Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Hinckley and Bosworth)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what assessment she has made of the effectiveness of the Government's Open Doors campaign to increasing British food and drink exports.
Answered by Marcus Fysh
The Open Doors campaign formed a key part of our work to help UK agriculture food and drink businesses seize new export opportunities. The programme of educational masterclass and mentoring programmes engaged over 100 food producers. The campaign highlighted the help available to companies from government and the wider industry network.
We continue to support agriculture food and drink exports through Department for International Trade (DIT) services such as the Export Support Service, the Export Academy, UK Export Finance, our International Trade Advisers across England and DIT teams in all parts of the UK.
Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Hinckley and Bosworth)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what discussions she has had with relevant stakeholders in the East Midlands, including Bosworth, to help ensure that the region can make use of potential opportunities through the trade agreements with Australia and New Zealand.
Answered by Conor Burns
Dedicated officials in the East Midlands regularly discuss the opportunities free trade agreements (FTAs) present with Local Enterprise Partnerships, Business Representative Organisations, and local Chambers of Commerce.
We also consult stakeholders through ‘town hall’ style briefings, roundtables, webinars and bilateral & group engagements. For example, we held an update for stakeholders on the UK-Australia FTA in December 2021, and a further update on the UK–New Zealand FTA in February 2022.
Throughout negotiations, the department consulted various stakeholder groups and will continue to do so to ensure that citizens and businesses across the East Midlands take advantage of our first two from-scratch FTAs.
Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Hinckley and Bosworth)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what assessment she has made of the effectiveness of engagement between her Department and companies in (a) Bosworth and (b) Leicestershire on securing potential opportunities through the trade agreements with Australia and New Zealand.
Answered by Conor Burns
We remain committed to listening to a wide range of voices to ensure our trade policy delivers for the whole of the UK, including businesses in the East Midlands.
To deliver this we have established an extensive stakeholder engagement framework consisting of various mechanisms to allow business and civil society stakeholders the opportunity to feed into our trade policy.
We continually look at our structures and speak to our stakeholders, including businesses in the East Midlands, to ensure our consultation approach remains fit for purpose, informs our negotiating position, and helps to deliver trade deals that benefit the whole country.
Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Hinckley and Bosworth)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what steps she is taking to (a) profile and (b) promote the UK hospitality sector as part of Government initiatives to encourage international trade such as the GREAT campaign.
Answered by Mike Freer
The GREAT Britain and Northern Ireland campaign provides global brand recognition to support the promotion of the UK’s strengths around the world. Earlier this month, through the GREAT campaign, the Department for International Trade supported the hospitality, and wider UK food and drink sector, at the Gulfood trade show in Dubai as well as at Dubai Expo. Additionally, the national tourism agency VisitBritain recently launched its new £10 million international GREAT Britain marketing campaign ‘Welcome to Another Side of Britain’ to drive inbound tourism, with the aim of further supporting the hospitality industry.