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Select committee: International Agreements Committee

Amendment to UK-US Mutual Defence Agreement

Open Opened 30 Sep 2024

International Agreements Committee Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗

Where it stands

The inquiry is open, opened 30 September 2024.

The committee has published 1 report, most recently 2nd Report - Scrutiny of International Agreements: Amendment to the UK-US Agreement for Cooperation on the Uses of Atomic Energy for Mutual Defence on 17 October 2024.

The government's response

Published 10 January 2025.

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

The Government welcomes the Committee's report and, rather than a report every ten years on the Mutual Defense Agreement (MDA), commits to "a more regular update" through its annual Defence Nuclear Enterprise update.

  • The Government reports that the amendments to the MDA entered into force on 14 November 2024, following completion of the US Congressional review period and the requirements under the Constitutional Reform and Governance Act 2010 (CRaG).
  • It "notes" the Committee's request for a commitment to report every ten years, and says there was "no clear programmatic or operational reason" for the particular renewal period, which has "at times" varied from five to ten years.
  • It states that it is "considering more widely" how to ensure proper parliamentary scrutiny of the work of the Defence Nuclear Enterprise.
  • It says any future MDA amendments that fall within the scope of CRaG "would be subject to parliamentary scrutiny in the usual way".

Read the government's response ↗ Report an error

Reports

All reports

Evidence

  • 1 oral evidence sessionLatest 8 October 2024
  • 3 witnesses
All evidence

Recent activity

Reports

1 report

Oral evidence sessions

1 session

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Date Session and witnesses Source
8 Oct 2024
Oral evidence session
Commodore Paul Carter · Ministry of Defence, Joe Pitt-Rashid · Ministry of Defence, Roland Knott · Ministry of Defence 		View ↗

Who gave evidence

3 witnesses

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WitnessOrganisationSessions
Commodore Paul Carter · Deputy Director AUKUS Programme Ministry of Defence 1
Joe Pitt-Rashid · Director of Strategy and Policy for the Defence Nuclear Organisation Ministry of Defence 1
Roland Knott · Deputy Director Warhead Capability Ministry of Defence 1

Correspondence

1 letter

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PublishedDirectionLetter
23 Jan 2025 To committee Letter from the Chair to the Rt Hon John Healey MP, Secretary of State for Defence, re Scrutiny of International Agreements: Amendment to the UK-US Agreement for Cooperation on the Uses of Atomic Energy for Mutual Defence, 8 January 2025