Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Bill
Debate between Lord Naseby and Lord Popat
Lord Popat
My Lords, this is Report and we prefer not to take further interventions.
Lord Forsyth of Drumlean
I believe that interventions seeking information are allowed once on Report, so I will give way to my noble friend.
Manufacturing
Debate between Lord Naseby and Lord Popat
Lord Popat
My Lords, the noble Countess raises a very important question. We have not changed our view but we have changed our direction. Manufacturing accounts for 10% of our economy and generates 54% of our exports, so we are encouraging more manufacturing in the UK and helping manufacturers to manufacture more so that they can export more. Equally, our financial services are important, and they also generate quite a large amount of our export trade.
Lord Naseby (Con)
My Lords, is my noble friend aware that the CBI and the chambers of commerce have welcomed enormously the recent changes to export finance, which undoubtedly help us to move towards this challenging target? However, one area where still nothing seems to have changed, as I have raised before, is the promotional material behind the Queen’s award for exports. Can my noble friend have a look at that situation to see whether we can bring it up to date?
Lord Popat
Yes, my Lords, the Government are encouraging more exports through UKTI. The promotional material for the Queen’s award for exports is an issue that we will certainly look into.