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What is the effectiveness and future of post-Brexit UK Common Frameworks?

23 July 2021

The Common Frameworks Scrutiny Committee today invites written contributions to its ongoing inquiry into the Common Frameworks programme.

Background

The call for evidence follows the Committee’s first report on the programme published in March, which highlighted several concerns with the programme, as well as the UK Internal Market Act, and emphasised that a reset in intergovernmental relations was necessary following Brexit.

The Committee now wishes to examine how the Common Frameworks programme will continue to operate going forwards, how it could be reviewed and improved in future, their interaction with key cross-cutting issues including the Protocol on Ireland/ Northern Ireland, the review of Intergovernmental Relations, international trade, the Trade and Co-operation Agreement with the EU, and the UK Internal Market.

Questions

 The topics the Committee is seeking evidence on include:

  • What effect, if any, has the Common Frameworks programme had in the seven months that it has been provisionally active for?
  • How could the governance structures of either the programme as a whole or for individual Common Frameworks be made more efficient?
  • What does good scrutiny of intergovernmental relations look like? Should each Government be required to publish its preferred position on matters under discussion through intergovernmental forums?
  • What should the Office for the Internal Market look for in assessing the impact of divergence agreed through the Common Frameworks on the Internal Market?
  • What should ongoing reporting on the progress and implementation of the Common Frameworks programme look like?
  • How can measuring divergence under the Protocol on Ireland/ Northern Ireland be built into the Common Frameworks programme?

The deadline for submissions is 23:59 on Thursday 16 September 2021.

Further information