Question to the Department for International Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what assessment her Department has made of the effectiveness of UK Export Finance in supporting UK businesses.

UK Export Finance’s (UKEF’s) mission is to ensure that no viable UK export fails for lack of finance or insurance, while operating at no net cost to the taxpayer. During financial year 2020/21, UKEF provided support of £12.3 billion to UK exporters selling to 77 countries around the world, supporting 549 companies directly (of whom 79% were small and medium sized enterprises), and thousands more indirectly in supply chains. UKEF has provided £29 billion of support to UK exporters in the last five financial years. The corresponding figures for 2021/22 will be published in due course in the next Annual Report and Accounts.