Asked by: Andrew Griffith (Conservative - Arundel and South Downs)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what assessment he has made of recent trends in the level of venture capital funding into the UK.
Answered by Blair McDougall - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
UK venture funding appears to be stabilising after the downturn seen during 2021-2022, with dealmaking recovering and job creation increasing. It is important to note company fundraising is proving more resilient than fund fundraising, creating a tougher overall environment for fund managers despite the increase in company rounds completing. The capital gap facing UK scaleups is a pressing concern, making it essential for public finance bodies to act quickly to support fund managers and expand the pools of growth capital available to scaleups.
Asked by: Andrew Griffith (Conservative - Arundel and South Downs)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps he is taking to increase access to venture capital funding for businesses.
Answered by Blair McDougall - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
UK venture funding appears to be stabilising after the downturn seen during 2021-2022, with dealmaking recovering and job creation increasing. It is important to note company fundraising is proving more resilient than fund fundraising, creating a tougher overall environment for fund managers despite the increase in company rounds completing. The capital gap facing UK scaleups is a pressing concern, making it essential for public finance bodies to act quickly to support fund managers and expand the pools of growth capital available to scaleups.
Asked by: Andrew Griffith (Conservative - Arundel and South Downs)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, if he will publish UK–India (a) tariff schedules, (b) rules of origin annexes and (c) concordance tables for businesses.
Answered by Douglas Alexander - Secretary of State for Scotland
The full treaty, including goods tariff schedules and rules of origin annexes are published on Gov.uk and have been laid in the House. The Government will implement the changes to UK tariffs in line with usual procedures.
Asked by: Andrew Griffith (Conservative - Arundel and South Downs)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of the (a) mobility provisions and (b) Double Contributions Convention in the UK–India trade deal on UK sectors facing skills shortages; and if he will publish any (i) modelling and (ii) assumptions.
Answered by Douglas Alexander - Secretary of State for Scotland
The UK–India trade deal includes mobility provisions that support short-term business mobility for highly skilled professionals. These provisions do not affect the UK’s points-based immigration system and are not expected to add to net migration in the long term.
The Double Contributions Convention (DCC) that the UK is negotiating with India will be a standard reciprocal social security agreement, similar to those the UK has covering 22 countries and the European Union. The DCC will not make it cheaper to hire Indian workers and nothing in the agreement will change our immigration regime.
Modelling and assumptions related to the DCC are not included in the FTA’s Impact Assessment, as the DCC is a separate treaty. The Office for Budget Responsibility will certify the impact of the trade deal including the Double Contributions Convention in the usual way at a fiscal event once the DCC is finalised and ratified.
Asked by: Andrew Griffith (Conservative - Arundel and South Downs)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, how long the scrutiny period for documents laid before Parliament for the UK-India trade deal will be.
Answered by Douglas Alexander - Secretary of State for Scotland
The Secretary of State commissioned the Chair of Trade and Agriculture Commission upon signature of the India FTA and has given the Chair until 24 October to provide advice which will be laid before Parliament shortly thereafter. The Government will then produce a Section 42 Report, under its obligations in the Agriculture Act 2020, in collaboration with the Food Standards Agency and Food Standards Scotland, which will be laid in Parliament once we have considered the Commission's advice. Per the Government’s Trade Strategy, there will be at least 20 sitting days between the publication of the Section 42 Report and any triggering of the Constitutional Reform and Governance Act process.
Asked by: Andrew Griffith (Conservative - Arundel and South Downs)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, when he will lay before Parliament the (a) section 42 Agriculture Act 2020 report and (b) Trade and Agriculture Commission’s advice for the UK–India trade deal.
Answered by Douglas Alexander - Secretary of State for Scotland
The Secretary of State commissioned the Chair of Trade and Agriculture Commission upon signature of the India FTA and has given the Chair until 24 October to provide advice which will be laid before Parliament shortly thereafter. The Government will then produce a Section 42 Report, under its obligations in the Agriculture Act 2020, in collaboration with the Food Standards Agency and Food Standards Scotland, which will be laid in Parliament once we have considered the Commission's advice. Per the Government’s Trade Strategy, there will be at least 20 sitting days between the publication of the Section 42 Report and any triggering of the Constitutional Reform and Governance Act process.
Asked by: Andrew Griffith (Conservative - Arundel and South Downs)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what his policy is on investors state dispute settlement provisions with India.
Answered by Douglas Alexander - Secretary of State for Scotland
The UK recognises that investors state dispute settlement provisions as an interest of UK business. In parallel to the Free Trade Agreement, we are negotiating a Bilateral Investment Treaty to progress UK interests. These talks have not concluded, and the agreement remains under discussion.
Asked by: Andrew Griffith (Conservative - Arundel and South Downs)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what recent discussions (a) he, (b) Ministers and (c) officials in his Department have had with the Canadian Government on a potential UK-Canada trade deal.
Answered by Douglas Alexander - Secretary of State for Scotland
Canada is a close ally and valued partner of the UK, with trade underpinned by our existing trade agreement worth around £28 billion in 2024.
Growing our bilateral trade is a shared priority. As agreed between our Prime Ministers at the G7, the UK and Canada have established a new Working Group to deepen the bilateral trading relationship further. This includes seeking to address existing market access barriers affecting bilateral UK-Canada trade and expanding existing arrangements into new areas, including digital trade.
The Working Group will begin meeting in the months ahead and report back to both Prime Ministers within six months.
Asked by: Andrew Griffith (Conservative - Arundel and South Downs)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether he has had recent discussions with his Canadian counterpart on a potential trade deal with Argentina.
Answered by Douglas Alexander - Secretary of State for Scotland
The Business and Trade Secretary had a warm introductory conversation with his Canadian counterpart Minister Sidhu at the G7, where they discussed the bilateral trading relationship and agreed to work together on deepening and growing the bilateral trading relationship further. They did not discuss a trade deal with Argentina.
Asked by: Andrew Griffith (Conservative - Arundel and South Downs)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps he is taking to support businesses developing vertical and short take-off and landing aircraft.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The UK aerospace sector is a global leader in aircraft innovation. Through the Aerospace Technology Institute Programme, the Government is investing up to £2.3 billion in R&D to 2035. This includes over £34 million awarded to Vertical Aerospace, supporting its development of electric vertical take-off landing (eVTOL) aircraft and reinforcing the UK’s position in sustainable aviation. Such support will enable the government to meet its objective of commercial piloted eVTOL from 2028.