I am as speechless as you are on this occasion, Madam Deputy Speaker. Maybe hon. Members on both sides of the House said all that they wanted to say on the first group of amendments. I was also speechless at the compliments that have been paid to me very justifiably—[Laughter.] The compliments were justifiable in the case of the Secretary of State, although they were rather exaggerated in my case. I do hope that the Hansard reporters can sort out my language on that; otherwise the Watford Observer will be interested not just in the comments on the Watford football team’s change of management but in what could be distortions of what I have just said about the compliments paid to the Secretary of State.
I should like to move on. I seriously thank hon. Members for their amendments in this group. They address a range of practical issues around the Bill and the implementation of the nuclear safeguards regime. I shall turn first to amendment 1, which is a very good place to start, as the famous song says. It is important that we have made a commitment to this effect on several occasions. As I have said, and as the Secretary of State has said in his written ministerial statement, the Government are committed to ensuring that the new regime
“is as comprehensive and robust as that currently provided by Euratom.”
It will not be light version of it.
On inspections, the Nuclear Safeguards Bill is the essential first step in setting up a domestic nuclear safeguards regime. The detail of the regime, including further details in respect of the powers for safeguard inspectors, will be provided in the regulations that underpin the Bill. The pre-consultation draft regulations that were published on Friday provided details of the ONR’s role in respect of nuclear safeguards, and it is important to note that the inspections only form one part of the overall safeguard regime.
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The establishment of effective accountancy and control systems and the numerous reporting requirements were outlined in the pre-consultation draft regulations. The hon. Member for Southampton, Test (Dr Whitehead), the shadow Minister, noted in his eloquent way that the draft regulations came last Friday, but I feel that they were spiritually, if not physically, with him beforehand, and I believe that he read them comprehensively over the weekend. There are two people on whom I can rely to do that: the hon. Gentleman and the Secretary of State. I can also rely on myself, but we have dealt with my issues before, following what was said by my right hon. Friend the Member for Wantage (Mr Vaizey).
The regulations contain key components by which assurance can be gained and the UK can demonstrate broad equivalence with the current regime under Euratom. As such, the draft regulations demonstrate how we intend to create a domestic regime that will be of equivalent effectiveness when compared with the existing European arrangements. The initial drafts have been provided in a spirit of transparency to show how the regulations are developing and to provide an opportunity for early engagement with Parliament, industry and other stakeholders. We expect the draft regulations and the regime to continue to be developed before they are consulted on publicly. We want to ensure that the ONR’s safeguard inspectors are able to do their job. We want to ensure that they have the powers to do so, and we welcome constructive engagement with the draft regulations to ensure that that is the case.
I thank hon. Members for their contributions on amendment 4, which addresses the issue of consultation on and preparedness for the implementation of the new domestic civil nuclear safeguards regime established by the Bill. On consultation, the Government have had regular discussions with the nuclear industry since the referendum. In September, I held a representative industry stakeholder forum, which provided me and my team with an opportunity to hear the views and concerns of industry leaders, as mentioned today, and to provide them with an update on the progress of our preparations to leave Euratom. In December, I attended the Nuclear Industry Association annual event, where my officials provided a progress update on Euratom, including on the current status of international negotiations, the Bill and the capacity-building measures within the ONR. We are also engaging with civil society through our nuclear non-governmental organisation forum, which I attended last week—I was accused of being a tool of the Nuclear Industry Association—along with Members from both sides of the House, excluding the Scottish National party.
We will continue our constructive engagement with the nuclear stakeholder community, as we have done throughout the passage of the Bill and will continue to do throughout the Euratom negotiations. I have planned
a series of roundtables for 2018-19, and the next is scheduled for late next month. Officials at BEIS are working hard with the industry and other interested parties and are providing regular updates on progress, and the Government and industry are working together for the good of the country.
The National Audit Office plays an incredibly important role in all this, but mandatory consultation with it on nuclear safeguards regulations is not appropriate because the NAO already has an established process for scrutinising public spending for Parliament. We have worked with a range of governmental organisations as we develop legislative proposals and will continue to engage with interested parties as the new regime is implemented. The public consultation on the draft regulations, which will take place this year, will not be the first opportunity for stakeholders to be made aware of the Government’s intentions nor will it be their only opportunity to provide the Government with their views.
I will now turn to the subject of the ONR’s capability and readiness, as mentioned in many contributions today. I understand and agree that Parliament must be assured of the ONR’s capability and readiness to take on these new responsibilities in relation to nuclear safeguards. I have consistently stated on Second Reading and in Committee that we will allocate the necessary funding for the ONR to set up this new domestic regime for civil nuclear safeguards. I disagree with the Prospect union’s view, expressed to hon. Members in Committee and elsewhere, that that is not the case.
The Department works closely with the ONR on a daily basis to ensure it will be in a position to take on the role and responsibilities required to help the UK’s domestic civil nuclear safeguards regime to meet international safeguards and nuclear non-proliferation standards when the Euratom arrangements no longer apply to the UK. We are monitoring the progress of the ONR’s delivery plans through our governance process to identify delivery risk and to work with the ONR on mitigating those risks.
We have been transparent about the costs and resources required to set up a domestic civil nuclear safeguards regime. In October 2017, we published estimates of what those costs will be in the explanatory notes to the Bill. The relevant section, “Financial implications of the Bill,” explains that the Department will allocate the necessary funding to the ONR—about £10 million to set up the regime, and ongoing costs of about £10 million a year. I assure the House that we are keeping the estimates under review as the details of the regime develop.
The ONR is in the process of developing an expanded safeguards function, which involves the recruitment and training of additional inspectors. The SNP spokesman, the hon. Member for Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey (Drew Hendry), and others mentioned the two-year and five-year time periods. Some people with a lot of experience in this field are being recruited, and they clearly would need two years or less. The five-year period involves a very high level of training. It is not possible to generalise, but I accept that some people, such as apprentices and graduates, will require much longer to train.