Asked by: Lord Kilclooney (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have, if any, to encourage more manufacturing of electronic chips in the UK.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The semiconductor industry is strategically important with its technology used by many UK industries. We are engaging with businesses as well as key international partners to ensure we continue to have a trustworthy and reliable supply.
The Government is committed to growing the UK manufacturing supply chain, including microelectronics, especially in those areas where there will be significant growth potential, such as Electric Vehicles. The Government continues to encourage appropriate inward investment and trade agreements to allow us to access global expertise and technologies.
Asked by: Lord Kilclooney (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether, in the event of an erroneous trademarking of a trade name by the Intellectual Property Office, they may reverse the trademarking without the need for further legal action by any aggrieved party.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The IPO’s examiners undertake a stringent examination of any trade mark application before it is accepted for registration, which includes a search of current trade marks. Once accepted, all applications are published for a 2-month window where anyone can lodge observations or launch a legal opposition.
Anyone can submit observations to the IPO and outline reasons why they believe a trade mark should not be registered from the date the application is made until it is registered. This IPO does not charge for this service. The IPO will then consider whether the mark has been accepted in error and can reopen the examination phase if there are grounds to do so.
There are more formal legal routes to oppose a trade mark application or invalidate an existing trade mark registration. Whilst these are formal legal processes, the IPO’s Tribunal service is set up to be a low cost and accessible service.
Asked by: Lord Kilclooney (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether, in the event of an erroneous trademarking of a trade name by the Intellectual Property Office, they may reverse the trademarking without the need for further legal action by any aggrieved party.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
It has not proved possible to respond to this question in the time available before Prorogation. I will correspond directly with the noble Lord.
Asked by: Lord Kilclooney (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many applications have been submitted to the Clean Growth Fund; and how many of those applications were from Northern Ireland.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Clean Growth Fund considers applications from right across the UK, including Northern Ireland. It will invest in UK companies and create a diverse portfolio spanning the breadth of the Clean Growth sector.
This is a commercially run Fund, managed by Clean Growth Investment Management. Her Majesty’s Government is not involved in investment decisions.
Since the Fund was launched in May 2020, the Fund Manager has received 449 enquiries to date. Of these, there have been a minimum of three expressions of interest from companies based in Northern Ireland. This is a minimum as not all expressions of interest include geographical data.
Asked by: Lord Kilclooney (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government who are the UK Trade Envoys, and to which country or countries each is assigned.
Answered by Lord Price
The table below outlines all current Trade Envoys and the market/markets which they cover. Further information can be found at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/groups/trade-envoys
MP Trade Envoys | Market/Markets |
Adam Afriyie MP | Ghana |
Rushanara Ali MP | Bangladesh |
Richard Benyon MP | DRC, Mozambique, Ethiopia |
Jeffrey Donaldson MP | Egypt |
Mark Garnier MP | Burma, Brunei, Thailand |
Richard Graham MP | Indonesia, ASEAN Economic Community (AEC), Philippines, Malaysia |
John Howell MP | Nigeria |
Andrew Murrison MP | Morocco, Tunisia |
Andrew Percy MP | Canada |
Mark Prisk MP | Brazil, Nordic and Baltics |
Lord Astor of Hever DL | Kazakhstan, Oman |
Baroness Bonham-Carter of Yarnbury | Mexico |
Lord (Richard) Faulkner | Taiwan |
Lord Hollick of Notting Hill | Tanzania, Kenya |
Lord Janvrin | Turkey |
Lord King of Bridgwater | Saudi Arabia |
Lord Lamont | Iran |
Baroness Morris of Bolton | Jordan, Kuwait, Palestinian Territories |
Baroness Nicholson of Winterbourne | Iraq, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan |
Baroness Northover | Angola |
Lord Popat | Uganda, Rwanda |
Lord Puttnam of Queensgate | Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia |
Lord Risby of Haverhill | Algeria |
Asked by: Lord Kilclooney (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is the value of (1) UK exports to the US, and (2) imports from the US to the UK, for the most recent years for which figures are available; and whether this trade was based on any trade agreement with the US.
Answered by Lord Price
In 2015 UK exports of goods and services to the US were £ 95.1 billion and UK imports from the US were £ 59.7 billion.
There is no bilateral trade agreement with the US. Both the EU and US are members of the World Trade Organisation (WTO). There are no estimates of the impact that their membership of the WTO and its trade agreements such as the Information Technology Agreement has had on UK-US trade.
Asked by: Lord Kilclooney (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what was the value of imports from the EU in the most recent year for which figures are available; and what percentage of that amount is represented by imports from the Republic of Ireland.
Answered by Lord Maude of Horsham
The value of UK imports of goods and services from the EU28 was £290.6 billion in 2014. Imports from the Republic of Ireland amounted to £17.1 billion, or 5.9% of total UK imports from the EU28 (Source: ONS Pink Book 2015).