Asked by: Viscount Waverley (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of their potential for doing more than is currently being done to support SMEs in promoting goods and services overseas.
Answered by Lord Offord of Garvel
The Government’s Export Strategy, ‘Made in the UK, Sold to the World’, focuses on the challenges UK small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) face when exporting and sets out a 12-point plan which targets barriers to trade and helps SMEs at every stage of their export journey.
This Department supports companies through its network of domestic and overseas trade advisers, Export Support Service, Export Academy, and International Markets network.
But we are also doing more – maximising uptake of new Free Trade Agreements by SMEs, using data to better target our services and working across Government to reduce barriers to exporting and simplify border processes.
Asked by: Viscount Waverley (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask His Majesty's Government what support is being requested from SMEs from His Majesty's Government for promoting goods and services overseas.
Answered by Lord Offord of Garvel
The UK’s 5.4 million small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are at the centre of our ambition to reach £1 trillion in exports annually by 2030. The Government’s Export Strategy, ‘Made in the UK, Sold to the World’, focuses on helping SMEs at every stage of their export journey.
The Export Strategy’s development and implementation has been informed by extensive engagement with SMEs to understand the challenges they face when exporting and how the Government can provide support. This Department continues to support SMEs through its network of domestic and overseas trade advisers, sector specialists, the Export Support Service, Export Academy, and International Markets network.
Asked by: Viscount Waverley (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the UK–Ukraine Digital Trade Agreement, what discussions they have had with the government of Kazakhstan regarding assistance in removing barriers to digital trade or signing a similar agreement.
Answered by Lord Johnson of Lainston
The UK continues to work to strengthen our trade and investment relationships with countries such as Kazakhstan. Fast growing economies such as Kazakhstan provide an abundance of opportunities for UK businesses across a wide range of sectors – notwithstanding our world leading digital sector.
The Department for Business and Trade is supporting British business to grab these opportunities through trade dialogues and regular exchanges including the annual United Kingdom-Kazakhstan Inter-Governmental Commission on Trade and Investment that I co-chaired earlier this year in February in London.
At this moment, we are not expecting to launch negotiations with Kazakhstan on a Digital Trade Agreement.
Asked by: Viscount Waverley (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask His Majesty's Government, whether they will list the individual regions within the UK they use to determine their strategies for (1) trade and investment, and (2) freight and logistics, sectors; and what is their rationale for selecting those regions.
Answered by Lord Johnson of Lainston
All English Regions and Devolved Nations geographies are included when determining strategies for Trade and Investment. Officials work with businesses and local stakeholders to ensure a place focus, as reflected by the organisational structure. English Regions is divided into three Super Regions - the Northern Powerhouse, Midlands Engine and the South (including London), with regional teams operating within these. As well as our second HQ at Darlington’s Economic Campus, we have established Trade and Investment hubs in Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast to help bring the Department for Business and Trade’s support closer to businesses in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
Freight and logistics policy is a matter for the Department for Transport.
Asked by: Viscount Waverley (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Penn on 30 January (HL4895), what mechanisms they have made available to British companies who wish to make use of the export credit guarantees in trading with Ukraine; and what criteria they have developed for companies which wish to be involved.
Answered by Lord Johnson of Lainston
As the UK’s export credit agency, UK Export Finance (UKEF) can help connect UK suppliers with overseas buyers, helping exporters to win contracts, fulfil orders and receive payment.
Following a Ministerial Direction in March 2022, UKEF retained its market limit of £3.5 billion for Ukraine in the national interest. Any support remains subject to projects meeting UKEF’s robust due diligence processes, including the UK's latest international commitments and sanctions. It is not UKEF’s policy to comment further on potential transactions for security and commercial reasons.
Asked by: Viscount Waverley (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Penn on 30 January (HL4895), with which government agency in Ukraine they are dealing to grant export guarantees.
Answered by Lord Johnson of Lainston
As the UK’s export credit agency, UK Export Finance (UKEF) can help connect UK suppliers with overseas buyers, helping exporters to win contracts, fulfil orders and receive payment.
Following a Ministerial Direction in March 2022, UKEF retained its market limit of £3.5 billion for Ukraine in the national interest. Any support remains subject to projects meeting UKEF’s robust due diligence processes, including the UK's latest international commitments and sanctions. It is not UKEF’s policy to comment further on potential transactions for security and commercial reasons.
Asked by: Viscount Waverley (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the possibility of goods imported into the UK being repackaged and sold into the EU as goods of UK origin.
Answered by Lord Johnson of Lainston
The UK-EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement includes Article 43: Insufficient Production under Chapter 2: Rules of Origin. This article ensures that simple packaging operations shall not alone confer UK origin to non-originating goods imported to the UK and then sold into the EU. This rule, alongside other rules with respect to the packaging of goods can be found in the treaty text: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/ukeu-and-eaec-trade-and-cooperation-agreement-ts-no82021.