Asked by: Tim Farron (Liberal Democrat - Westmorland and Lonsdale)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what assessment his Department has made of the return on investment of its marketing budget in 2016-17.
Answered by Greg Hands
The Department for International Trade’s (DIT) marketing activity is subject to rigorous targets for Return on Investment, relating to the value of export wins where marketing activity, such as media promotion, advertising, trade events or missions, is involved.
Assessment of the return on investment of marketing activity in 2016/17 is still on-going, as marketing continues until the end of the financial year. Furthermore, leads generated through DIT marketing activity are tracked over a longer term as they take time to be converted into business wins.
Asked by: Tim Farron (Liberal Democrat - Westmorland and Lonsdale)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what the hourly pay-rate is for his Department's cleaning staff.
Answered by Greg Hands
The Department for International Trade is currently a tenant in other buildings that belong to several other government departments. We do not therefore directly employ cleaners, as the contract is all managed by the property management company for the main landlord.
Asked by: Tim Farron (Liberal Democrat - Westmorland and Lonsdale)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what the cost to date has been of his Department's trade and investment campaign, launched on 25 January 2017; and how much of that cost has been incurred through advertising in international airport hubs.
Answered by Greg Hands
The total budget for the Department’s trade and investment marketing campaign covering April 2016 to March 2017 is £12.3m. Of this, £2.4m is being spent on promotion in international hub airports as part of a multichannel marketing approach to target international decision makers. The campaign aims to attract high quality inward investment leads and business opportunities for British companies. The initiative is part of the government’s GREAT Britain campaign, which has so far secured confirmed economic returns of £2.5 billion for the UK, with a further £2 billion of returns currently being appraised.
Asked by: Tim Farron (Liberal Democrat - Westmorland and Lonsdale)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what proportion of payments by his Department to small businesses are made on time and in accordance with the prompt payment code.
Answered by Mark Garnier - Shadow Parliamentary Under Secretary (Work and Pensions)
The Department for International Trade (DIT) has been formed out of UK Trade and Investment (UKTI) and has assumed Trade Policy responsibilities previously held by the Department for Business Innovation and Skills (BIS). My Rt hon Friend the Secretary of State for International Trade also has responsibility for UK Export Finance (the Export Credits Guarantee Department), which has its own budget. The transfer of functions order established the Secretary of State as a corporation sole on 09/11/2016, prior to this DIT was a unified Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) and Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS) department for accounting purposes.
DIT aims to pay 80% of undisputed and valid invoices within 5 days and the remainder within 30 days. To support prompt payment, DIT is required to accept unstructured e-invoices (invoices which can be sent in by email).
DIT will publish our overall payment performance data in our annual report and accounts and at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications?keywords=&publication_filter_option=transparency-data&topics%5B%5D=all&departments%5B%5D=department-for-international-trade&official_document_status=all&world_locations%5B%5D=all&from_date=&to_date.
Asked by: Tim Farron (Liberal Democrat - Westmorland and Lonsdale)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what the value of arms sales from the UK to the Saudi government was in 2015.
Answered by Mark Garnier - Shadow Parliamentary Under Secretary (Work and Pensions)
The Government publishes Official Statistics (on a quarterly and annual basis) on the value of export licences granted and those refused on GOV.UK:
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/strategic-export-controls-licensing-data
Asked by: Tim Farron (Liberal Democrat - Westmorland and Lonsdale)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, how much his Department has spent on agency workers in each of the last five years.
Answered by Mark Garnier - Shadow Parliamentary Under Secretary (Work and Pensions)
The Department for International Trade (DIT) has been forged out of the forerunner (non-ministerial) Department UK Trade and Investment (UKTI) and has assumed the Trade Policy Unit responsibilities previously held by the Department for Business Innovation and Skills (BIS). My Rt hon Friend the Secretary of State for International Trade also has responsibility for UK Export Finance (the Export Credits Guarantee Department), which has its own budget.
The budget of the department is currently being established and will be submitted to Parliament later this financial year.
Asked by: Tim Farron (Liberal Democrat - Westmorland and Lonsdale)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, pursuant to the Answer of 12 September to Question 45236, to which destinations (a) ministers and (b) officials have taken flights as part of their official duties since his Department was established.
Answered by Greg Hands
Since the inception of the department, as part of their official duties Ministers and accompanying officials have visited:
Rt. Hon Friend the Secretary of State for International Trade (Liam Fox) - USA, India, Switzerland, Bahrain, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Northern Ireland, Scotland.
Rt. Hon Friend the Minister of State (Greg Hands) - USA, Germany, Taiwan, Korea.
Hon Friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Mark Garnier) - Burma, Thailand, Israel, France.
Noble Friend the Minister of State (Lord Price CVO) - China, South Korea, USA, Germany, Brazil, Switzerland, Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia.