Asked by: Callum Anderson (Labour - Buckingham and Bletchley)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what estimate he has made of the potential impact of an enhanced UK-Switzerland trade agreement on jobs in the UK.
Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The current UK-Swiss Free Trade Agreement dates back to 1972 and covers goods but not services. UK-Swiss services trade is worth around £30 billion annually and our exports to Switzerland support over 100,000 jobs across the UK. Negotiations on an enhanced trade deal with Switzerland are focused on unlocking more opportunities for UK services firms with our 6th largest services export market, to help support jobs across the UK. The Department will publish an assessment of the finalised agreement.
Asked by: Callum Anderson (Labour - Buckingham and Bletchley)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what assessment he has made of how export credit support affects business resilience to global economic shocks.
Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The recently published report by Oxford Economics, Analysing UKEF-Supported Supply Chains (which is available online at: Research and Analysis: Analysing UKEF-supported supply chains - GOV.UK), shows that in the last five years, deals supported by UK Export Finance (UKEF), the UK’s export credit agency, were responsible for £23 billion gross value added contributions to the UK economy, and supported an average of up to 66,000 jobs per annum. That report also showed that the supply chains of the businesses directly supported by UKEF include 115,000 businesses around the UK.
In April 2025, the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced an expansion of UKEF’s support to bolster the resilience of British businesses. This included increasing its financial capacity by £20 billion, to £80 billion, and targeting £10 billion of that to support firms that had been impacted by uncertainties in the world economy, including the new tariff environment.
Further information about the nature and extent of UKEF’s support is available in the Annual Report and Accounts, available online at: UK Export Finance annual reports and accounts - GOV.UK.
Asked by: Callum Anderson (Labour - Buckingham and Bletchley)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what assessment he has made of the contribution of export credit to the UK economy over the last five years.
Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The recently published report by Oxford Economics, Analysing UKEF-Supported Supply Chains (which is available online at: Research and Analysis: Analysing UKEF-supported supply chains - GOV.UK), shows that in the last five years, deals supported by UK Export Finance (UKEF), the UK’s export credit agency, were responsible for £23 billion gross value added contributions to the UK economy, and supported an average of up to 66,000 jobs per annum. That report also showed that the supply chains of the businesses directly supported by UKEF include 115,000 businesses around the UK.
In April 2025, the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced an expansion of UKEF’s support to bolster the resilience of British businesses. This included increasing its financial capacity by £20 billion, to £80 billion, and targeting £10 billion of that to support firms that had been impacted by uncertainties in the world economy, including the new tariff environment.
Further information about the nature and extent of UKEF’s support is available in the Annual Report and Accounts, available online at: UK Export Finance annual reports and accounts - GOV.UK.
Asked by: Callum Anderson (Labour - Buckingham and Bletchley)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, how UK Export Finance measures the economic impact of its support across domestic supply chains.
Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The recently published report by Oxford Economics, Analysing UKEF-Supported Supply Chains (which is available online at: Research and Analysis: Analysing UKEF-supported supply chains - GOV.UK), shows that in the last five years, deals supported by UK Export Finance (UKEF), the UK’s export credit agency, were responsible for £23 billion gross value added contributions to the UK economy, and supported an average of up to 66,000 jobs per annum. That report also showed that the supply chains of the businesses directly supported by UKEF include 115,000 businesses around the UK.
In April 2025, the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced an expansion of UKEF’s support to bolster the resilience of British businesses. This included increasing its financial capacity by £20 billion, to £80 billion, and targeting £10 billion of that to support firms that had been impacted by uncertainties in the world economy, including the new tariff environment.
Further information about the nature and extent of UKEF’s support is available in the Annual Report and Accounts, available online at: UK Export Finance annual reports and accounts - GOV.UK.
Asked by: Callum Anderson (Labour - Buckingham and Bletchley)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what measures are in place to monitor repayments among businesses in Buckingham and Bletchley constituency receiving government-backed loans.
Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The package is a commitment from the UK’s top high-street banks to lend more to small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) using UK Export Finance’s (UKEF’s) guarantee, to boost UK exports and economic growth. It signals to SMEs that want to export that there is a dedicated pool of capital available for them from lenders whom they trust.
Repayment of the loans will be managed by the respective banks, applying their regular criteria and processes. UKEF has robust legal agreements in place which set requirements regarding monitoring of potential defaults and making relevant recoveries.
While we have not made formal assessments of the economic impact of the SME Exporter Fund, last year UK Export Finance (UKEF) provided £14.5 billion of support to UK exporters, in turn supporting up to 70,000 jobs and contributing £5.4 billion to the economy.
Each bank has agreed to make the funds available across the whole of the UK. UKEF also has a network of export finance managers (EFMs) around the whole country who are valuable points of contact for local businesses and can provide information on the range of support available. Contact details for the EFM covering Buckingham and Bletchley, and others, can be found at: www.gov.uk/government/publications/find-an-export-finance-manager
Asked by: Callum Anderson (Labour - Buckingham and Bletchley)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what evaluation criteria will be used to assess the economic impact of the £11 billion lending support on businesses in Buckingham and Bletchley constituency.
Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The package is a commitment from the UK’s top high-street banks to lend more to small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) using UK Export Finance’s (UKEF’s) guarantee, to boost UK exports and economic growth. It signals to SMEs that want to export that there is a dedicated pool of capital available for them from lenders whom they trust.
Repayment of the loans will be managed by the respective banks, applying their regular criteria and processes. UKEF has robust legal agreements in place which set requirements regarding monitoring of potential defaults and making relevant recoveries.
While we have not made formal assessments of the economic impact of the SME Exporter Fund, last year UK Export Finance (UKEF) provided £14.5 billion of support to UK exporters, in turn supporting up to 70,000 jobs and contributing £5.4 billion to the economy.
Each bank has agreed to make the funds available across the whole of the UK. UKEF also has a network of export finance managers (EFMs) around the whole country who are valuable points of contact for local businesses and can provide information on the range of support available. Contact details for the EFM covering Buckingham and Bletchley, and others, can be found at: www.gov.uk/government/publications/find-an-export-finance-manager
Asked by: Callum Anderson (Labour - Buckingham and Bletchley)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of regulation on scale-ups operating across multiple sectors.
Answered by Blair McDougall - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
We routinely engage businesses to get their views to assess the impact of regulation on businesses, including through our business questionnaire ‘Unlocking business: reform driven by you’ and our regular Business Perceptions Survey.
Our Regulation Action Plan introduced a series of regulatory reforms designed to make the UK the best place to grow and scale and a business. Building on this, we are shifting the way we support our scale-ups to grow, as set out in the package of growth measures announced by the Secretary of State on 20th January.
Asked by: Callum Anderson (Labour - Buckingham and Bletchley)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, how the effectiveness of the growth package for scale-ups will be evaluated.
Answered by Blair McDougall - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The growth package announced by the Secretary of State on 20th January builds upon commitments made in the Industrial Strategy. The departments and public bodies which operate the policies and programmes that make up the Industrial Strategy are responsible for conducting monitoring and evaluation of their policies. Further, the Industrial Strategy Advisory Council will oversee and provide advice in support of government to monitor and evaluate the Industrial Strategy as a whole. Government and public bodies will work with the Council to support this.
The £25m BBB investment into Kraken Technologies and £100m in fund investments will be evaluated against the BBB’s core KPIs of Gross Value Added and portfolio financial return. UKEF’s support for UK exporters through high-street banks helps to unlock additional finance for high-growth exporters and contributes to their five-year business plan which sets out their ambition to support over 1,000 SMEs per year by 2029. As the department's Accounting Officer, UKEF's CEO is accountable to Parliament.
Asked by: Callum Anderson (Labour - Buckingham and Bletchley)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps he is taking to ensure that regulatory reform supports access to domestic and international markets for scale-ups in Buckingham and Bletchley constituency.
Answered by Blair McDougall - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
Our Regulation Action Plan, published last year, included reforms to the regulatory system designed to unlock growth, boost innovation and reduce burdens across key business sectors. As part of this we will lift up to 51,000 companies from unnecessary reporting obligations through our modernising corporate reporting programme. New regulatory reviews will simplify and streamline rules, reducing paperwork, cutting duplication and supporting innovation.
Export-ready SMEs and scale-ups looking to sell to the world can access DBT’s export support services which provides free, in-market support.
Asked by: Callum Anderson (Labour - Buckingham and Bletchley)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what mechanisms exist within the UK-Indonesia Economic Growth Partnership to tackle regulatory divergence affecting cross-border trade and investment.
Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Economic Growth Partnership is a non-legally binding framework that will deepen cooperation between the UK and Indonesian Governments on areas of interest to our businesses. It is a signal of the UK and Indonesia’s commitment to grow our bilateral trade and investment.
The Economic Growth Partnership will address non-tariff and regulatory barriers raised by UK businesses, establish a regular dialogue to resolve issues and deepen co-operation in areas of commercial interest to the UK, including clean energy, health and life sciences, financial services and the digital economy.