Asked by: Tulip Siddiq (Labour - Hampstead and Highgate)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, how many times she has met representatives of Fairtrade since July 2019.
Answered by Graham Stuart
My Rt Hon. Friend the Secretary of State for International Trade has not met with Fairtrade representatives in the period from July 2019 to the present.
Asked by: Tulip Siddiq (Labour - Hampstead and Highgate)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, how much debt Iran owes UK Export Finance.
Answered by Graham Stuart
Iran’s debt to UK Export Finance is £28.4 million.
Asked by: Tulip Siddiq (Labour - Hampstead and Highgate)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what repayments have been made by Iran to UK Export Finance for debt incurred on purchases of UK-manufactured military equipment in the 1970s; and on what dates those repayments were made.
Answered by Graham Stuart
No repayments by way of recovery have been made by Iran directly to UK Export Finance for debt incurred on purchases of UK-manufactured military equipment in the 1970s. However, payments have been made to UK Export Finance via exporters, for some contracts in this time period.
Asked by: Tulip Siddiq (Labour - Hampstead and Highgate)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, whether UK Export Finance undertake environmental impact assessments of oil and gas projects that it funds.
Answered by Conor Burns
UK Export Finance (UKEF) is committed to high standards of environmental, social and human rights (ESHR) risk management. It rigorously follows the requirements of the OECD Common Approaches and Equator Principles, which set the framework for export credit agencies and international financial institutions in managing such risks. Fundamental to this framework is a requirement for the sponsor of relevant projects which are to receive eligible UK exports to develop an Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA), or equivalent suite of documents, to international standards.
UKEF has a specialist ESHR team that reviews relevant projects before UKEF makes any decision. This includes all oil and gas projects falling within the scope of either, or both, of the OECD Common Approaches or the Equator Principles. These supported projects are then monitored by the ESHR team throughout the lifetime of UKEF’s support to ensure continuing compliance with these requirements.
Asked by: Tulip Siddiq (Labour - Hampstead and Highgate)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, whether the environmental impact is a criterion in UK Export Finance's decision-making in relation to grant support to companies.
Answered by Conor Burns
UK Export Finance (UKEF) is committed to high standards of environmental, social and human rights (ESHR) risk management. It rigorously follows the requirements of the OECD Common Approaches and Equator Principles, which set the framework for export credit agencies and international financial institutions in managing such risks. Fundamental to this framework is a requirement for the sponsor of relevant projects which are to receive eligible UK exports to develop an Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA), or equivalent suite of documents, to international standards.
UKEF has a specialist ESHR team that reviews relevant projects before UKEF makes any decision. This includes all oil and gas projects falling within the scope of either, or both, of the OECD Common Approaches or the Equator Principles. These supported projects are then monitored by the ESHR team throughout the lifetime of UKEF’s support to ensure continuing compliance with these requirements.
Asked by: Tulip Siddiq (Labour - Hampstead and Highgate)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what value of sovereign debt has been written off by UK Export Finance or its predecessors in relation to (a) Iran, (b) Iraq and (c) Jordan since 1970.
Answered by Conor Burns
In respect of export credit guarantee instalments that have fallen due since 1970, please note the following.
Iran: Iran has repaid principal and contractual interest in full. In alignment with other export credit agencies, UK Export Finance (UKEF) has cancelled default interest. The value of this was around £530k.
Iraq: Under the United Kingdom/Iraq Debt Agreement No 1, which was signed in 2006 and which implemented the terms of Iraq’s 2004 multilateral Paris Club debt treatment, UKEF cancelled around £1bn of debt.
Jordan: In 2008, following Jordan’s early repayment of its outstanding Paris Club debt, Paris Club creditors agreed a global discount of 11% for the early repayment. In line with this agreement, UKEF cancelled around £42m in debt. In addition, a number of debt conversions involving Jordan took place between 2001 and 2006 which resulted in the cancellation of around £39m of debt.
Asked by: Tulip Siddiq (Labour - Hampstead and Highgate)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, whether her Department keeps a record of the total amount of sovereign debt owed to the UK related to the Ministry of Defence owned company IMS Ltd or its predecessor that has been written off since 1970.
Answered by Conor Burns
No sovereign debt has been written off by UK Export Finance in respect of IMS Ltd.
Asked by: Tulip Siddiq (Labour - Hampstead and Highgate)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, pursuant to the Answer of 28 January 2020 to Question 7291, how many inspections of the records of recipients of UK Export Finance support have been conducted over the last five years, by country of operation and year.
Answered by Conor Burns
UK Export Finance (UKEF) undertakes due diligence which is appropriate and proportionate to the circumstances of each case at all relevant stages of a transaction.
In the last five years UKEF has additionally used its rights to inspect records, for example:
• Working with the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) investigation into Airbus, to obtain assurance that Airbus was reforming its compliance procedures.
• In 2019 - UKEF worked with a partner bank led investigation into the use of monies drawn down under a UKEF facility.
• in 2018 - a review of bank compliance with obligations under UKEF’s working capital and bond support schemes.
• In 2015 and 2016 – undertook 4 external compliance reviews of 7 cases where UKEF support was being considered or had been provided in Africa, the Middle East and South America.
Asked by: Tulip Siddiq (Labour - Hampstead and Highgate)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, how much UK Export Finance support has been granted in each of the last five years, by country of operation.
Answered by Conor Burns
UK Export Finance’s (UKEF) maximum liability on all new business for each of the last five financial years is listed below.
2018/19 | £6.8 billion |
2017/18 | £2.5 billion |
2016/17 | £3.0 billion |
2015/16 | £1.8 billion |
2014/15 | £2.7 billion |
UKEF publishes details of its support for exports, including destination markets, in its Annual Report and Accounts published annually. https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/uk-export-finance-annual-reports-and-accounts.
Asked by: Tulip Siddiq (Labour - Hampstead and Highgate)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, whether UK Export Finance or its agents have had discussions with the Iranian authorities on the outstanding sovereign debt, including those debts relating to IMS Ltd export credit guarantees, owed by the UK to Iran in the last 12 months.
Answered by Conor Burns
UK Export Finance has not had any discussions with the Iranian authorities in respect of sovereign debt in the last 12 months.