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Written Question
Foreign Investment in UK: Science and Technology
Tuesday 26th March 2024

Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central)

Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether her Department supports foreign investment in science and technology by region.

Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)

Investment is at the very heart of the UK economy - it supports economic growth, creates jobs and enables improvements in productivity for new and existing firms. It is also essential for successful delivery of the Government's objective to make the UK a science and technology superpower by 2030.

The Department for Business and Trade promotes a range of investment opportunities across the science & technology sector. DBT works to attract foreign corporates to the UK, developing compelling investment propositions for DBT's international network to bring to prospective investors, this includes both sector-wide and place-based opportunities. DBT has dedicated based staff across the UK who work with the DAs/their agencies, wider DBT teams, Office for Investment and other UK government departments to deliver investment in priority areas, including science and technology. DBT teams work closely with partners to deliver events to attract investment, such as the Northern Ireland Investment Summit that was held in Belfast, September 2023.

The UK has 13 new Investment Zones which will benefit from £160 million each of Government funding to unlock foreign investment across priority sectors, especially science and technology, with a focus on driving innovation and creating quality jobs. These will be new hubs for investment and innovation across the UK and the funding spread over 10 years, will be spent on fiscal incentives and/or flexible spend to support attracting FDI. In line with the government's levelling up objectives, they are established in places with significant unmet productivity potential, where existing strengths and assets aligned to priority sectors can be leveraged to increase opportunities for local communities. Investment Zones will be established in partnership between central government, local government, research institutions and the private sector. The Investment Opportunity Fund is intended to double down on the objectives of Freeports and Investment Zones by providing a flexible, agile pot of funding that government can use to secure and respond to opportunities in these areas as they emerge.


Written Question
Arts: Exports
Friday 22nd March 2024

Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps her Department is taking to help (a) support and (b) increase (i) creative and (ii) cultural exports.

Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)

In June 2023, the Government and the Creative Industries Council launched the Creative Industries Sector Vision, which sets out our long term strategy for supporting and growing the creative industries. The Sector Vision can be found at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/creative-industries-sector-vision

The Government is delivering on its plan to grow the creative industries by a further £50 billion and add another 1 million jobs by 2030.

Since 2010, the Government has introduced a range of tax reliefs across the creative industries, from film and television, to animation, video games, orchestras, theatres and more. The Chancellor announced further support at the Spring Budget, with £1 billion of additional tax relief over the next five years. This has led to significant growth in the creative industries over the last 14 years, helping to double the economic value of the creative industries and create more than one million new jobs since 2010.

Our tax reliefs are driving inward investment, helping unleash job creation and economic growth across the country. The Government’s generous screen sector tax reliefs have driven a record breaking spend of £6.3 billion on film and high-end TV production in 2022, of which £5.4 billion - 86% - was inward investment.

Our tax reliefs have also helped drive an increase in cultural and creative service exports. DCMS works with other departments including FCDO and DBT, industry bodies and trade associations to promote the creative industries overseas, from delivering creative trade missions to HMG-backed funding schemes. Examples include the £28 million UK Global Screen Fund, delivered by the British Film Institute, which provides grants to develop, distribute and promote independent UK and UK co-produced screen content in international markets and the Music Export Growth Scheme, which provides grant funding to support UK-based independent music SMEs to develop export campaigns to grow their international business and export revenue. My department is also committed to ensuring that the interests of the creative industries are pursued in the UK’s ambitious programme of Free Trade Agreements, including on audiovisual services, intellectual property rights and supporting the movement of creative professionals.


Written Question
Arts: Competition
Friday 22nd March 2024

Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether her Department has a long-term strategy to support the (a) expansion and (b) global competitiveness of creative industries.

Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)

In June 2023, the Government and the Creative Industries Council launched the Creative Industries Sector Vision, which sets out our long term strategy for supporting and growing the creative industries. The Sector Vision can be found at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/creative-industries-sector-vision

The Government is delivering on its plan to grow the creative industries by a further £50 billion and add another 1 million jobs by 2030.

Since 2010, the Government has introduced a range of tax reliefs across the creative industries, from film and television, to animation, video games, orchestras, theatres and more. The Chancellor announced further support at the Spring Budget, with £1 billion of additional tax relief over the next five years. This has led to significant growth in the creative industries over the last 14 years, helping to double the economic value of the creative industries and create more than one million new jobs since 2010.

Our tax reliefs are driving inward investment, helping unleash job creation and economic growth across the country. The Government’s generous screen sector tax reliefs have driven a record breaking spend of £6.3 billion on film and high-end TV production in 2022, of which £5.4 billion - 86% - was inward investment.

Our tax reliefs have also helped drive an increase in cultural and creative service exports. DCMS works with other departments including FCDO and DBT, industry bodies and trade associations to promote the creative industries overseas, from delivering creative trade missions to HMG-backed funding schemes. Examples include the £28 million UK Global Screen Fund, delivered by the British Film Institute, which provides grants to develop, distribute and promote independent UK and UK co-produced screen content in international markets and the Music Export Growth Scheme, which provides grant funding to support UK-based independent music SMEs to develop export campaigns to grow their international business and export revenue. My department is also committed to ensuring that the interests of the creative industries are pursued in the UK’s ambitious programme of Free Trade Agreements, including on audiovisual services, intellectual property rights and supporting the movement of creative professionals.


Written Question
Beef: Production
Tuesday 19th March 2024

Asked by: Lord Framlingham (Conservative - Life peer)

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask His Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the fall in overall domestic beef production resulting from the proposed changes in agricultural policies and payments.

Answered by Lord Douglas-Miller - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

The British beef sector is highly resilient and plays a significant role in the production of high- quality meat for both the domestic market and for export. It operates in an open market and the value of commodities is established by those in the supply chain. The government continues to work closely with the beef industry and to monitor the impacts of the range of commercial, environmental and market related factors which influence a farmer’s decision to rear beef.

The UK has a high degree of food security, built on supply from diverse sources, strong domestic production as well as imports through stable trade routes. We produce 60% of all the food we need, and 73% of food which we can grow or rear in the UK for all or part of the year. These figures have changed little over the last 20 years: historical production figures, including for the commodities you reference, can be found in “Agriculture in the United Kingdom”, a publication of annual statistics about agriculture in the United Kingdom at GOV.UK.  UK consumers have access through international trade to food products that cannot be produced here, or at least not on a year-round basis. This supplements domestic production, and also ensures that any disruption from risks such as adverse weather or disease does not affect the UK's overall security of supply.

Domestically, the Government has committed to broadly maintain the current level of food we produce. This includes sustainably boosting production in sectors where there are post-Brexit opportunities, including horticulture and seafood, and the Agriculture Act imposes a duty on the Secretary of State to have regard to the need to encourage environmentally sustainable food production. Our farming reforms aim to support a highly productive food producing sector by supporting farmers to manage land in a way that improves food production and is more environmentally sustainable, and by paying farmers to produce public goods such as water quality, biodiversity, animal health and welfare and climate change mitigation, alongside food production.

Speaking at the recent National Farmers Union Conference in Birmingham, the Prime Minister and the Environment Secretary announced a range of measures to boost productivity and resilience in the sector, including the largest ever grant offer for farmers in the coming financial year, expected to total £427 million. This includes doubling investment in productivity schemes, bolstering schemes such as the Improving Farming Productivity grant, which provides support for farmers to invest in automation and robotics, as well as solar installations to build on-farm energy security. The Prime Minister also announced a new annual UK-wide Food Security Index, which will capture and present the data needed to monitor levels of food security, and announced plans to hold the Farm to Fork Summit annually.


Written Question
Foreign Investment in UK: GREAT
Tuesday 19th March 2024

Asked by: Jonathan Ashworth (Labour (Co-op) - Leicester South)

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what estimate he has made of the level of UK investment generated by the GREAT campaign since its re-launch in 2021.

Answered by Alex Burghart - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)

The GREAT Britain and Northern Ireland campaign is the UK’s international brand marketing campaign, which works closely with UK businesses, not-for-profit organisations and high-profile figures to promote the best of the UK abroad. Since 2021/22, the GREAT campaign has had an annual overall budget of circa £60m (2021/22: £60m; 2022/23: £57.12m; and 2023/24: £57.12m). The results of individual GREAT campaigns vary but, on average, externally verified analysis shows £1 of GREAT spend on marketing generates £15 for the UK by encouraging people to visit, study, trade, invest, live and work in the UK.

Encouraging prospective international students to choose to study in UK higher education institutions brings strong return on investment. For example, the GREAT Study UK campaign generated £407m in 2021/22 and £548m in 2022/23 (specifically from international students studying for up to three years in the UK). The 2023/24 results are currently being verified and are expected by June 2024.


Written Question
Foreign Investment in UK: GREAT
Tuesday 19th March 2024

Asked by: Jonathan Ashworth (Labour (Co-op) - Leicester South)

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what his latest estimate is of the amount of investment that will be generated by the GREAT Study UK campaign.

Answered by Alex Burghart - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)

The GREAT Britain and Northern Ireland campaign is the UK’s international brand marketing campaign, which works closely with UK businesses, not-for-profit organisations and high-profile figures to promote the best of the UK abroad. Since 2021/22, the GREAT campaign has had an annual overall budget of circa £60m (2021/22: £60m; 2022/23: £57.12m; and 2023/24: £57.12m). The results of individual GREAT campaigns vary but, on average, externally verified analysis shows £1 of GREAT spend on marketing generates £15 for the UK by encouraging people to visit, study, trade, invest, live and work in the UK.

Encouraging prospective international students to choose to study in UK higher education institutions brings strong return on investment. For example, the GREAT Study UK campaign generated £407m in 2021/22 and £548m in 2022/23 (specifically from international students studying for up to three years in the UK). The 2023/24 results are currently being verified and are expected by June 2024.


Written Question
GREAT: Costs
Tuesday 19th March 2024

Asked by: Jonathan Ashworth (Labour (Co-op) - Leicester South)

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what the cost to the public purse has been of the GREAT campaign since its re-launch in 2021.

Answered by Alex Burghart - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)

The GREAT Britain and Northern Ireland campaign is the UK’s international brand marketing campaign, which works closely with UK businesses, not-for-profit organisations and high-profile figures to promote the best of the UK abroad. Since 2021/22, the GREAT campaign has had an annual overall budget of circa £60m (2021/22: £60m; 2022/23: £57.12m; and 2023/24: £57.12m). The results of individual GREAT campaigns vary but, on average, externally verified analysis shows £1 of GREAT spend on marketing generates £15 for the UK by encouraging people to visit, study, trade, invest, live and work in the UK.

Encouraging prospective international students to choose to study in UK higher education institutions brings strong return on investment. For example, the GREAT Study UK campaign generated £407m in 2021/22 and £548m in 2022/23 (specifically from international students studying for up to three years in the UK). The 2023/24 results are currently being verified and are expected by June 2024.


Written Question
Commonwealth Games 2022: Official Visits
Monday 18th March 2024

Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)

Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, how many people from (a) the UK and (b) overseas, excluding speakers and hosts, were projected to visit in person the UK House venue run by her Department at the Birmingham Commonwealth Games from 28 July to 8 August 2022 in the final business case approved by her Department for that event.

Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)

UK House was part of the wider Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games Tourism, Trade & Investment Programme business case led by West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) & West Midlands Growth Company (WMGC) in partnership with the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, Department for International Trade and Visit Britain.

The final business case provides no UK House visitor projections, either virtually or in person.


Written Question
Commonwealth Games 2022: Official Visits
Monday 18th March 2024

Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)

Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, how many individuals were projected to visit virtually the UK House venue run by her Department at the Birmingham Commonwealth Games from 28 July to 8 August 2022 in the final business case approved by her Department for that event.

Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)

UK House was part of the wider Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games Tourism, Trade & Investment Programme business case led by West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) & West Midlands Growth Company (WMGC) in partnership with the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, Department for International Trade and Visit Britain.

The final business case provides no UK House visitor projections, either virtually or in person.


Written Question
Sugar Beet: Production
Thursday 14th March 2024

Asked by: Lord Framlingham (Conservative - Life peer)

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask His Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the fall in overall domestic sugar beet production resulting from the proposed changes in agricultural policies and payments.

Answered by Lord Douglas-Miller - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

For around 2,300 growers in the East of England sugar beet plays a vital role in soil and crop health in the arable farm rotation, allowing a season of “rest” from cereal production. Farmers consider a range of factors, including global market developments in price, their soil type and their long-term agronomic strategy, when deciding which crops they should include in their crop rotation. Domestic disease and pest pressures and the weather will also impact the quality of the crop and resulting sugar production levels.

The UK has a high degree of food security, built on supply from diverse sources, strong domestic production as well as imports through stable trade routes. We produce 60% of all the food we need, and 73% of food which we can grow or rear in the UK for all or part of the year. These figures have changed little over the last 20 years: historical production figures, including for the commodities you reference, can be found in “Agriculture in the United Kingdom”, a publication of annual statistics about agriculture in the United Kingdom at GOV.UK. UK consumers have access through international trade to food products that cannot be produced here, or at least not on a year-round basis. This supplements domestic production, and also ensures that any disruption from risks such as adverse weather or disease does not affect the UK's overall security of supply.

Domestically, the Government has committed to broadly maintain the current level of food we produce. This includes sustainably boosting production in sectors where there are post-Brexit opportunities, including horticulture and seafood, and the Agriculture Act imposes a duty on the Secretary of State to have regard to the need to encourage environmentally sustainable food production. Our farming reforms aim to support a highly productive food producing sector by supporting farmers to manage land in a way that improves food production and is more environmentally sustainable, and by paying farmers to produce public goods such as water quality, biodiversity, animal health and welfare and climate change mitigation, alongside food production.

Speaking at the recent National Farmers Union Conference in Birmingham, the Prime Minister and the Environment Secretary announced a range of measures to boost productivity and resilience in the sector, including the largest ever grant offer for farmers in the coming financial year, expected to total £427 million. This includes doubling investment in productivity schemes, bolstering schemes such as the Improving Farming Productivity grant, which provides support for farmers to invest in automation and robotics, as well as solar installations to build on-farm energy security. The Prime Minister also announced a new annual UK-wide Food Security Index, which will capture and present the data needed to monitor levels of food security, and announced plans to hold the Farm to Fork Summit annually.