Question to the Department for International Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what assessment he has made of the effect of funding allocated to UK Trade and Investment on the level of foreign direct investment in (a) the UK, (b) Scotland and (c) Linlithgow and East Falkirk constituency since 2015.

According to UNCTAD’s World Investment Report 2020, the UK’s level of FDI stock was over $2 trillion in 2019. This is more than France and Germany combined.

With respect to Scotland, support for Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) is a joint responsibility of both DIT and the Scottish Government. The FDI results for Scotland reflect their joint efforts.

In the most recent figures, for the financial year 2018/19, the total recorded number of FDI projects in the UK was 1,782, with 57,625 associated new jobs. DIT supported 81% of those projects accounting for 51,863 jobs. In the same period, 126 projects were recorded in Scotland, with 3,346 new jobs created as a result. DIT recognises the value that more granular data breakdown could provide but does not currently have the ability to report beyond UK regional level.

Further historical data for recorded FDI projects can be seen below: