Chair, let me speak, for the first time at a TPR, on behalf of His Majesty’s Government and to welcome the Mexican delegation under the leadership of the Undersecretary of Foreign Trade, Luz María De La Mora. Thanks to the Mexican Federal Government and the WTO for their reports. Let me also thank the Chair and our distinguished Discussant, Clare Kelly for kindly facilitating this Trade Policy Review and providing us such an insightful basis for our discussions.

In our written questions for this Review, we were keen to gain a deeper understanding of Mexico’s regulatory framework in areas including Intellectual Property, domestic regulating bodies and agencies, the government procurement regime, Trade in Services, and SPS measures. This broad range of questions covering a panoply of themes is an indication of the range of opportunities available to Mexican and UK business from our accelerating bilateral trade.

Chair, this review includes a period of acute economic instability globally. WE are therefore pleased to welcome the positive steps which the Mexican Federal Government took to mitigate these shocks, notably through the expansion of digitisation services for administrative procedures for imports and agri-food exports.

It is encouraging that in periods of economic stress, actions such as these demonstrate that opportunities can be found, notably digital opportunities, which can accelerate best practice and improve the free trading environment. This also builds on previous efforts to reform customs procedures, as identified during Mexico’s last TPR, back in 2017.

In that TPR, the then Chair outlined in her concluding remarks Member’s concerns that Mexico’s trade was highly dependent on a single export market, noting that there was a need to diversify. During this review period, Mexico has indeed enacted some of the suggestions made to address this, including strengthening economic ties with different trading partners.

To this same end, the UK was pleased to sign a Trade Continuity Agreement (TCA) with Mexico which came into force on 1 June last year. We look forward to delivering our Factual Presentation to the Committee on Regional Trade Agreements next month

To realise the full potential of our trading relationship, Mexico and the UK launched negotiations in London on 20 May this year to secure a more modern and comprehensive bilateral FTA. As Mexico highlighted in its Report to this review, we have agreed on the modernisation of rules relating to investment and intellectual property, and the inclusion of innovative provisions relating to SMEs, gender and innovation, among others. We look forward to bringing this agreement to fruition as soon as we can and to our businesses making full use of the opportunities that the FTA should offer to grow their business and generate prosperity for British and Mexican citizens.

As others have noted, Mexico has also signed agreements with the United States, Canada, and the EU, and has signed the entry-into-force of the CPTPP. As the Secretariat recognises in its Report, these and other preferential trade agreements demonstrate the importance that regionalism plays in Mexico’s trade relations.

Back In 2017, Members also encouraged Mexico to join plurilateral agreements, notably the GPA. We would welcome Mexico’s indication of progress from Mexico with regards to this key plurilateral agreement.

Let me welcome Mexico’s support for the Inclusive Trade Action Group ITAG and Global Trade and Gender Arrangement (GTAGA), as well as its engagement in the WTO own Informal Working Group on Trade and Gender. All these important initiatives help to increase women’s economic empowerment through enhanced trade opportunities, an objective the UK fully shares with Mexico.

Through our Embassy in Mexico City, the UK has been pleased to work with Mexico on developing a methodology to measure the wage gap in Mexico and help to identify a remedy. This is an on-going and important work, and we encourage Mexico to continue to advance the necessary actions in order to reap the full reward of Mexico’s ambitions in this area.

Regarding transparency, like others the UK notes that less than 200 measures have been recorded by Mexico in the WTO’s Trade Monitoring Database, a low notification level in both relative and absolute terms. The median G20 Member notifies around 400 measures. Notifications and transparency obligations are we all recognise a cornerstone of the ongoing success of the WTO, and we therefore encourage Mexico to continue their efforts to ensure maximum levels of transparency regarding notifications.

Furthermore, recent data suggests that of 257 policy intervention measures in force, 69% (or 177of them) are trade restrictive rather than trade-facilitating. As such, the UK encourages Mexico to pursue balanced trade policies.

As the Secretariat’s Report identifies, Mexico is working to open-up untapped potential within its economy. Export diversification and the spreading of regional exporting opportunities have significant potential to achieve this, expanding the benefits of free trade at a global level and contributing to an improved, strengthened international trading system, it s in all our interest. The UK looks forward to working with our Mexican partners to help make the most of these opportunities.

Finally Madame Chair we like to thank the delegation Mexico for their fruitful engagement in this important transparency exercise and we wish them a successful 7th Trade Policy Review, and thank the Distinguished PR and excellent team to reap all possibilities of WTO

Thank you, Chair.

On 5 October 2022, the Court made a winding-up order against WRFC Players Limited. The Official Receiver became liquidator of the company as a consequence of the winding up order.

In accordance with her statutory duties, the Official Receiver as liquidator will wind-down the affairs of the company, including realising any available assets and distributing funds to creditors. The Official Receiver will also investigate the cause of the company’s insolvency, including the conduct of current and former directors.

WRFC Players Limited was the entity which employed the players and staff of Worcester Warriors Rugby Football Club.

Further information relating to the administration of WRFC Trading Limited or the fixed charge receiver appointment over Sixways Stadium can be found at: www.begbies-traynorgroup.com/news/administration/begbies-traynor-llp-appointed-as-wrfc-trading-limited-administrators.

Information for employees

If you were an employee of WRFC Players Limited, the information in this section provides advice about claiming money you’re owed and where you can seek support.

Who is eligible?

You can apply to the Insolvency Service for redundancy and other payments if:

• you worked for these companies under an employment contract
• you live in England, Scotland or Wales.

How to apply

The Official Receiver will give you details about how to apply and will also give you a case reference number (for example CN12345678).

Once you have this information you can apply online.

What you can apply for

What you can apply for depends on your circumstances. The Insolvency Service can pay:

• money you’re owed by WRFC Players Limited, for example unpaid wages, overtime and commission
• redundancy pay: if you’ve worked for WRFC Players Limited for at least 2 years
• pro rata holiday pay (known as ‘holiday pay accrued’): the leave you were entitled to take between the start of your leave year and the date you were made redundant
• holiday pay taken (HPT): if WRFC Players Limited hasn’t paid you for annual leave you took before liquidation
• statutory notice pay: if you’ve worked for WRFC Players Limited for at least 1 month

There are caps on what we can pay you for each type of claim. Find out how much we can pay you.

Paying your claim

On average the Insolvency Service’s Redundancy Payments Service pays redundancy and related claims within 14 days of receipt of information.

Find more information about what we can pay.

Redundancy: help finding work and claiming benefits.

Please don’t contact us about how to claim, or to check the status of your application. This will help us deal with everyone’s application as quickly as possible.

Information for creditors

You will need to register as a creditor in the liquidation if:

• you have not been paid for goods or services you’ve supplied to WRFC Players Limited (in liquidation)
• you have paid WRFC Players Limited (in liquidation) for goods or services that you have not received

To register as a creditor you will need to complete a Proof of Debt form which you should then email to piu.or@insolvency.gov.uk

Once you have registered and the Official Receiver receives your Proof of Debt form she will add you to the list of creditors and include you on future correspondence about the case.

Information for customers

If you are a customer of WRFC Players Limited, please contact the Official Receiver via email: piu.or@insolvency.gov.uk.

Section 48(2)(j) of the UK Borders Act 2007 provides that the Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration (ICIBI) shall:

consider and make recommendations about … the content of information about conditions in countries outside the United Kingdom which the Secretary of State compiles and makes available, for purposes connected with immigration and asylum, to immigration officers and other officials.

To assist the Independent Chief Inspector in fulfilling this statutory role, a body of experts sitting as the Independent Advisory Group on Country Information (IAGCI) regularly reviews the Country of Origin Information (COI) products that are produced by the Home Office. The Home Office refers to COI in procedures that assess claims of individuals for refugee status or other forms of international and humanitarian protection. The IAGCI’s reviews assess whether the content of COI is accurate, balanced, objective, and up-to-date, and they serve as the basis for an ICIBI inspection report.

In addition to reviewing the Home Office’s Country Policy and Information Notes (CPINs) and Country of Origin Information Request (COIR) responses relating to individual countries, the IAGCI examines the way that ‘cross-cutting’ themes are dealt with across all of the COI issued by the department. In the past, thematic reports commissioned by the IAGCI examined coverage of such topics as issues related to women, issues related to children, and sexual orientation and gender identity or expression.

At a forthcoming meeting, the IAGCI will consider the coverage of statelessness in the COI produced by the Home Office. In addition to reviewing the treatment of statelessness in CPINs on countries where it is a significant issue, the IAGCI will also consider general recommendations relating to the presentation of country information on statelessness. To inform this discussion, the IAGCI seeks to commission a review paper to be prepared by an expert with in-depth knowledge of statelessness, including how it arises and which groups are most likely to be affected. As with other reviews, the aim will be to ensure that CPINs contain the most up to date, relevant, and useful information to inform accurate decision-making.

The person(s) commissioned to undertake this project will be an experienced researcher with expertise on protection issues pertaining to statelessness and knowledge of asylum and human rights issues. They will not be expected to be an expert on all countries concerned, but some expertise in at least some of the countries where statelessness is a particularly significant issue will be an advantage.

This call for tenders is being re-opened as the reviewer selected following a call earlier in 2022 has since become unavailable.

Description of work

The review should provide an assessment of the coverage of statelessness in existing COI products, commenting on its:

1. Completeness: the extent to which relevant available information on statelessness has been reflected in the CPIN. Additional publicly available sources should be identified where appropriate.
2. Accuracy and balance: whether relevant information from source material has been accurately and appropriately reflected in the CPIN, noting any specific errors or omissions.

The review should provide a comparative summary, noting the strengths and weaknesses of the different reports.

In addition, the review should identify information on statelessness that is not covered in any of the reports but is nonetheless relevant to supporting decisions made by the Home Office. This may involve recommendations for new reports on populations likely to experience statelessness about whom no report currently exists, recommendations for information that could usefully be incorporated into CPINs which do not currently have a section on statelessness, and/or recommendations on other ways of ensuring the necessary information is available to decision makers.

While there is room for individual discretion in the way the researcher approaches the task and prepares a review, it would be helpful for the IAGCI if some specific guidelines were followed:

1. The format and scope of the review should be agreed with the chair of the IAGCI.
2. The COI under review should be assessed in terms of the situation in the country up to the stated ‘cut off’ date for inclusion of information in the report.
3. Any suggestions for additional information (or corrections to information in the document) must be referenced to a source document for the Home Office to be able to use it. If no published source is available to support the suggested information, the reviewer may supply a letter providing the information for use as a source document.

The reviewer will be requested to attend the IAGCI meeting at which their review will be considered. Representatives from the Home Office will also attend the meeting to provide responses to comments and recommendations made in the review.

Reviews commissioned by the IAGCI may be used as source documents for future CPINs and other COI products.

How to apply

Researchers interested in completing this review should submit:

• a letter demonstrating their expertise with respect to issues related to statelessness, human rights and asylum
• their c.v.

Payment for this work will be set at £5,000. Expressions of interest should be submitted to IAGCI@icibi.gov.uk by close of Monday, 31 October. We are only able to accept expressions of interest from individuals and not from institutions or consultancy groups.

The successful bidder will be notified by Friday, 4 November. The completed review will be due by the close of Monday, 6 February 2023, and will be discussed at an IAGCI meeting planned for early next year.