Recommendation 28

The opportunity for Parliament to view negotiating objectives at the outset would aid its scrutiny of trade agreements.78 There is a precedent in Parliament to share privileged information between government and select committees. For example, this Committee routinely sees privileged information and the Intelligence and Security Committee sees documents on a confidential basis. The Department said that it is not refusing to share the text of the agreement and is increasing the time that it allows for scrutiny, but it understands that it needs to improve.79 71 Letter from Permanent Secretary, DIT, to the Chair of the Public Accounts, 4 February 2022 72 Qq 14, 61 73 Qq 67–69, 79 74 C&AG’s Report, para 4.10 75 C&AG’s Report, para 19 76 Qq 70–73 77 Qq 71 78 Q 73 79 Q 72 18 Progress with trade negotiations