Asked by: Douglas Chapman (Scottish National Party - Dunfermline and West Fife)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, how much the UK pavilion at the EXPO 2020 in Dubai cost to (a) design, (b) build and (c) maintain; and whether that pavilion is still being utilised to promote UK exports and trade.
Answered by Andrew Bowie - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The UK pavilion recorded 1.1 million visits. To note ‘visits’ does not necessarily equate to separate individuals, who may have visited more than once. The number of individual visitors is not known.
Although not directly comparable, for planning purposes, the UK at Expo 2020 anticipated 10% of overall visits to the wider Expo event which was based on visitor attendance at the previous Expo. The organisers of Expo in Dubai announced 24.1m actual visits, whilst the UK registered 1.1m, equating to 4.6%. Our assessment is that this was due to the much larger scale of the Dubai Expo, and the site configuration which resulted in less overall footfall past the UK Pavilion.
The number of business contacts was not set or captured as a key success metric.
The cost to design the pavilion was £2.83m. The cost to build and maintain was covered under one contract and therefore these costs are being finalised as decommissioning (including dismantling) of the pavilion has only recently been completed.
Asked by: Douglas Chapman (Scottish National Party - Dunfermline and West Fife)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, if she will make an estimate of the number of business contacts that were made at the UK pavilion during the EXPO 2020 in Dubai in each month of that event; and whether her Department adjusted its forecast of the number of business contacts that would be made during that event.
Answered by Andrew Bowie - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The UK pavilion recorded 1.1 million visits. To note ‘visits’ does not necessarily equate to separate individuals, who may have visited more than once. The number of individual visitors is not known.
Although not directly comparable, for planning purposes, the UK at Expo 2020 anticipated 10% of overall visits to the wider Expo event which was based on visitor attendance at the previous Expo. The organisers of Expo in Dubai announced 24.1m actual visits, whilst the UK registered 1.1m, equating to 4.6%. Our assessment is that this was due to the much larger scale of the Dubai Expo, and the site configuration which resulted in less overall footfall past the UK Pavilion.
The number of business contacts was not set or captured as a key success metric.
The cost to design the pavilion was £2.83m. The cost to build and maintain was covered under one contract and therefore these costs are being finalised as decommissioning (including dismantling) of the pavilion has only recently been completed.
Asked by: Douglas Chapman (Scottish National Party - Dunfermline and West Fife)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, if she will make an estimate of whether the number of people who attended the UK pavilion during the EXPO 2020 in Dubai was higher than her Department had anticipated in advance of that event.
Answered by Andrew Bowie - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The UK pavilion recorded 1.1 million visits. To note ‘visits’ does not necessarily equate to separate individuals, who may have visited more than once. The number of individual visitors is not known.
Although not directly comparable, for planning purposes, the UK at Expo 2020 anticipated 10% of overall visits to the wider Expo event which was based on visitor attendance at the previous Expo. The organisers of Expo in Dubai announced 24.1m actual visits, whilst the UK registered 1.1m, equating to 4.6%. Our assessment is that this was due to the much larger scale of the Dubai Expo, and the site configuration which resulted in less overall footfall past the UK Pavilion.
The number of business contacts was not set or captured as a key success metric.
The cost to design the pavilion was £2.83m. The cost to build and maintain was covered under one contract and therefore these costs are being finalised as decommissioning (including dismantling) of the pavilion has only recently been completed.
Asked by: Douglas Chapman (Scottish National Party - Dunfermline and West Fife)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, if he will make an estimate of the number of people who attended the UK pavilion during the EXPO 2020 in Dubai.
Answered by Andrew Bowie - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The UK pavilion recorded 1.1 million visits. To note ‘visits’ does not necessarily equate to separate individuals, who may have visited more than once. The number of individual visitors is not known.
Although not directly comparable, for planning purposes, the UK at Expo 2020 anticipated 10% of overall visits to the wider Expo event which was based on visitor attendance at the previous Expo. The organisers of Expo in Dubai announced 24.1m actual visits, whilst the UK registered 1.1m, equating to 4.6%. Our assessment is that this was due to the much larger scale of the Dubai Expo, and the site configuration which resulted in less overall footfall past the UK Pavilion.
The number of business contacts was not set or captured as a key success metric.
The cost to design the pavilion was £2.83m. The cost to build and maintain was covered under one contract and therefore these costs are being finalised as decommissioning (including dismantling) of the pavilion has only recently been completed.
Asked by: Douglas Chapman (Scottish National Party - Dunfermline and West Fife)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what recent discussions her Department has held with relevant business stakeholders on the Tradeshow Access Programme.
Answered by Graham Stuart
I refer the hon. Member for Dunfermline and West Fife to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for North Durham on 15 July 2021, UIN: 28980.
Asked by: Douglas Chapman (Scottish National Party - Dunfermline and West Fife)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, who the members of the reconvened Board of Trade are; and what assessment he has made of the most significant achievements of that Board for the Scottish economy have been since June 2017.
Answered by George Hollingbery
The Rt Hon Dr Liam Fox MP Secretary of State for International Trade, in his role as President of the Board of Trade, Chairs the Board of Trade meetings. The advisers can be found online: https://www.gov.uk/government/groups/board-of-trade.
The Board meets four times a year, with meetings rotated around the UK. Doing so guarantees all parts of the Union have a chance to raise the issues most important to them. The Board has met five times since it was convened in October 2017.
The third meeting took place at Stirling Castle on 17 May 2018. The networking reception involved local Scottish businesses and government representatives, and aimed to support and celebrate trade and investment with Scotland. During the reception the Secretary of State for International Trade launched the High Potential Opportunities programme (part of the FDI Strategy) and presented Board of Trade Awards to Aggreko, Alexander Dennis Limited, Bowalds Energy Ltd, Speyside Distillers Company Limited, Enerquip Limited and McGavigan Ltd. The Board of Trade Awards celebrate businesses which show exceptional innovation, deliver prosperity to their local communities, and champion free trade.
The National Trade Academy Programme also ran a Global Trade and Investment Seminar on 17 May 2018 in Stirling, which brought together expert speakers from academia, business and government to discuss the importance of trade and internationalization for business. Over 50 students from three local academic institutions had the opportunity to gain insight into the importance of international trade and investment in national economic
Asked by: Douglas Chapman (Scottish National Party - Dunfermline and West Fife)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, how many Scottish based small and medium sized enterprises were invited to take part in the Prime Minister's trade visit to China in January 2018.
Answered by Graham Stuart
The Department of International Trade worked alongside colleagues from across the UK and its devolved administrations to identify companies to join the Prime Minister’s business delegation. This process included wide consultation with our counterpart, Scottish Development International.
Each of the nine English regions and the three devolved administrations were represented in the 50-strong delegation, including two Scottish based small and medium-sized enterprises – the Scotch Whisky Association and NPL Group. One large Scottish company, Standard Life Aberdeen, was also represented on the delegation.
In total, three small and medium-sized companies and two large Scottish companies were invited to participate in the visit.
Asked by: Douglas Chapman (Scottish National Party - Dunfermline and West Fife)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, how many Scottish based small and medium sized enterprises were invited to take part in the Prime Minister's trade visit to China in January 2018.
Answered by Graham Stuart
The Department of International Trade worked alongside colleagues from across the UK and its devolved administrations to identify companies to join the Prime Minister’s business delegation. This process included wide consultation with our counterpart, Scottish Development International.
Each of the nine English regions and the three devolved administrations were represented in the 50-strong delegation, including two Scottish based small and medium-sized enterprises – the Scotch Whisky Association and NPL Group. One large Scottish company, Standard Life Aberdeen, was also represented on the delegation.
In total, three small and medium-sized companies and two large Scottish companies were invited to participate in the visit.
Asked by: Douglas Chapman (Scottish National Party - Dunfermline and West Fife)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what the value was of trade deals agreed by Scottish-based businesses which took part in the January 2018 trade visit to China by the Prime Minister.
Answered by Graham Stuart
During the Prime Minister’s visit to China over £9 billion in deals were announced including three Scottish-Chinese commercial agreements:
Details of these deals are commercially confidential.
Asked by: Douglas Chapman (Scottish National Party - Dunfermline and West Fife)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what the value was of trade deals agreed by Scottish-based businesses which took part in the January 2018 trade visit to China by the Prime Minister.
Answered by Graham Stuart
During the Prime Minister’s visit to China over £9 billion in deals were announced including three Scottish-Chinese commercial agreements:
Details of these deals are commercially confidential.