Contributions
1,122 recent contributions in Hansard
HANSARDTrade (Australia and New Zealand) Bill (Second sitting)Q What response have you had from the Department for International Trade? Is it rushing to respond to help, or just pointing you to a website—or are there some promises that the…12 Oct 2022HANSARDTrade (Australia and New Zealand) Bill (Second sitting)Why do you think the financial support has not been provided? Is the Treasury just not interested, or does it prefer to concentrate on other areas of support?12 Oct 2022HANSARDTrade (Australia and New Zealand) Bill (Second sitting)Q 35 Thank you, Ms Jones, for joining us to give evidence. There was a sense that the Government were in a rush to get the Australia free trade agreement, and to a lesser extent…12 Oct 2022HANSARDTrade (Australia and New Zealand) Bill (Second sitting)Q I just want to push you on the extra help in particular for small and medium-sized businesses to exploit the opportunities that you were telling us are there in the Australia…12 Oct 2022HANSARDTrade (Australia and New Zealand) Bill (Second sitting)Q The Trade and Agriculture Commission has come up in this conversation a number of times. I hope to explore its role, and possible future role in procurement, in line-by-line…12 Oct 2022HANSARDTrade (Australia and New Zealand) Bill (First sitting)Q Ms Monks, thank you very much for being willing to come in this morning to give evidence to the Committee. Will you just say how you think the deals could have been improved?…12 Oct 2022HANSARDTrade (Australia and New Zealand) Bill (First sitting)The entire deals—or are they so wonderful that they could not be improved in any way? Lucy Monks: Absolutely not. For a long time, Australia and New Zealand have been areas where…12 Oct 2022HANSARDTrade (Australia and New Zealand) Bill (First sitting)Q Thank you for that opening answer, Ms Monks. On procurement, the Government have sold us the idea that there will £10 billion in new procurement opportunities from the…12 Oct 2022HANSARDTrade (Australia and New Zealand) Bill (First sitting)Q I was going to ask whether anyone from the Department for International Trade, straight after the Australian or New Zealand FTA was signed, said, “Okay, we need to sit down with…12 Oct 2022HANSARDTrade (Australia and New Zealand) Bill (First sitting)Or has a unit in the Department for International Trade been set up to support you? Lucy Monks: We are having those conversations. I think there is more focus on it, because…12 Oct 2022HANSARDTrade (Australia and New Zealand) Bill (First sitting)Q I am sure that the three of you have had as much difficulty as I have had in keeping up with the ministerial changes in the Department for International Trade in recent months.…12 Oct 2022HANSARDTrade (Australia and New Zealand) Bill (First sitting)Q Can you flesh that out? It sounds like you think the regime is not very good at the moment. You said that the export support service was just pointing people to a website, and…12 Oct 2022HANSARDTrade (Australia and New Zealand) Bill (First sitting)Q Thank you for getting me back on the straight and narrow, Mr Twigg. In terms of mitigating the risk, one of our later witnesses, Professor Sanchez-Graells, suggested in evidence…12 Oct 2022HANSARDTrade (Australia and New Zealand) Bill (First sitting)I wonder if Mr Bain or Mr Burwell have a view. William Bain: In terms of the question about the export capacity of these two trade agreements, we would see the case for a refresh…12 Oct 2022HANSARDTrade (Australia and New Zealand) Bill (First sitting)Q I wonder if I can push you, Mr Burwell. The CBI represents some of the biggest businesses in Britain that export to Australia and New Zealand. You will be aware of the evidence…12 Oct 2022HANSARDTrade (Australia and New Zealand) Bill (First sitting)Q Just to push you a little further, if I may, presumably you are enthusiasts for the WTO government procurement agreement. He appeared to be saying—we will have the chance to…12 Oct 2022HANSARDTrade (Australia and New Zealand) Bill (First sitting)Q Just to pursue that area of questioning, we hope to table amendments that will improve the scrutiny of what comes out of the Bill. Talk us through what you understand about the…12 Oct 2022HANSARDTrade (Australia and New Zealand) Bill (First sitting)Q You have helpfully touched on CPTPP, which is obviously going to supersede the Australia and New Zealand FTAs. Do you have any concerns that the CPTPP might take away things in…12 Oct 2022HANSARDTrade (Australia and New Zealand) Bill (First sitting)Q Okay. Let me pick up another area. Do you see the Australia and New Zealand FTAs as offering lots of scope for small businesses, or are they to win Government contracts, or are…12 Oct 2022HANSARDTributes to Her Late Majesty the QueenIt is a privilege to have the opportunity to rise in this debate to pay tribute to Her Majesty the Queen on my own behalf but also, particularly importantly, on behalf of my…10 Sept 2022