Business of the House

Barry Sheerman Excerpts

Thursday 17th May 2012 Commons Chamber

[Sir George Young]

The commitment to international aid spending was discussed at some length by hon. Members on both sides of the House on Tuesday, in a debate to which my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for International Development responded. On the specific issue my hon. Friend mentions, I am not sure it would be right to withhold support to the DRC—the aid we give reaches very poor people, who would be deprived of the assistance they need—but I will draw his concern to the attention of my right hon. Friend.

[Mr Barry Sheerman (Huddersfield) (Lab/Co-op)]

The Leader of the House will be aware that small and medium-sized businesses in my constituency are eager to respond to the Government challenge to export more to Brazil, Russia, India and China, but has he also seen Lord Digby Jones’s remarks that UK Trade & Investment, which is an arm of the Foreign Office, has been devastated? What help can we give small and medium-sized businesses in constituencies such as mine to help them to export to BRIC countries?

[Sir George Young]

UKTI has not been “devastated”. I was in touch with it recently when it held a seminar specifically for small and medium-sized enterprises that wanted to export. The seminar was well attended and found to be of great value by those who came along. I could not praise more highly the input of UKTI to that initiative. I would encourage hon. Members who have not already done so to contact UKTI and have a similar seminar in their constituencies.