Asked by: Jonathan Edwards (Independent - Carmarthen East and Dinefwr)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what steps she is taking to promote Welsh exports at the UK-Africa Investment Summit in January 2020.
Answered by Graham Stuart
The UK-Africa Investment Summit will bring together UK and African business representatives, African leaders and delegations from 21 countries, international institutions, and young entrepreneurs. The Summit will create new lasting partnerships that will deliver more investment, jobs and growth, benefitting people and businesses across both Africa and in all four nations of the UK. This department engages with business across the whole of the UK to ensure that they have tools required to trade overseas; the Summit will be used as a platform to announce a number of commercial deals involving UK businesses and their partners across Africa. The Government will also announce further funding to reduce the cost of trading within Africa, and support businesses from across Britain and Africa to trade more and grow faster.
In September 2019, I met with the Noble Baroness Morgan of Ely, Welsh Government Minister for International Relations and the Welsh Language, in Newport. We discussed how we might work together more closely on trade promotion and create greater synergies across our sector teams.
Asked by: Jonathan Edwards (Independent - Carmarthen East and Dinefwr)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what discussions she has had with representatives of Trade and Invest Wales on promoting Wales' trading interests at the UK-Africa Investment Summit in January 2020.
Answered by Graham Stuart
The UK-Africa Investment Summit will bring together UK and African business representatives, African leaders and delegations from 21 countries, international institutions, and young entrepreneurs. The Summit will create new lasting partnerships that will deliver more investment, jobs and growth, benefitting people and businesses across both Africa and in all four nations of the UK. This department engages with business across the whole of the UK to ensure that they have tools required to trade overseas; the Summit will be used as a platform to announce a number of commercial deals involving UK businesses and their partners across Africa. The Government will also announce further funding to reduce the cost of trading within Africa, and support businesses from across Britain and Africa to trade more and grow faster.
In September 2019, I met with the Noble Baroness Morgan of Ely, Welsh Government Minister for International Relations and the Welsh Language, in Newport. We discussed how we might work together more closely on trade promotion and create greater synergies across our sector teams.
Asked by: Jonathan Edwards (Independent - Carmarthen East and Dinefwr)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what assessment she has made of the potential for changes to product standards in respect of trade agreements with (a) Australia and (b) New Zealand after the transition period.
Answered by Conor Burns
The Government has been clear that we will not compromise on our world class environmental and consumer protection, animal welfare, and food standards. Any future trade agreements, including with Australia and New Zealand, must uphold our high standards and work for UK consumers and business.
Asked by: Jonathan Edwards (Independent - Carmarthen East and Dinefwr)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, with reference to his Department's consultations on trade negotiations with (a) the US, (b) Australia, (c) New Zealand and (d) potential accession to the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, what discussions his Department has had with representatives of (i) farming unions and (ii) trades unions during the consultation period.
Answered by George Hollingbery
In addition to ongoing regular engagement with these organisations, the Department ran a series of outreach events to engage stakeholders on the consultation. This included a town hall event in London which the NFU attended and a roundtable in Leeds hosted by the TUC.
Asked by: Jonathan Edwards (Independent - Carmarthen East and Dinefwr)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what formal consultation his Department had with the Welsh Government during the consultation period on (a) trade negotiations with (i) the US, (ii) Australia, and (iii) New Zealand and (b) potential accession to the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership.
Answered by George Hollingbery
The consultation exercise on the proposed Free Trade Agreements with the US, Australia, New Zealand and potential accession to the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, was one of the largest ever undertaken by the UK Government.
As part of this extensive programme, the Welsh Government, along with the other devolved administrations (DAs), was invited to formally respond to the consultation. The response that the Welsh Government submitted was explored in detail between the Department for International Trade (DIT) and Welsh Government officials in December and discussions were held on the response during a quadrilateral that I held with DA ministers in January.
Prior to publication of the summary of responses to DIT’s consultations last week, the DAs received an advance copy.
Alongside these specific discussions, there is extensive ongoing engagement that DIT has with the Welsh Government on trade policy. I have regular contact with my counterpart, the Noble Lady Baroness Morgan of Ely and this is supported by 6-weekly Senior Officials Group and regular technical policy roundtables.
Asked by: Jonathan Edwards (Independent - Carmarthen East and Dinefwr)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what assessment his Department has made of the economic merits of potential trade agreements between the UK and (a) the US, (b) Australia and (c) New Zealand compared to the EU’s proposed free trade agreements with those countries.
Answered by George Hollingbery
The Government has committed to publishing scoping assessments providing an economic analysis of proposed trade agreements prior to negotiations. These will present the results of economic modelling, giving an indication of the potential impacts on the UK and partner country’s economy.
We have not undertaken any assessments of the EU’s proposed agreements with those countries as negotiations are still ongoing and it would therefore be premature to do so at this stage. However, the Government believes that the UK’s departure from the European Union offers us an opportunity to negotiate and design our own trade arrangements, and that we will be able to pursue these agreements in line with UK interests.
Asked by: Jonathan Edwards (Independent - Carmarthen East and Dinefwr)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what comparative assessment his Department has made of the potential economic merits of the UK acceding to the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership with the benefits of the UK's membership of the European Single Market.
Answered by George Hollingbery
The Government has committed to publishing scoping assessments providing an economic analysis of proposed trade agreements prior to negotiations, including CPTPP. This will present the results of economic modelling, giving an indication of the potential impacts on the UK and partner country’s economy. The Government published its assessment of the long-run economic impact of leaving the European Union in November 2018, which presented the economic impact arising from signing a wide range of illustrative free trade agreements, including with current members of CPTPP.
Asked by: Jonathan Edwards (Independent - Carmarthen East and Dinefwr)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what comparative assessment his Department has made of the potential environmental merits of the UK acceding to the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership with the UK's membership of the European Single Market.
Answered by George Hollingbery
The Government has committed to publishing scoping assessments providing an economic analysis of proposed trade agreements prior to negotiations, including CPTPP, which includes potential impacts on the environment. The Department for Environment and Rural Affairs and the Department for Exiting the European Union may be able to provide further information regarding environmental impacts of the European Single Market.
Asked by: Jonathan Edwards (Independent - Carmarthen East and Dinefwr)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what estimate he has made of the (a) premium income for defence transactions, (b) claims paid for defence sector contracts and (c) monies at risk for defence transactions in the 2018-19 financial year.
Answered by George Hollingbery
During financial year 2018/19 UK Export Finance’s (UKEF) support for defence sector transactions generated £109.7m in premium income, in relation to guarantees and insurance issued with a value of £3,057.9m. No claims in respect of defence sector transactions were paid by UKEF in 2018/19.
Where such information is not commercially sensitive, UKEF publishes details of the companies it has supported on an annual basis in its Annual Report and Accounts which are presented to Parliament and can be found on UKEF’s website.
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/uk-export-finance-annual-reports-and-accounts
Asked by: Jonathan Edwards (Independent - Carmarthen East and Dinefwr)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, how many staff worked for the Defence and Security Organisation (DSO) on 1 April 2019; how many of those staff worked in the Export Support Team; and what the DSO's budget is for 2019-20.
Answered by Graham Stuart
As of 1 April 2019 the Defence and Security Organisation (DSO) had a total workforce of 111 staff of which 23 worked for the Export Support Team and were military MOD staff.
DSO’s budget for 2019-20 is £8.4m.