Asked by: Tahir Ali (Labour - Birmingham, Hall Green)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps her Department is making to promote (a) international trade and (b) investment opportunities for businesses based in Birmingham.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Department for Business and Trade’s export promotion campaign ‘Made in the UK, Sold to the World’ is tailored regionally, and in March 2024 Lord Offord, Minister for Exports held the ‘Made in the Midlands’ Roadshow in the region
The International Trade Advisory Service has staff in Birmingham supporting businesses to export. The Export Academy provides online educational support and the Export Digital Enquiry Service answers specific international trade queries
The Government has provided £160M for the creation of a West Midlands Investment Zone. The West Midlands Combined Authority estimate that this may bring up to £5.5B investment and 30,000 new jobs by 2034.
Asked by: Maria Eagle (Labour - Garston and Halewood)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps UK Defence and Security Exports is taking to help encourage SMEs to attend UK Defence and Security Exports supported (a) domestic and (b) overseas events.
Answered by Alan Mak - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade) (jointly with the Cabinet Office)
UK Defence and Security Exports (UKDSE) encourages SME’s to attend UKDSE supported events, domestic and overseas, by:
Asked by: Maria Eagle (Labour - Garston and Halewood)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps she is taking to provide information to domestic defence firms on the services provided by her Department's regional international trade advisers.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Department for Business and Trade’s ‘Made in the UK, Sold to the World’ export promotion campaign showcases the support available to businesses, including our International Trade Adviser service. In addition, support is provided through the Export Support Service (ESS), a first point of contact service for any businesses seeking to trade internationally. Through the ESS, businesses can access support from DBT’s overseas network, UK Export Finance, UK Export Academy and our international events programme. Businesses can access digital support via great.gov.uk. We work with partners across all sectors, including Defence, to raise awareness of the support available.
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what recent assessment she has made of the effectiveness of trade and investment hubs in (a) Scotland, (b) Wales, and (c) Northern Ireland at increasing (i) trade and (ii) investment.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
Department for Business and Trade (DBT) nation hubs are dedicated to working with local businesses to help increase international exports; to attract more investment; and to realise the benefits of Free Trade Agreements. In quarter 1 2022/23, DBT hubs hosted many export promotion events, including tradeshows and meet the buyer activities. Officials continue to roll-out DBT services across Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, including the UK Export Academy.
Nearly 8,000 jobs have been created by Foreign Direct Investment projects across the nations in the last financial year. Planned investment activity, such as the Northern Ireland Investment Summit will continue to support investment across the nations.
Asked by: Priti Patel (Conservative - Witham)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she is taking to support food producers from (a) Essex and (b) the UK to increase exports of produce.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We are delivering our commitment to boost UK exports, as part of the Government’s ‘Made in the UK, Sold to the World’ export strategy, a 12-point plan to help UK businesses hit £1 trillion in exports. We want people at home and abroad to be lining up to buy British.
We have an ambitious programme of negotiations for free trade agreements (FTAs) which is delivering results. On 31 May the UK’s first new FTAs with Australia and New Zealand came into force, opening up markets for UK producers across all products. On 31 March the Government substantially concluded negotiations on the UK’s accession to the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, an FTA including 11 members: Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam. This trade deal will see new export opportunities for food producers including for exporters of dairy products, including cheese and butter, having greater access to lower tariffs in Canada, Japan, and Mexico, and exporters of chocolate will benefit from zero tariffs on exports to Mexico and Malaysia.
The Prime Minister recently announced a food and drink export package to boost export capability and deliver on growing demand for our high-quality UK produce across the world. This includes a further expansion of our global agrifood and drink counsellor network who negotiate removal of trade barriers in growing global markets. The package also includes investments of £2 million in global trade shows and missions, promotion through the £1.6 million GREAT food and drink campaign, and bespoke support for seafood (£1 million) and dairy exports (£1 million).
To further support food producers export, we have held a range of national and regional food summits with dedicated SME workshops to highlight export opportunities and how to access support.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps her Department is taking to help promote drinks produced by distilleries in Northern Ireland.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Department for Business & Trade provides bespoke export advice and support available to distilleries in Northern Ireland through dedicated resource in the Northern Ireland team.
The Department has a dedicated workplan of export promotion activities including a strong UK presence at tradeshows such as Prowein in Germany this month, webinars through the UK Export Academy and inward buyer visits.
We work in close partnership with trade associations such as the Irish Whiskey Association to help whiskey exporters capitalise on the global demand for UK food and drink whilst we work to open new markets for their products.
Asked by: Ian Paisley (Democratic Unionist Party - North Antrim)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether she plans to take steps to undertake (a) trade missions and (b) other export promotion activities to help support Irish whiskey exporters from Northern Ireland to increase sales in Australia, in the context of the UK-Australia free trade agreement.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
Our world-class trade agreement with Australia will bring opportunities to every part of the UK. Whiskey Distilleries from Northern Ireland will benefit from tariffs being cut to 0%, the slashing of red tape and simplified customs procedures, making it cheaper and easier to export their products to Australia.
The Department for Business and Trade works in close partnership with the Irish Whiskey Association on a range of issues. These include trade policy and export promotion activities focussing on opportunities in their target priority markets, which include Australia.
Asked by: Gareth Thomas (Labour (Co-op) - Harrow West)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, with reference to the Government transparency data entitled DIT: spending over £25,000 for November 2022, for what purpose the department spent £297,478.57 on marketing and media at Omnicom Media Group UK Ltd T/A Manning Gottlieb OMD on 21 November 2022.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Department for Business and Trade has contracts with Manning Gottlieb OMD to provide media buying services to support our export and investment promotion, as part of the GREAT Britain campaign, both in the UK and internationally.
All the payments listed are for such media buying services. Paid marketing campaigns require the purchase of media space in regional, national and international channels.
Asked by: Gareth Thomas (Labour (Co-op) - Harrow West)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, with reference to Government transparency data entitled DIT: spending over £25,000 for November 2022, for what purpose her Department spent £209,900.56 on marketing and media at Omnicom Media Group UK Ltd T/A Manning Gottlieb OMD on 23 November 2022.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Department for Business and Trade has contracts with Manning Gottlieb OMD to provide media buying services to support our export and investment promotion, as part of the GREAT Britain campaign, both in the UK and internationally.
All the payments listed are for such media buying services. Paid marketing campaigns require the purchase of media space in regional, national and international channels.
Asked by: Gareth Thomas (Labour (Co-op) - Harrow West)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, with reference to Government transparency data entitled DIT: spending over £25,000 for November 2022, for what purpose her Department spent £26,972.46 on marketing and media at Omnicom Media Group UK Ltd T/A Manning Gottlieb OMD on 28 November 2022.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Department for Business and Trade has contracts with Manning Gottlieb OMD to provide media buying services to support our export and investment promotion, as part of the GREAT Britain campaign, both in the UK and internationally.
All the payments listed are for such media buying services. Paid marketing campaigns require the purchase of media space in regional, national and international channels.