Following the NATO Summit in Madrid, the Foreign Secretary stressed the UK’s commitment to European security and noted the need for close cooperation with France to strengthen the NATO Alliance.

The Foreign Secretary and Foreign Minister Colonna agreed that the G7 and NATO summits showed the UK and France are united in their response to Russia’s war in Ukraine. The two agreed to build on the summits to maintain international unity in supporting Ukraine’s fight for freedom and self-determination.

The ministers discussed the importance of increasing assistance to Ukraine to reverse Russian advances. They also spoke about cooperation on sanctions to undermine Putin’s war machine and the need for the free world to counter threats from the likes of Russia and China by strengthening security and economic ties.

They spoke about the UK-France relationship and agreed to take forward work to deepen cooperation, as agreed by the Prime Minister and President Macron during their recent discussions, including preparations for a UK-France summit.

Finally, the Foreign Secretary raised the UK’s concerns with the Northern Ireland Protocol and highlighted the need for UK legislation in order to fix elements of the Protocol and uphold the Belfast (Good Friday) Agreement, in the face of the EU’s unwillingness to make the necessary changes to the Protocol. She reiterated the UK’s preference for a negotiated solution, and stressed that resolving issues like this would unleash the full potential of the UK-France relationship.

The annual rankings, produced by the Department for Education, highlight some of the country’s most successful programmes that help future apprentices identify opportunities with leading employers.

Sellafield Ltd recruits up to 200 apprentices each year across 18 schemes, and currently has 600 in training.

This year, circa 200 will complete their apprenticeships across multiple disciplines, from Level 2 (GCSE equivalent) to Level 6 (degree level) schemes.

Donna Connor, Sellafield Ltd’s head of education and skills said:

Being listed in the top 100 is endorsement of our excellent training programme, working in partnership with our training providers across a wide range of disciplines.

There is a really exciting career ahead for our young people, who have the opportunity to carry out the nationally important work of cleaning up the country’s highest hazards and creating a clean and safe environment for future generations.

Over 33% of our current apprentice cohort are female and we retain 95% of our apprentices when they complete their training. I’m delighted that our schemes have received this recognition.

Amongst our many successes this year includes 12 Business Administration students. Business Administration apprentice scheme lead Louise McKain said:

Sellafield Ltd has offered a successful Business Administration apprentice scheme for a number of years which has proven popular with people from different backgrounds and levels of experience.

During the 2 year scheme, our apprentices are provided with 3 placements where they acquire skills to provide quality business administration support to the management teams across a variety of departments.

This year, the 2020 intake of students have obtained Level 3 Business Administration standard and City & Guilds Level 3 Diplomas, and I’m proud to say that for the first time we have seen all 12 pass their end point assessments gaining distinctions.

In light of current UK sanctions on imports from Russia and Belarus, the TRA initiated a Tariff Rate Quota (TRQ) review of steel imports covered by the UK’s safeguard trade remedy measure. The TRA assessed whether the quotas for these countries should be re-allocated to avoid a potential shortage of steel in the UK. The Secretary of State for International Trade has accepted the TRA recommendation and the HMRC notice detailing the changes was published on Thursday 30 June. The tariff rate quotas (TRQs) will change from 1 July 2022.

Avoiding a shortfall in critical steel supplies to the UK

As with any safeguard measure, the UK has set quotas for different countries or regions to import a certain amount of steel tariff-free into the UK. Once their quota is exhausted, they have to pay a higher tariff rate. Russia and Belarus between them accounted for around 22% of the UK’s supply of rebar. The TRA has recommended reallocating the Russia and Belarus quota to other countries and regions including Ukraine, the EU, Turkey and Taiwan.

TRA Chief Executive Oliver Griffiths said: “We have responded to changes in the international steel market following the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Reallocating quotas currently held by Russia and Belarus will provide UK firms in the construction, engineering and automotive sectors with access to higher volumes of duty-free steel.”

What this means for importers and users of steel in the UK

There are two product categories affected by the re-allocation. Category 1 (non-alloy and other alloy hot rolled sheets and strips) are used in yellow goods, construction, tube-making and the production of downstream steel products. Category 13 (rebars) are used in construction, the automotive industry, engineering and white goods manufacture. New tariff rates may apply to imports of steel in these categories, depending on which country they come from.

Wider changes to the steel safeguards measure

The Government confirmed this week in a statement that it plans to maintain steel safeguard tariffs on 15 categories of steel imports for two further years, to 2024. The Trade Remedies Authority completed its analysis of the measure under Government direction after the work was called in by the Secretary of State for International Trade. The TRA’s final Report of Findings is available on its public file.

The TRA has also completed two further TRQ reviews related to the steel safeguard measure. These assess:

• whether imports from developing countries exceed 3% of total UK imports, which is the threshold for developing countries to be subject to the safeguard measure

• updates to HMRC data in relation to a small subset of steel product categories.

The TRA’s Recommendations on all three TRQ reviews are incorporated in the final TRQ allocations for the safeguard measure and are confirmed in the taxation notice which takes effect from 1 July.

Background information

• The Trade Remedies Authority is the UK body that investigates whether trade remedies measures are needed on imports. Trade remedy investigations were carried out by the EU Commission on the UK’s behalf until the UK left the EU.

• Safeguard measures are one of the three types of trade remedies – along with anti-dumping measures which counter goods being ‘dumped’ into countries at prices below their normal price in their country of origin and countervailing measures against countervailable subsidies – that are allowed under World Trade Organization (WTO) rules.

• Forty-four EU trade remedies measures that were of interest to UK producers were carried across into UK law when the UK left the EU and the TRA needs to review each one to check if it is suitable for UK needs.

• As part of this process, the TRA reviewed a safeguard measure on certain steel products, reporting its recommendation in June 2021. The TRA recommended that measures should be extended on some steel products but removed on others, where they were not needed. The TRA was subsequently asked to reconsider this decision. The reconsideration was ‘called in’ by the Secretary of State for International Trade. The TRA completed the reconsideration under her direction.

• Tariff Rate Quotas (TRQs) are part of the World Trade Organization (WTO) framework. They specify how much of a product can be imported from a country before its imports are subject to higher tariffs. The UK’s trade remedies system follows WTO rules and is designed to make sure UK industries are not damaged by unfair trade practices or unexpected surges in imports.

• The UK has the power to review its Tariff Rate Quotas on imports covered by safeguard measures to make sure its safeguard measures remain up to date and useful. This is not part of the reconsideration process.