Brexit sectoral analyses published by Committee

• See the 39 sector reports
• Inquiry: Department for Exiting the European Union Sectoral Analyses
• Exiting the European Union Committee

On December 6, the Committee agreed the following resolution:

That, in view of the statement that no impact assessments have been undertaken, the Committee considers that the Government's response to the resolution of the House of 1 November has complied with the terms of that resolution.

Following that resolution, further clarification was sought from the Secretary of State as to whether there was any specific material in the documents that had been provided that he would prefer the Committee not to publish on the grounds that it is commercially, market or negotiation-sensitive information.
 
During its meeting on 13 December, the Committee resolved:

That it should write to the Secretary of State to inform him that the Committee is minded to publish the reports arising from the sectoral analyses undertaken by the Government that were provided to the Committee on 27 November but with the Sector Views sections redacted.

The Secretary of State replied to the Committee Chair on 19 December confirming that:

'there is no specific material in the sections of the documents that the Committee has indicated it intends to publish that I would wish not to be made public on the grounds that it was commercially, market or negotiation sensitive'.

However, he drew the Committee's attention to a small number of corrections or revisions that should be made to the statistics in the reports.

The Committee agreed on 20 December to proceed with publication on the basis that it had agreed on 13 December. In response, the Department provided corrected versions of the reports with the Sector Views sections removed. These can be viewed on the inquiry publications page.

Chair's comments

Committee Chair Hilary Benn MP said:

"After providing this material to the Committee, the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union told us on December 6 that the Government have not undertaken any impact assessments on the implications of leaving the EU for different sectors of the British economy, but that what he had sent consisted of a number of sectoral analyses with certain material held back.

Since that evidence session, we have sought to clarify with the Secretary of State whether there is any specific material in the documents provided that he would prefer the Committee not to publish on the grounds that it is commercially, market or negotiation-sensitive information.

In light of his response, the Committee has today decided to publish this material provided to us by the Department."

Further information

• About Parliament: Select committees
• Visiting Parliament: Watch committees

Image: iStockphoto