Twelfth Report - Scrutiny of free trade agreements

The government's response

What the committee recommended 5

1. 1
   The International Trade Committee’s textual scrutiny of the agreements with Japan, Australia and New Zealand... Conclusion · paragraph 16
2. 2
   We take seriously our responsibility to examine on behalf of the House the expenditure, administration... Conclusion · paragraph 17
3. 3
   When inquiring into a prospective free trade agreement, we intend to adopt the International Trade... Conclusion · paragraph 18
4. 4
   We would not normally expect to conduct detailed textual scrutiny of signed agreements, although we... Conclusion · paragraph 19
5. 5
   We are mindful of the International Trade Committee’s dissatisfaction with both the statutory framework underpinning... Conclusion · paragraph 20

Sources

• Twelfth Report - Scrutiny of free trade agreements ↗The committee's report, HC 1719, parliament.uk

Recommendations and conclusions 5

1. 1
   The International Trade Committee’s textual scrutiny of the agreements with Japan, Australia and New Zealand... Conclusion · paragraph 16 Conclusion (the committee's words)

   The International Trade Committee’s textual scrutiny of the agreements with Japan, Australia and New Zealand set a high bar, but it also came at a cost: the work was so resource-heavy that the Committee was unable to undertake any meaningful examination of the other functions of the Department for International Trade. The targeted, thematic examinations of the prospective agreements with the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) were conducted before the final texts of the agreements had been negotiated. The confinement of each inquiry to a few key topics may have lacked the rigour of close textual scrutiny, but it was less resource intensive; and we believe that the reports which resulted meet the House’s needs in informing debate on broader policy issues.
2. 2
   We take seriously our responsibility to examine on behalf of the House the expenditure, administration... Conclusion · paragraph 17 Conclusion (the committee's words)

   We take seriously our responsibility to examine on behalf of the House the expenditure, administration and policy of the Department for Business and Trade. However, we operate within finite resources and recognise that attempting exhaustively to scrutinise every aspect of the Department’s work is impractical. To best serve the House, we must choose our work with care and with regard to political interest. We intend, therefore, to adopt a case-by-case approach to scrutiny of prospective free trade agreements in future.
3. 3
   When inquiring into a prospective free trade agreement, we intend to adopt the International Trade... Conclusion · paragraph 18 Conclusion (the committee's words)

   When inquiring into a prospective free trade agreement, we intend to adopt the International Trade Committee’s targeted, thematic model, to examine the Government’s negotiating objectives. In most cases, we would expect to publish a report setting out our assessment of the implications of a proposed agreement, and to seek a debate on those negotiating objectives. That approach would offer a chance for the Committee—or indeed the House—to influence the content of free trade agreements. We believe that would be more productive than exhaustive textual scrutiny of an agreement that has been finalised and signed, and when no scope for influence or manoeuvre remains.
4. 4
   We would not normally expect to conduct detailed textual scrutiny of signed agreements, although we... Conclusion · paragraph 19 Conclusion (the committee's words)

   We would not normally expect to conduct detailed textual scrutiny of signed agreements, although we would welcome written submissions drawing attention to possible flaws or inherent risks in agreed texts. Our focus would instead be on whether any concerns which we might have raised in a report on negotiating objectives had been addressed. If they had not, and if we considered those concerns to be so severe that the agreement ought not to be ratified, we would make that recommendation in a further report to the House and would ask the Government to make time for a debate on a substantive motion during the CRaG period. There may be other circumstances in which we would press for a debate on an agreement during the CRaG period. In most such cases, we would expect a debate to take place on a neutral motion.
5. 5
   We are mindful of the International Trade Committee’s dissatisfaction with both the statutory framework underpinning... Conclusion · paragraph 20 Conclusion (the committee's words)

   We are mindful of the International Trade Committee’s dissatisfaction with both the statutory framework underpinning Parliamentary scrutiny of free trade agreements and some of the complementary non-statutory commitments. However, we wish to test the arrangements which we have set out above before offering any substantive commentary on wider reform.