Asked by: Joshua Reynolds (Liberal Democrat - Maidenhead)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what the value of exports facilitated by his Department was in each of the last five financial years by destination country.
Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Department supported businesses to deliver export wins worth £16.9bn in 2020/21, £17.3bn in 2021/22, and £19.6bn in 2022/23. In 2023/24 over £36bn and almost £24bn in 2024/25 export wins were delivered.
The Department does not provide country-specific wins due to the risk of disclosing commercially sensitive deals.
Asked by: Joshua Reynolds (Liberal Democrat - Maidenhead)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential (a) implications for his Department's policies and (b) investment in UK digital infrastructure of recent survey evidence on barriers to competition in the UK cloud market.
Answered by Kate Dearden - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
There are currently no plans to undertake such an assessment. The Competition and Markets Authority’s cloud services market investigation examined the state of competition in the market. The Government remains committed to supporting investment in high‑quality, secure and resilient digital infrastructure across the UK.
Asked by: Joshua Reynolds (Liberal Democrat - Maidenhead)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what is the total cost to the public purse of the trade envoy programme; and whether a trade envoy has been removed for failing to meet performance benchmarks.
Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
Over the last three years, the Department has spent, on average, the following amounts on the UK Trade Envoy Programme, including DBT staff costs. We intend the overall cost of the programme to reduce during the next financial year.
2023/2024 | 2024/2025 | 2025/2026 |
£1,043,805 | £862,369* | £988,620 |
* The figure in column two is lower than other years because the election resulted in the programme being paused for several months.
UK Trade Envoys must adhere to the seven principles of public life as set out by the Committee on Standards in Public Life and can be removed should they not meet such standards.
Asked by: Joshua Reynolds (Liberal Democrat - Maidenhead)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what recent assessment he has made of the value delivered to small and medium-sized businesses by the trade envoy programme compared with support available through UK Export Finance and his own Department's direct export services.
Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
This is an impossible question to answer as the whole point of the UK Trade Envoy Programme is that it complements the work of UKEF and DBT’s direct export services in supporting SMEs. Trade Envoys provide high-level advocacy and market access, UKEF delivers financial backing, and DBT offers practical export guidance. Together, these initiatives form a comprehensive package to help SMEs succeed internationally.
Asked by: Joshua Reynolds (Liberal Democrat - Maidenhead)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether his Department uses a criteria to assess the reputational implications for the United Kingdom of appointing a trade envoy to a country with a poor human rights record.
Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
UK Trade Envoy markets are identified in discussion with HM Trade Commissioners and the trade and investment opportunities available to UK business. Trade Envoys operate within wider trading policies in support of the Government’s objectives, working closely with Ministers and officials, including the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office.
Asked by: Joshua Reynolds (Liberal Democrat - Maidenhead)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what progress trade envoys have made in reducing non-tariff barriers to trade for businesses in their designated markets.
Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
UK Trade Envoys primarily support UK exports in their respective market, but they also help identify tariff and non-tariff barriers that impede trade.
Asked by: Joshua Reynolds (Liberal Democrat - Maidenhead)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps he is taking to improve transparency and public accountability of the trade envoy programme, including the publication of outcomes achieved and costs incurred.
Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Trade Envoy Programme is a network of Parliamentarians appointed to specific markets by the Secretary of State for Business and Trade. Membership of the programme is cross party and includes representation from both the House of Commons and House of Lords. The programme abides by all transparency and public accountability rules.
Asked by: Joshua Reynolds (Liberal Democrat - Maidenhead)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether he has made an assessment of (a) the prevalence of unfair trading practices in the UK clothing supply chain and (b) the potential merits of establishing a Garment Trading Adjudicator to provide redress for affected suppliers.
Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The government expects all UK businesses to respect human rights and the environment throughout their supply chains in line with the OECD Guidelines and UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. Section 54 of the UK’s Modern Slavery Act 2015 requires businesses with a turnover of £36m or more to publish modern slavery statements.
The Office for Responsible Business Conduct promotes the OECD Guidelines and provides a non-judicial grievance mechanism for complaints of non-observance by UK businesses. The government also launched a review, through the Trade Strategy, into the UK’s approach to responsible business conduct (RBC), focused on tackling human rights and labour abuses and environmental harms in global supply chains. While concerns have been raised about unfair practices, there are currently no plans to introduce a Garment Trading Adjudicator, however other measures are under consideration as part of the RBC review. We shall update the House when the review is complete.
Asked by: Joshua Reynolds (Liberal Democrat - Maidenhead)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, how many directors with responsibility for human resources are employed in his Department and its executive agencies; and how many of those directors hold professional HR qualifications from the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development or equivalent professional bodies.
Answered by Kate Dearden - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
It is not appropriate to publish individual-level personal data in a Parliamentary Question response.
Asked by: Joshua Reynolds (Liberal Democrat - Maidenhead)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of the EU's Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism on British Steel's export competitiveness during the period of special measures.
Answered by Chris McDonald - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
HMG regularly engages British Steel and wider industry to understand the impact of the EU CBAM. UK businesses may face administrative costs providing emissions data to EU importers to support their compliance with the EU CBAM. The cost of certificates for the carbon price liability of embedded emissions is borne by EU importers.
To support business readiness, the Department for Business and Trade has compiled a comprehensive package, including webinars and an explainer on business.gov.uk. The Government is also engaging with the European Commission on emissions trading scheme linking, which is expected to facilitate a mutual UK-EU CBAM exemption in due course.