(a)

fishing -

?

on 25 August 2021 the Fisheries and Seafood Scheme funding rounds had opened for applications; the funding rounds were for specific purposes which did not meet the Council’s current needs; however, information on the grants had been circulated to relevant parties through the Fisheries Group;

?

also in the last few days, the UK Government had announced the first investment from £100m UK Seafood Fund to boost innovation in the fishing industry;  fishing businesses across the UK would now have access to £24m of investment to develop technology, trial new gear and support world-class research to improve the productivity and long-term sustainability for the industry; further details on how to bid for funding for both of these schemes will be announced in due course;

(b)

European Settlement Scheme -

?

the European Settlement Scheme was now closed for new applications; there were some exceptions for some particularly vulnerable groups; the Home Office was continuing to encourage those who were eligible to make a late application to the EU Settlement Scheme;

?

the latest data available showed that there were a total of just over six million applications nationally and 10,820 applications in Plymouth;

(c)

Boarder Control Posts -

?

the Government had recently announced a revised timetable for introducing full import controls for goods being imported from the EU to UK; new controls and requirements due to be introduced from 1 October 2021 and 1 January 2022 had been delayed to 1 January 2022 and 1 July 2022; full customs declarations and controls would be introduced on 1 January 2022 as previously announced, although safety and security declarations would now not be required until 1 July 2022;

?

controls would be phased in across 2022 under the revised timetable;

(d)

trade deals -

?

whilst no new trade deals had been signed since the previous meeting, the UK and the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) nations formally launched negotiations in June 2021; progress had been made with New Zealand, with both countries committed to concluding a free trade agreement and the sixth round of free-trade agreement negotiations taking place in July 2021;

(e)

Bills going through Parliament/key dates -

?

the National Insurance Contributions Bill was currently awaiting its second reading in the House of Lords;

?

1 October (extendable to July 2022) the deadline for determining whether UK meets the conditions for exchanging personal data (DNA profiles, fingerprint and vehicle registration data) under the Prüm framework;

?

1 October 2021 EU, EEA and Swiss citizens would require a passport to travel to the UK, rather than using national identity cards as an alternative.

(f)

raised whether the Council had plans to apply for a share of £30m Changing Places toilets (CPTs) fund administered by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government; the fund was available to install life-enhancing changing places toilets in public places, tourist attractions and transport networks; CPTs were larger accessible toilets for people who could not use standard toilets; the closing date for applications was 26 September 2021;

response: a written response would be provided regarding whether the Council had applied for this funding;

(g)

sought clarification on how many trade deals were currently in place;

response: there were 67 trade deals in place but an update would be provided to the Committee outside of this forum.