Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Reform UK - Romford)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what mechanisms her Department uses to consult Overseas Territories on the provisions of future trade agreements.
Answered by Greg Hands
The Department for International Trade engages regularly with representatives of Overseas Territories on the UK’s free trade agreements (FTAs).
The frequency of discussions regarding specific trade agreements will be determined by each territories’ respective interests.
The Department for International Trade has included an extension mechanism in UK FTAs giving Overseas Territories the opportunity to be part of these FTAs should they choose.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Reform UK - Romford)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what steps her Department is taking to support fishing exports.
Answered by Andrew Bowie - Shadow Minister (Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Department for International Trade is working closely with Defra to deliver the £1m seafood exports package launched in May 2022. The 3-year package aims to grow overseas markets and provide new export opportunities for the UK fishing industry.
The package will identify new overseas buyers for UK seafood companies, promote UK seafood at international events and increase expertise on British seafood in our Embassies overseas.
In April we delivered a UK pavilion showcasing the best of British seafood at Seafood Expo Global and we are bringing a number of inward missions of buyers to the UK later this year.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Reform UK - Romford)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, whether her Department is taking steps to reduce tariffs on food from African countries.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
The UK currently grants preferential tariff access to food imports from 51 African countries through the Generalised Scheme of Preferences (GSP) or one of the nine Free Trade Agreements the UK has secured with African regions and countries.
These arrangements offer tariff-free access for all food products from 43 African countries and preferential rates on many products from the other 8 countries.
In early 2023, the GSP will be replaced by the Developing Countries Trading Scheme (DCTS) which will offer more generous tariff preferences to Algeria, the Republic of the Congo and Nigeria including on more than 1,000 additional food products.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Reform UK - Romford)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, in the context of the war in Ukraine, what discussions her Department has had about obtaining bitumen from non-Russian sources.
Answered by Marcus Fysh
Bitumen is in the trade sanctions for Russia (under oil products). It is a by-product of oil refining and is a product that has been supplied to the UK from a number of countries. The Government regularly engages with firms in the construction sector about the supply of products, and the supply of bitumen from non-Russian sources has not been raised as a concern. In particular, National Highways has been working with its supply chain to confirm compliance with sanctions and to ensure ongoing certainty of supply.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Reform UK - Romford)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, whether her Department has undertaken a recent assessment of the impact of the UK's departure from the EU on the Sovereign Base Areas in Cyprus; and what steps her Department is taking to encourage further trade between those areas and Cyprus.
Answered by Penny Mordaunt
The Sovereign Base Area (SBA) Protocol to the UK Withdrawal Agreement, stipulates that the SBAs remain in the EU Customs Territory. As such, they remain aligned with EU Free Trade Agreements. The SBAs do not have any commercial ports or airports and do not import or export to any third countries, aside from the Republic of Cyprus.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Reform UK - Romford)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what steps her Department is taking to reduce global barriers to trade for the wine industry.
Answered by Ranil Jayawardena
HM Government has established eight British agriculture, food and drink attachés for the growth markets of the Americas, Africa and the Indo-Pacific. They will broaden market access for our food and drink exporters and drive export growth for sectors like the wine industry, which accounted for almost £470 million of British exports in 2021.
We are negotiating trade deals and removing barriers to trade faced by the wine industry too. Our Free Trade Agreement with Norway recognises the protected status of certain British products, meaning that consumers in Norway can continue to enjoy iconic products – like English Sparkling Wine – with the confidence it is both genuine and of the high quality we know and love.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Reform UK - Romford)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what assessment her Department has made of the impact of international trade on (a) Romford constituency and (b) the outer London boroughs.
Answered by Mike Freer
Whilst trade data is not published at the constituency level, it is available for the outer London boroughs at the International Territorial Level (ITL) 3. The Romford constituency (along with three other constituencies) sits within the Barking & Dagenham and Havering ITL3 area. This area exported £3.2bn goods and services in 2019 ranking 59th out of all 168 GB ITL3 areas and imported £1.9bn, ranking 93rd.
The outer London boroughs exported £37.7bn goods and services in 2019, this was 5.5% of total UK exports. In the same year, the outer London boroughs imported £44.1bn goods and services, 6.2% of total UK imports.
UK exports (goods and services) outer London boroughs 2019, £ million
ITL3 area name | Value |
Bexley and Greenwich | 775 |
Barking & Dagenham and Havering | 3,243 |
Redbridge and Waltham Forest | 558 |
Enfield | 1,707 |
Bromley | 667 |
Croydon | 995 |
Merton, Kingston upon Thames and Sutton | 2,624 |
Barnet | 1,142 |
Brent | 2,670 |
Ealing | 3,383 |
Harrow and Hillingdon | 7,176 |
Hounslow and Richmond upon Thames | 12,747 |
Total outer London boroughs | 37,687 |
UK imports (goods and services) outer London boroughs 2019, £ million
ITL3 area name | Value |
Bexley and Greenwich | 888 |
Barking & Dagenham and Havering | 1,855 |
Redbridge and Waltham Forest | 897 |
Enfield | 1,384 |
Bromley | 1,285 |
Croydon | 1,040 |
Merton, Kingston upon Thames and Sutton | 5,306 |
Barnet | 1,096 |
Brent | 3,099 |
Ealing | 2,884 |
Harrow and Hillingdon | 12,077 |
Hounslow and Richmond upon Thames | 12,290 |
Total outer London boroughs | 44,101 |