Trading Relations: USA, EU and China
Debate between Lord McNicol of West Kilbride and Viscount Younger of Leckie
Lord McNicol of West Kilbride
To ask His Majesty’s Government which of the world’s three largest economies—the United States of America, the European Union, and China—they will prioritise in seeking to improve trading relations.
Viscount Younger of Leckie (Con)
My Lords, we are engaging with all three trading partners to remove trade barriers. In the year ending June 2022, the US was our largest single trading partner, accounting for 16% of total UK trade, worth £234.7 billion. In this period, the EU remained our largest trading partner overall. We exported goods and services worth £298.1 billion, which is 42.9% of our total trade. China was our fourth largest single trading partner, with £92.9 billion of bilateral trade, which is 6.3% of total UK trade.
Lord McNicol of West Kilbride (Lab)
My Lords, I thank the Minister for that Answer. Given that trade with the EU makes up around half our imports and exports, it is vital that FTAs with larger non-EU markets, such as the US, China and India, are advantageous to the UK economy. In recent departmental questions in the other place, Ministers seemed unable to put an estimated net value to any future trade deals that the Government are pursuing, including CPTPP. Is this because the estimates do not exist or because the Government are unwilling to share them? Will the Minister therefore provide an estimate of net values to the UK of trade agreements currently being negotiated, either now or in writing if he does not have the figures at his fingertips?
Viscount Younger of Leckie (Con)
I certainly will. I will read Hansard tomorrow, in terms of what I am about to say. We have agreed trade deals with 71 countries, plus the EU—partners that accounted for £814 billion of UK bilateral trade in 2021. As the noble Lord will know, we have signed FTAs with Australia and New Zealand and a digital economy agreement with Singapore. We have in progress India—a long way to go—Greenland, Canada, Mexico, the Gulf Cooperation Council and Israel.
Disabled Students’ Allowance
Debate between Lord McNicol of West Kilbride and Viscount Younger of Leckie
Viscount Younger of Leckie
As the noble Baroness will know, the OfS has a statutory duty to have regard to the need to promote equality of opportunity across the whole student lifecycle for disadvantaged and traditionally underrepresented groups. As I was saying earlier, the link between the school system and higher education is extremely important so that universities can better understand the needs of their students and provide the necessary technology—both hardware and assistive software—to give them the best start at university.
Lord McNicol of West Kilbride (Lab)
My Lords, I speak as a parent who has benefited greatly from the British Dyslexia Association’s programme and its analysis of my child’s dyslexia, which we were able to use in discussions with the school. It was fine for us; we were fortunate that we could afford to pay the £500 or £600 for the programme. Are the Government doing anything to help the parents of children who cannot afford to pay this amount to organisations such as the British Dyslexia Association, which gave us a fantastic report and analysis? Are they supporting those parents and children who cannot afford to take advantage of something like this?
Viscount Younger of Leckie
Yes indeed, there are several schools which help parents out if the parents cannot afford it. Local authorities can also step in to help. The noble Lord was referring to schools, but higher education institutions are also in a position to help, and many do. I have a list here somewhere of the institutions that offer help to ensure that the right diagnoses are made.