Asked by: Seema Malhotra (Labour (Co-op) - Feltham and Heston)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, if she will publish the results of the Export Client Survey for each of the last five years.
Answered by Andrew Bowie - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Export Client Survey launched in 2018 and the findings for the 2018-2019 financial year have been published: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/trade-export-client-survey-ecs.
Asked by: Seema Malhotra (Labour (Co-op) - Feltham and Heston)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what assessment she has made of business awareness of and satisfaction with the advice and support offered by the Export Support Team.
Answered by Andrew Bowie - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Department is in the process of collecting evidence on the services’ performance and satisfaction, in line with the principles set out in our published Monitoring and Evaluation Strategy and the analytical framework underpinning the department’s Export Strategy. Additionally, the Export Support Service (ESS) was introduced into the Export Client Survey (ECS) in April 2022 which measures overall satisfaction.
Asked by: Seema Malhotra (Labour (Co-op) - Feltham and Heston)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, how many questions the Export Support Team has (a) received and (b) answered in each month since its creation.
Answered by Andrew Bowie - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
From launch to 30 November 2022, the Export Support Service (ESS) has received 12,193 enquiries, of which 12,138 (99.5%) are closed enquiries. Enquiry volumes separated by month, are provided in the table.
Month | (a) Total Enquiries | (b) Total Closed Enquiries | ||
Pre - Oct 21* | 185 | 185 |
| |
Oct-21 | 1028 | 1028 |
| |
Nov-21 | 1177 | 1177 |
| |
Dec-21 | 846 | 846 |
| |
Jan-22 | 1165 | 1165 |
| |
Feb-22 | 1186 | 1186 |
| |
Mar-22 | 2828 | 2828 |
| |
Apr-22 | 748 | 748 |
| |
May-22 | 604 | 602 |
| |
Jun-22 | 526 | 524 |
| |
Jul-22 | 441 | 439 |
| |
Aug-22 | 422 | 421 |
| |
Sep-22 | 402 | 401 |
| |
Oct-22 | 303 | 299 |
| |
Nov-22 | 332 | 289 |
| |
Asked by: Seema Malhotra (Labour (Co-op) - Feltham and Heston)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what assessment her Department has made of any potential barriers that small businesses face when exporting overseas.
Answered by Andrew Bowie - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Through the Export Strategy, the Department for International Trade is targeting the barriers affecting small-and-medium sized businesses (SMEs) by providing a single point of contact for businesses who export or wish to do so as well as helping them access opportunities in new markets.
As well as negotiating Free Trade Agreement (FTA) chapters, our work on market access includes removing non-tariff barriers. Last year (FY 21-22) we resolved 192 barriers, just 45 of which are estimated to boost UK exports by around £5 billion over the next five years.
Supported by the Export Support Service (ESS), the UK Export Academy, UK Export Finance, our International Trade Advisers and global networks, UK businesses will be supported at every stage in their export journey.
Asked by: Seema Malhotra (Labour (Co-op) - Feltham and Heston)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, how many young people aged eighteen or younger have undertaken work experience in her Department in the last 12 months; and what proportion of those young people were (a) girls and (b) boys from state schools.
Answered by James Duddridge
Work Experience at the Department for International Trade
During the period September 2021-September 2022 the Department for International Trade hosted a total of 11 young people on a work experience placement of up to five days.
The numbers and proportion for girls, boys and state schools are in the table below.
Breakdown of participant numbers between September 2021 and September 2022
Girls | Boys | Total | State Schools | Non-state Schools |
6 (54.5%) | 5 (45.5%) | 11 (100%) | 6 (54.5) | 5 (45.5%) |
Work Experience at UK Export Finance
During the period September 2021-September 2022 UK Export Finance hosted one male on a work experience scheme. We do not hold any information relating to their schooling.
Asked by: Seema Malhotra (Labour (Co-op) - Feltham and Heston)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, how many businesses from the UK's (a) hospitality, (b) retail and (c) leisure sector have exhibited in the UK's pavilion at Expo 2020 Dubai between 1 October and 14 December 2021.
Answered by Mike Freer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The UK Pavilion at Expo 2020 Dubai is the centre point of a business culture education and tourism programme that promotes the UK and UK companies in a number of different ways. UK expertise and excellence is promoted through the retail of food and drink, physical showcasing, thought leadership sessions, business and networking events and through online podcasts, virtual events and media/communications.
The activity at the UK Pavilion is arranged by the UK Government via the Department for International Trade (DIT) and also by sponsors and UK companies/organisations using the space to deliver their own events and messages. The number of UK companies that have taken part in the DIT programme as speakers, panellists and providers of podcasts online and physically to date are:
Fashion and Retail: 11
Creative Industries: 30
The UK Company Living Hospitality are providing the onsite retailing of food and drink using menus that are designed to showcase the whole of the UK. UK food and drink is also highlighted at the Pavilion’s events and online.
Food showcasing is also taking place within sponsors’ events at the Pavilion, notably Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland’s events. The Young Chef Young Waiter Competition held at the UK Pavilion and in the City of Dubai also showcased and promoted the best of the UK hospitality sector.
Asked by: Seema Malhotra (Labour (Co-op) - Feltham and Heston)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what proportion of staff in her Department in receipt of each category of Honour in (a) December 2018 and (b) June 2019 were (i) from ethnic minority backgrounds and (ii) female aged (A) under 30, (B) 31 to 40, (C) 41 to 50 and (D) aged over 50.
Answered by Conor Burns
The Government is committed to ensuring that the honours system is fully representative of UK society. The proportion of women and people from ethnic minorities receiving recognition on each honours list is available on GOV.UK and a breakdown of ethnicities of recipients is published on the Ethnicity Facts and Figures website at https://www.ethnicity-facts-figures.service.gov.uk/culture-and-community/civic-participation/honours-recipients/latest Information on ages is not correlated with other diversity factors.
The numbers of honours recipients in the Department for International Trade are very small and vary from year to year. Releasing the requested data would identify the individuals when they have given permission for their data to be used for statistical purposes only.
Asked by: Seema Malhotra (Labour (Co-op) - Feltham and Heston)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, how many BAME staff are employed at (a) grade 7, (b) grade 5 and (c) grade 3 in his Department.
Answered by Conor Burns
The following table shows the number of staff in the Department for International Trade (DIT) (including UK Export Finance) who have self-reported as BAME on departmental systems, as at 30 June 2019.
Grade | Number of staff who have self-reported as BAME (30 June 2019) |
Grade 7 | 81 |
Grade 5 (SCS1) | 15 |
Grade 3 (SCS2) | Fewer than 5 |
As ethnic minority staff remain underrepresented at senior levels across the Civil Service, ambitious targets were set in June 2018 to increase the flow of ethnic minority civil servants into the SCS. By 2025, we aim for 13.2% of new SCS starters to be from an ethnic minority background across the Civil Service.
In DIT, 24% of new SCS starters since April 2017 are BAME.
Asked by: Seema Malhotra (Labour (Co-op) - Feltham and Heston)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what recent steps he has taken to prepare companies that trade with countries under EU free trade agreements (FTA) where the provisions of those FTAs have not been replicated.
Answered by George Hollingbery
Our priority is securing a deal with the European Union as this will avoid disruption to our global trading relationships. However, we must prepare for all eventualities.
The Government has published advice to businesses on trade continuity in a no deal, including a highly cautious list of those agreements that will not be in place, in order that businesses and individuals ensure that they are prepared for every eventuality.
Should replacement agreements not be ready in time for 29 March 2019, the Government is considering a range of options to ensure that its continuity agreements can be brought into force as soon as possible.
Asked by: Seema Malhotra (Labour (Co-op) - Feltham and Heston)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what change there has been in staffing levels in his Department since June 2016.
Answered by George Hollingbery
When the Department for International Trade (DIT) was formed in July 2016, the number of staff was 2,504. The number of staff working for the Department for International Trade as at 30 September 2018 is 3,882.
The figures above include all people engaged in DIT and UK Export Finance (UKEF) business activities. This includes employees, contractors and those on loan from other government departments or seconded from organisations external to the Civil Service.