Asked by: Viscount Waverley (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many civil servants are working on initiatives aimed at increasing intra-Commonwealth trade.
Answered by Lord Grimstone of Boscobel
The Department for International Trade (DIT)’s Trade Policy Group (TPG) has a strong core of trade policy officials, with a headcount as of end September 2020 of 676 civil servants. Within TPG there are dedicated teams in charge of bilateral trade relations with Commonwealth members, including Australia, New Zealand, and India, as well as multilateral and regional teams, such as the World Trade Organisation and Africa teams.
In addition, DIT’s overseas network of posts (Global Trade and Investment Overseas) is responsible for supporting UK exports and investment across the world. It is formed of nine regions, each reporting to a trade commissioner, known as Her Majesty’s Trade Commissioner (HMTC), seven of whom cover Commonwealth countries as part of their trade responsibilities. As of September 2020, there are 151 UK-based civil servants – supported by 1,320 locally engaged staff – working in all HMTC regions.
Workstreams aimed at increasing intra-Commonwealth trade are progressed by teams of varying sizes, depending on their complexity, and DIT officials also work in close co-operation with civil servants across government, including the Foreign, Commonwealth, and Development Office (FCDO), the Department for Business, Energy, and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), and the Department for Digital, Culture, Media, and Sport (DCMS), as well as in diplomatic and consular posts across the Commonwealth.
The workforce data only includes civil servants employed by DIT working in the UK and on DIT payroll, and UK based civil servants and locally employed staff working overseas paid via FCDO payroll who are currently engaged in delivering DIT objectives. It does not include staff on loan to DIT from other government departments who remain on their home departments payroll, contractors, military staff, people on secondment from other organisations, those who are on loan or secondment out of DIT, those on unpaid special leave or a career break, and people working in UK Export Finance (UKEF).
Asked by: Viscount Waverley (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to embed gap analysis into the process of negotiating free trade agreements in order to identify (1) the amount, (2) the duration, and (3) the terms, of trade finance currently provided by the market compared to what is needed by SME exporters.
Answered by Lord Grimstone of Boscobel
The availability of trade finance support by UK Export Finance (UKEF) is not dependent on Free Trade Agreement (FTA) negotiations.
UKEF, as the government’s export credit agency, offers a range of trade finance products to help Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs) fulfil export contracts, complementing but not competing with the private sector.
UKEF’s trade finance solutions include the provision of export insurance, contract bond insurance, contract bond and export working capital guarantees. Details about these products can be accessed here: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/our-products.
In 2019/20 UKEF provided £4.4 billion in support for UK exports, while 77% of UK companies directly supported by UKEF were SMEs.
Asked by: Viscount Waverley (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of the application of the UK Global Tariff on the costs of UK (1) imports, and (2) exports.
Answered by Lord Grimstone of Boscobel
The UK Global Tariff (UKGT) is tailored to the UK economy as a whole and balances the interests of UK consumers and producers. In designing the UKGT, the UK Government has carefully considered the evidence available, including feedback provided through the public consultation where we received over 1,300 responses from a wide range of stakeholders across the business and consumer landscape.
The UK Government will publish more analysis in the Taxation Information and Impact Note (TIIN) alongside the legislation, as standard practice.
Tariffs on UK exports will depend on the third country’s own tariff schedule and whether the UK has a trade agreement in place with them, not on the UK Global Tariff.
Asked by: Viscount Waverley (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what channels exist for organisations and stakeholders, who are not involved in the Trade Advisory Groups, to feed into trade negotiations and decision-making processes.
Answered by Lord Grimstone of Boscobel
The Trade Advisory Groups (TAGs) have been created to access strategic and technical expertise from within specific sectors that are vital to the British economy.
The TAGs are just one part of HM Government’s external engagement on international trade. The Department for International Trade continues to engage regularly with a wide range of interested parties, including one-to-one meetings and roundtables.
Asked by: Viscount Waverley (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to publish country by country guides that will explain the key trading and administration changes for the countries that the UK (1) has concluded continuity trade agreements with, and (2) intends to conclude continuity trade agreements with.
Answered by Lord Grimstone of Boscobel
We have published reports alongside all signed agreements, outlining our approach to delivering continuity with all partners, and we will continue to do so for all continuity agreements yet to be signed.
We will publish further business guidance on trade agreements on GOV.UK this autumn.
Businesses and consumers are already able to find more information about continuity agreements, including product-specific and country-specific information on tariffs and regulations, using tools including Check How to Export Goods (CHEG). Additionally, the ‘Trade with the UK’ (TWUK) tool will provide businesses exporting goods into the British market with detailed and up-to-date information on topics such as tariffs, taxes and rules.
Asked by: Viscount Waverley (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to publish how trade agreements reached with other countries will benefit (1) Scotland, (2) Wales, (3) Northern Ireland, (4) the north east of England, (5) the north west of England, (6) the Midlands and East Anglia, (7) the south east of England, (8) the south west of England, and (9) London.
Answered by Lord Grimstone of Boscobel
HM Government is committed to an inclusive and transparent trade policy. We have published Scoping Assessments for agreements with the United States, Japan, Australia, and New Zealand.
These Scoping Assessments set out the potential economic impacts, and we will publish impact assessments following the outcome of negotiations that will include an assessment of the impacts on every part of the United Kingdom.
Asked by: Viscount Waverley (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what consideration they have given to the government of Colombia's compliance with the UK–Andean countries trade agreement, specifically with regard to labour rights commitments.
Answered by Lord Grimstone of Boscobel
The United Kingdom and the Andean countries, including Colombia, signed the UK-Andean Countries Trade Agreement on 15 May 2019. The agreement includes specific clauses on labour in the Trade and Sustainable Development chapter, which maintain high labour standards and protections for both the United Kingdom and our partners. The United Kingdom will use the Trade and Sustainable Development Free Trade Agreement committee to monitor these issues with the Andean partners.
Asked by: Viscount Waverley (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what is their strategy for future trade relations with the Indian subcontinent.
Answered by Lord Grimstone of Boscobel
My Department has an ambitious agenda to strengthen bilateral trade relations between the United Kingdom and the Indian subcontinent. With India herself, we are developing an Enhanced Trade Partnership with the objective of deeper trade policy cooperation and the removal of barriers to doing business. We are also facilitating trade with other countries across the subcontinent, including Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, through a generous trade preferences scheme and the potential for closer working in the future.
Asked by: Viscount Waverley (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what is their strategy for future trade relations with the Commonwealth.
Answered by Lord Grimstone of Boscobel
The Commonwealth includes some of our closest friends and greatest allies. We share strong bonds and I hope the Noble Lord will welcome our commitment to work closely with Commonwealth countries to remove barriers and liberalise the global trading environment.
At the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in 2018, chaired by the United Kingdom, we committed to boosting intra-Commonwealth trade beyond $2 trillion (approximately £1.5 trillion) by 2030. Commonwealth leaders also adopted the ‘Commonwealth Connectivity Agenda for Trade and Investment’ to enhance co-operation amongst ourselves.
In October 2019, my Rt Hon. Friend the Secretary of State for International Trade chaired the sixth Commonwealth Trade Ministers Meeting, which reaffirmed the Commonwealth’s support for free trade and the rules based multilateral trading system.
HM Government is also funding several projects including the Commonwealth Trade Facilitation Programme, the Commonwealth Standards Network and the SheTrades Commonwealth Programme, and continues to support increasing trade and investment between Commonwealth partner countries, taking advantage of the average cost of trade between us being 19% lower than the cost of trade outside the Commonwealth.
Asked by: Viscount Waverley (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what is their strategy for future trade relations with Latin America.
Answered by Lord Grimstone of Boscobel
The Department for International Trade works extensively in Latin America and the Caribbean to strengthen the United Kingdom’s trade and investment relationships, with staff based in?19 countries?across the region.
The United Kingdom has concluded trade continuity agreements with Chile, CARIFORUM, six Central American countries and the Andean Community (Colombia, Peru and Ecuador), which will allow United Kingdom business to continue trading on preferential terms.
Additionally, HM Government is working with Peru, Mexico and Chile as part of the United Kingdom’s potential accession to the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP).
Ministers also regularly discuss trade with their counterparts, including through dialogues such as the UK-Brazil Joint Economic and Trade Committee.