On Tuesday 30 November, the Secretary of State for International Trade announced that the TRA’s recommendation on imports of Turkish rainbow trout will be upheld and that the trade remedy measure on these goods will remain in place. You can read the TRA’s final determination on this case on its public file.

This measure covers trout which are live, fresh, chilled, frozen or smoked, in the form of whole fish, gutted and as fillets. The TRA’s report recommends that the existing UK trade remedy measure on these imports be extended for five years, extending protections to UK rainbow trout farms which could otherwise be damaged by subsidised imports from Turkey.

As part of its assessment, the TRA found that dropping the measure could threaten local jobs due to competition from Turkey causing some firms to exit the market. Concentrated rainbow trout production sites can be found in Northern Ireland, in north and south England, and in Scotland.

Industry responds to initial findings

On 25 June, the TRA published a Statement of Essential Facts, setting out initial findings on the measures. UK and overseas industries had 30 days to review and comment on the findings before the TRA made its recommendation to the Secretary of State. Some important submissions were made at this stage.

TRA Chief Executive Oliver Griffiths commented: “The majority of UK rainbow trout producers are small businesses and we provided generous extensions to help them provide the necessary evidence during a difficult time for UK industry. We also provided extensions to participating overseas exporters. Nevertheless, I’m pleased that we succeeded in completing a comprehensive review of the measures and that the Secretary of State has agreed with our conclusions.”

Background

About the TRA and trade remedies

The Trade Remedies Authority (TRA) is the UK body that investigates whether trade remedy measures are needed to counter unfair import practices and unforeseen surges of imports.

The TRA is an arm’s length body of the Department of International Trade (DIT) and launched on 1 June 2021. Before its launch, the organisation operated as the Trade Remedies Investigations Directorate (TRID) of DIT.

Countervailing measures are one of the three types of trade remedies allowed by the World Trade Organisation (WTO). They are used when goods imported into a country are benefiting from certain types of subsidy. The other two types of measure are anti-dumping measures (which are used when goods are being dumped in a country at prices below what they would be sold for in their home country) and safeguard measures, which address unforeseen surges of imports.

When the UK left the EU, it transitioned across 43 trade remedy measures which were of interest to UK industries into UK law. The TRA was then required to carry out a review of each measure. This is because the measures were originally put in place based on data from across all the EU member states. If the UK is to keep them, it needs to demonstrate that they are needed to protect against unfair trade practices which are damaging or could damage UK industries.

About the transition review of UK measures on imports of Turkish rainbow trout

This review concerned a countervailing measure applying to certain rainbow trout originating in Turkey. The review was initiated on 4 March 2020 and the investigation covered the period from 1 January 2019 to 31 December 2019. In order to assess injury, we have examined the period from 1 January 2016 to 31 December 2019.

The measure covers rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) that are either live, fresh, chilled, frozen or smoked whether in the form of whole fish (with heads and gills on), gutted, weighing 1.2kg or less each, or with heads off, gilled or gutted (weighing 1kg or less each), or in the form of fillets (weighing 400g or less each) originating in Turkey.

The review found that many of the subsidy programmes run by the Turkish government are still in place, and that if the measures were removed, subsidised imports would be likely to harm the UK trout industry.

As part of its review, the TRA conducted an Economic Interest Test to consider:

• the injury caused by the importation of subsidised rainbow trout to the UK industry and the benefits to the UK industry in removing that injury
• the economic significance of affected industries and consumers in the UK
• the likely impact on affected industries and consumers in the UK
• the likely impact on particular geographic areas and groups in the UK
• the likely consequences for the competitive environment and the structure of the UK market in these goods.

• Documents published today (30th November) also cover previous announcements including a consultation on the implementation of the Business Rates Review and reforms to Small Brewers Relief

• They have been released separately to the Budget to support greater transparency, discipline and accessibility of tax policy-making

As part of Tax Administration and Maintenance Day the government has set out further detail on its work to deliver a modern, simple and effective tax system – which helps taxpayers get their tax right the first time.

This includes work to support the delivery of announcements from the Autumn Budget and to help stimulate economic growth as we continue our recovery from the pandemic.

Today’s announcements follow the commitment the Chancellor made at Autumn Budget and Spending Review 2021 – for there to be a dedicated day this Autumn for the administration and maintenance of the UK’s tax system – supporting greater transparency, discipline and accessibility of tax policy-making.

Financial Secretary to the Treasury, Lucy Frazer said:

We want to build a tax system which supports the economic recovery, is simpler for businesses, and helps taxpayers get their tax right the first time.

Today’s announcements set out what we are doing to achieve this – providing people and businesses with an opportunity to engage in this work and help shape this reform.

Jim Harra, HMRC’s First Permanent Secretary and Chief Executive said:

As we continue our work to improve the tax system for UK taxpayers and clamp down on avoidance and evasion, we know that an open dialogue with our stakeholders is vital.

With thanks to the tax profession for their views, we can now announce the next steps for how we will simplify the legislative framework and raise standards in the tax advice market. We are also announcing new areas on which we are inviting views, including reforming Income Tax Self-Assessment registration for the self-employed.

These announcements will contribute to creating a modern, trusted tax administration system.

Documents published today include: * An update on reforms to Small Brewers Relief which will see the government invest around £15m of additional funding into the craft brewing sector. This will enable small breweries to expand without losing tax relief and addresses concerns raised by stakeholders that the current scheme fails to incentivise growth.

• A technical consultation setting out further detail on the conclusions to the government’s review of business rates, including more frequent revaluations, improvement relief, exemptions for green technology, and administrative reforms.

• A report on Research and Development (R&D) tax reliefs, providing further details on announcements made at the Budget which included: refocusing relief in the UK, targeting abuse, and supporting innovation by expanding qualifying expenditure to capture cloud and data costs. It also provides a summary of responses to the consultation.

Tax Administration and Maintenance Day also builds on the action the government took as part of its March 2021 Tax policies and consultation update, where the government set out measures to support the government’s wider ten-year plan to build a modern and trusted tax administration system, and to tackle non-compliance.

The ten-year plan was published in July 2020, to modernise the tax administration framework, make better use of real time and third party information, and progress Making Tax Digital to improve the experience for taxpayers and businesses, reducing the tax gap and increasing resilience.

Further information

Further publications include:

• A Call for Evidence on reforming registration for Income Tax Self Assessment (ITSA) to give taxpayers a better understanding of their tax obligations and support available to them.

• Publishing a summary of responses to the Call for Evidence on the Tax Administration Framework Review (TAFR), including plans to reform several areas of the tax administrations system to simplify and modernise it.

• A Call for Evidence on the role umbrella companies play in the labour market to improve our understanding of the sector.

• Publishing the first five-year review of the Office of Tax Simplification (OTS) launched in March 2021 to examine the effectiveness of the OTS.

• A consultation on potential changes to the Stamp Duty Land Tax reliefs for mixed-property and multiple dwellings to ensure they operate fairly and to reduce the scope for misuse.

• Measures apply UK-wide unless otherwise stated, such as:

(i) SDLT consultation on mix property/multiple-dwellings relief: SDLT applies in England and Northern Ireland

(ii) Finance Act 2021 introduced tax conditionality for certain licenses in England and Wales. This will apply from April 2022. Measures announced today extends tax conditionality to similar licences in Scotland and Northern Ireland, creating a UK-wide approach

(iii) Landfill Tax applies in England and Northern Ireland

(iv) Business rates is England only

• There are no funding implications for the devolved administrations from today’s announcement as all measures were accounted for at the Budget and Spending Review 2021

• For a full list of announcements please see the Command Paper.

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The Driving for Better Business programme is free to access and contains useful online tools and resources to help organisations evaluate practices, strengthen culture, enhance performance and demonstrate leadership in the management of work-related road risk.

Since 1987 the Awards have given public recognition to those who have improved road safety throughout Britain. Now the Prince Michael International Road Safety Awards recognise outstanding achievement and innovation world-wide.

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Good morning, and thank you Lord Mayor for that introduction. It’s a pleasure to be here for the launch of the ‘Soft Power, Trade and Investment Benefits to Major Sports Events’ research.

First, I want to thank UK Sport, the City of London, Ernst and Young and all the consultees of the project, including colleagues at the Rugby League World Cup, the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games for their contributions.

The Government has long championed the wide-ranging benefits of hosting major sports events. They build stronger communities, improve mental and physical wellbeing, and inspire the next generation.

The UK has a world-class reputation in hosting major sporting events. This is a credit to the sector, including so many here this morning, and of course a credit to many cities that are pivotal in hosting.

During the pandemic, major sporting events played an important role in boosting public morale when we really needed it, bringing excitement to homes right across the country.

And, after a tough two years, this Government knows that we can’t rest on our laurels but must continue to build our reputation of being amongst the best in the world at hosting major sporting events.

In 2022 alone, we will host a prolific programme of sporting events: the Birmingham Commonwealth Games, the biggest multi-sport event in the UK since London 2012; the World Gymnastics Championships; the UEFA Women’s European Championships; the Rugby League World Cup; and many more.

Alongside the Jubilee and the Unboxed festival, this will be an incredible year to showcase the country and deliver on Government objectives. As set out in this report, that will mean maximising all these so called soft power, trade and investment opportunities. We should never underestimate the power of these events to generate jobs and contribute to the economy.

The Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games Business and Tourism Programme is one example of targeted government investment specifically aimed at converting the excitement and enthusiasm of a major sporting event into trade and tourism benefits. We must ensure there are many other similar initiatives as we look forward.

As you know, the Chancellor recently announced funding to support bids for the 2025 Women’s Rugby World Cup, the 2026 Tour de France Grand Départ and the ongoing feasibility work into a potential UK and Ireland bid to host the 2030 FIFA World Cup.

In order to secure this funding, my department worked with UK Sport and key partners to ensure we demonstrated the breadth of socio-economic benefits that hosting events of this magnitude entails.

The report launched today underlines those significant benefits and demonstrates them to the rest of Government, the sporting sector, industry, and importantly to the public.

This report expertly highlights how Soft Power, Trade and Investment benefits directly help achieve the Government’s policy goals – such as promoting Global Britain and Levelling Up. Not to mention, providing opportunities for the UK to bring its influence to bear internationally.

And, of course, the report concludes that major sporting events in the coming decade have the potential to deliver £4 billion in soft power, trade and investment impacts for the UK.

These findings will help support partnerships between the Business and Sport sectors to achieve all these outcomes, and more. They will also support the development of our future approach to Sport Diplomacy – and how we can use sport to strengthen the UK’s influence as a global power and force for good.

We must continue to work together to ensure we apply the findings of this report and capitalise on the pipeline of events over the next ten years and beyond. I know that you are all as committed as I am to doing just that.

So thank you again for the invitation this morning, and to all those involved in producing this crucial piece of work. It is a timely intervention and will serve to bolster our arguments regarding why it is crucial that we make the next decade a golden one of sport in the UK.