Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central and West)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
ORIGINAL: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, pursuant to the Answer of 27 January 2023 to Question 126639 on Trade Promotion, whether her Department identifies a difference between diaspora and diversity.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
The question answered on 27 January, UIN: 126639, made reference to both diversity and diaspora, and the response from my Hon. Friend for West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine, the former Parliamentary-Under Secretary of State for Exports, highlighted our department’s commitment to diversity, however, we do not hold data on the involvement of diverse diaspora in trade delegations.
Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central and West)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what steps her Department is taking to increase (a) the global profile of and (b) investment in research and development in cities outside the London-Oxford-Cambridge triangle; and what plans she has to use trade delegations to achieve those objectives.
Answered by Andrew Bowie - Shadow Minister (Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Government is continuing to drive forward Manifesto commitments on science and technology including increasing both public and private investment in R&D, across all regions of the UK.
Our High Potential Opportunities Programme, which can be found on our Investment Atlas presents commercially attractive investment opportunities from across the UK to investors. Examples include immersive technology in the Northeast and MedTech health in Wales.
This year we have delivered 18 Trade Missions to advance our trade and investment ambitions, including a mission to the Smart City Expo in Barcelona, November 2022 where a globally renowned digital consultancy firm, with a UK branch in the Hon. Member’s constituency, attended.
Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central and West)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, whether her Department has taken steps to consult with the UK based Indian diaspora during the process of choosing (a) trade envoys and (b) delegations to India; and whether her Department holds a list of Indian diaspora organisations.
Answered by Andrew Bowie - Shadow Minister (Energy Security and Net Zero)
The UK is home to a vibrant Indian diaspora that contributes to the UK’s culture, innovation, and economy.
To help support the growth of UK businesses with trade and investment opportunities in India, including business delegations, the Department for International Trade (DIT) engages with groups such as the UK India Business Council, the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry, the Confederation of Indian Industry and the India (Trade and Investment) All Party Parliamentary Group, as well as the relevant teams at the High Commission of India. These organisations engage with a wide range of groups in the UK and India.
Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central and West)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, pursuant to the Answer of 20 January 2023 to Question 123935, on Trade Agreements: USA, whether any projects involving (a) new cooperation on digital trade or (b) securing supply chains have resulted from the talks held in Boston and Edinburgh; and if she will list the joint projects on SME tools to support UK and US firms mentioned in that Answer.
Answered by Greg Hands
Following the UK-US small and medium sized enterprises (SME) Dialogue in Edinburgh, the UK and US governments agreed to convene government officials for expert-level discussions on digital trade and customs and trade facilitation, and identify opportunities for deeper cooperation on digital issues and paperless trading. The UK and US also agreed to update and enhance resources for SME exporters, such as the existing toolkits on intellectual property and doing business in the UK and the US.
Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central and West)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, whether her Department has considered the potential merits of increasing the involvement of the UK's diverse diasporas in trade delegations; and whether she has made a recent assessment of the diversity of trade delegations.
Answered by Andrew Bowie - Shadow Minister (Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Department for International Trade (DIT) aims to be a diverse, inclusive department that is representative of the communities we serve. DIT supports and embeds the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion strategy to promote fair representation within the workforce, with a number of actions to support increased representation of underrepresented groups.
This includes the Export Strategy, within which our commitments will be underpinned by improving our data on diversity and inclusion in international trade. Recent trade delegations have included DIT support to the Tavola Food and Drink Trade show in Belgium in March 2022, where DIT supported 20 businesses, 10 of which were from an ethnic minority background, to exhibit their products.
Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central and West)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what progress has been made on implementing the actions agreed at the U.S./UK Dialogues on Future of Atlantic Trade, which took place in Baltimore in March 2022.
Answered by Greg Hands
At the UK-U.S. Dialogues, the UK and US agreed to further strengthen our bilateral trade through new cooperation on digital trade, securing supply chains, and support for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).
The Government have since held US-UK SME Dialogues in Boston in June and Edinburgh in November, where we agreed to take forward joint projects on SME tools to support UK and US firms.
In the past year the Government has worked with the US to open market access and improve the trading landscape, successfully securing the removal of Section 232 tariffs on UK steel and aluminium and the long-standing US ban on the import of British lamb.
Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central and West)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, whether a new Minister for Investment will be appointed.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
The Minister for Investment was appointed on 24th November 2022.