the Government says the Investment Security Unit advises the Secretary of State and that "Where appropriate, this can include advice from the National Security Adviser".
It says the Prime Minister asked the National Security Adviser to review the case because he is the Prime Minister's "lead official on matters of national security".
On Newport Wafer Fab, it says it "continues to consider" the Nexperia acquisition and that "no decisions have been made". It does not comment on details of individual transactions or national security assessments.
It states that, where the statutory tests are met, the Secretary of State may call in a qualifying acquisition he is aware of up to six months after commencement of the Act on 4 January 2022.

Read the government's response ↗ Report an error

What the committee recommended 2

1
In the absence of any evidence to the contrary, we have no choice but to... Conclusion · paragraph 18
2
The Government has explicitly recognised the criticality of semiconductors to the UK’s national security and... Conclusion · paragraph 19

Sources

Sixth report - Sovereignty for sale: follow-up to the acquisition of Newport Wafer Fab ↗The committee's report, HC 1245, parliament.uk
Seventh Special Report - Government Response to the Committee’s Sixth Report: Sovereignty for sale: follow-up to the acquisition of Newport Wafer Fab ↗The government's response, 28 April 2022, parliament.uk

Recommendations and conclusions 2

1
In the absence of any evidence to the contrary, we have no choice but to... Conclusion · paragraph 18 · addressed to Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office Conclusion (the committee's words)
In the absence of any evidence to the contrary, we have no choice but to assume that the NSA review that the Prime Minister said he had initiated has not, in fact, been started. In its response to this report, we ask that the Government set out the circumstances in which the National Security Adviser is engaged in reviews under the National Security and Investment or Enterprise Acts; the reasons why the Prime Minister asked the NSA to undertake a review of Newport Wafer Fab; why the NSA did not undertake such a review; and for an update on the nature of the continued monitoring by the Investment Security Unit
2
The Government has explicitly recognised the criticality of semiconductors to the UK’s national security and... Conclusion · paragraph 19 · addressed to Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office Conclusion (the committee's words)
The Government has explicitly recognised the criticality of semiconductors to the UK’s national security and wider global interests; likewise, the Chinese Government’s ambitions to achieve self-sufficiency in semiconductors and the means by which it aims to achieve this are well documented. These factors, compounded by the current global semiconductor shortage, mean that the Government’s apparent failure to take this matter seriously is likely to damage the UK’s national interest.