Asked by: Gareth Thomas (Labour (Co-op) - Harrow West)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, if she will publish the database of trade barriers referred to in the speech by the Minister for Trade Policy to the Global Trade Conference 2022 at Chatham House on 3 November 2022; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
Government routinely publishes market access barrier information via the Check International Trade Barriers service on gov.uk (https://www.check-international-trade-barriers.service.gov.uk/) which includes 469 resolved and unresolved barriers in over 60 countries.
Asked by: Gareth Thomas (Labour (Co-op) - Harrow West)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, if she will publish a list of trade barriers her Department has identified facing British businesses in (a) India, (b) France and (c) Germany; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
Government routinely publishes market access barrier information via the Check International Trade Barriers service on gov.uk (https://www.check-international-trade-barriers.service.gov.uk/) which includes 469 resolved and unresolved barriers in over 60 countries.
Asked by: Gareth Thomas (Labour (Co-op) - Harrow West)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what assessment she has made of the impact of her Department’s export strategy entitled, Made in the UK, sold to the World, published on 17 November 2021; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Andrew Bowie - Shadow Minister (Energy Security and Net Zero)
UK exports were £728 billion in the 12 months to end of August 2022, up £116 billion in current prices, adjusted for inflation this shows an increase of £49bn.
The Export Strategy provides the foundation of our support for businesses, helping them capitalise on new trade deals. Since its launch, the Export Support Service has received over 11,500 enquiries. We have expanded the Export Academy, boosted our International Trade Advisor network, the ‘Made in the UK, Sold to the World’ campaign continues to inspire businesses to export and last week’s International Trade Week attracted over 10,000 business registrations and held 120 business-facing events.
Asked by: Gareth Thomas (Labour (Co-op) - Harrow West)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, whether officials from her Department have had discussions with representatives of companies that have stopped trading with the European Union since the end of the Brexit transition period on the reasons behind those business decisions; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Marcus Fysh
The Department for International Trade remains committed to listening to a wide range of voices to ensure our trade policy delivers for the whole of the UK, including businesses. We have established an extensive stakeholder engagement framework allowing business and stakeholders the opportunity to feed into our trade policy.
In addition, the Export Support Service (ESS), has helped over 11,500 UK businesses trade with Europe. ESS has also contacted businesses that have stopped trading with the EU to make them aware of support available.
Asked by: Gareth Thomas (Labour (Co-op) - Harrow West)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what assessment she had made of the potential merits of including (a) covid-19 treatments, and (b) diagnostics in the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights waiver negotiation.
Answered by Greg Hands
The UK is engaging in the ongoing discussions taking place in the World Trade Organization, as Members consider extending the TRIPS Decision to COVID-19 therapeutics and diagnostics.
The UK approach will be evidence based.
Asked by: Gareth Thomas (Labour (Co-op) - Harrow West)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, how much her Department (a) spent on and (b) plans to spend on funding British businesses to attend trade shows in India in (i) 2021 and (ii) 2022; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Marcus Fysh
All of the tradeshows in India that the Department for International Trade (DIT) had planned to support at the start of 2021 (January – March) via the old Tradeshow Access Programme were cancelled due to Covid. Tradeshows in India for the remainder of 2021 were also cancelled.
We are however making support available to UK businesses for them to attend and exhibit at a number of events in India for the remainder of 2022/23, via the new UK Tradeshow Programme.
DIT actively supports businesses in a variety of ways to seek export opportunities in India.
Asked by: Gareth Thomas (Labour (Co-op) - Harrow West)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, how much her Department spent on funding British businesses to attend trade shows in India (a) in 2021 (b) to date in 2022; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Marcus Fysh
All of the tradeshows in India that the Department for International Trade (DIT) had planned to support at the start of 2021 (January – March) via the old Tradeshow Access Programme were cancelled due to Covid. Tradeshows in India for the remainder of 2021 were also cancelled.
We are however making support available to UK businesses for them to attend and exhibit at a number of events in India for the remainder of 2022/23, via the new UK Tradeshow Programme.
DIT actively supports businesses in a variety of ways to seek export opportunities in India.
Asked by: Gareth Thomas (Labour (Co-op) - Harrow West)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, how many full-time equivalent staff in her Department are based permanently in (a) Gujarat, (b) Delhi and (c) other states in India as on 7 September 2022; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by James Duddridge
As of 7 September, full-time equivalent staff based in a) Gujarat was 3, b) Delhi was 42, c) other states was 79 in India.
Asked by: Gareth Thomas (Labour (Co-op) - Harrow West)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what proportion of Open Individual Export Licence (OIEL) applications are not concluded after 120 working days as of 20 July 2022; and what estimate she has made of when Racal Acoustics Limited will receive a response to its OIEL application.
Answered by James Duddridge
Of the Open Individual Export Licence (OIEL) applications completed between 1st January 2021 and 31st March 2022 - the latest date for which licensing statistics have been published - 73.5% of OIEL applications were concluded within 120 working days. All other applications will be concluded as quickly as possible.
Racal’s OIEL application has been concluded.
Asked by: Gareth Thomas (Labour (Co-op) - Harrow West)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, whether she received advice from the Digital Regulation Cooperation Forum on trade negotiations with (a) Australia and (b) New Zealand; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Penny Mordaunt
Throughout the course of any Free Trade Agreement (FTA) negotiation the Department engages with various regulators and other public bodies as appropriate.
However, I am not aware of the Department receiving any advice from the Digital Regulation Co-operation Forum on the Australia and New Zealand FTAs.