UK Trade & Investment

Charles Hendry Excerpts

Thursday 12th September 2013 Westminster Hall

[Charles Hendry (Wealden) (Con)]

I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Shrewsbury and Atcham (Daniel Kawczynski) on securing this debate. He made a whole range of critically important points. Furthermore, he has given us the opportunity to discuss these issues and the important contribution that trade can make to our economic well-being, and I thank him for that. I also want to put on record my role as the Prime Minister’s trade envoy to Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan, and as president of the advisory board of the Russo-British chamber of commerce. Those are all unremunerated roles, but should be put on the record before my comments are made.

When I was a Minister travelling overseas, I was often asked, “Why do we not see more British companies here? Where are the British companies?” It was evident to me that right across the world there is an admiration for the skills, expertise and creativity of British companies, the brilliance of our education system, and the integrity and straightforwardness of British companies. Given the tenor of what my hon. Friend the Member for Shrewsbury and Atcham said, working with that enthusiasm in many countries to ensure a greater British presence should be absolutely at the heart of our trade and foreign policy. I am delighted by the extent to which the Government have been doing just that.

What I also saw, as a visiting Minister and subsequently, is that historically we have gone about this trade in a different way from the French, Germans and Italians. Part of that was because we did not separate out trade and politics. Too often, difficult political issues were allowed to become a real barrier to trade. My view, and that of the Germans, the French and others, is that trade is one of the best ways of creating more openness, greater transparency and a better relationship. The more that we can get British companies, accountants, solicitors and others in there, the better our prospects of leading those countries in the direction in which we want them to go.

There is a great deal that needs to be done. Our trade needs to be broadened to more countries. Our focus as trade envoys in the fast-growing emerging markets is an important part of that process. Through UKTI, we can help take businesses beyond the normal markets. For example, we can take them beyond Moscow and St Petersburg and get them into Tatarstan and some of the other Russian republics, which have been pretty closed to many British companies.

We need to ensure that we take the focus beyond the most expected industries. In the three countries in which I am trade envoy, the focus, inevitably, is on oil, gas and minerals. Let us look at the opportunities in design. Astana is holding Expo 2017, and we want British companies to build the infrastructure and the low-carbon transport system. Turkmenistan is spending half the budget of the London Olympics on the Asian indoor and martial arts games. Let us ensure that we capitalise on this extraordinary moment in our history when we are seen to have run one of the best games ever. I welcome such moves as part of the drive we are seeing through UKTI.

My experience of UKTI is of a lean, thinly spread organisation. I marvel at how much it is able to do, and at how every request that goes through is dealt with speedily. It is enthusiastic and shows real expertise in the countries in which we work. I link that with Scottish Development International. Clearly, UKTI does not cover Scotland in the same way that we are talking about, but around the world, the work of SDI should also be recognised.

However, those organisations can only do their work because of the way in which they work with other groups, including business groups and organisations such as the Kazakh-British Trade and Industry Council, the Turkmenistan UK Trade and Industry Council and similar groups that focus on bringing businesses together. Those groups are run by people with a detailed understanding and depth of knowledge of other countries, to try to advocate and advance the role of British companies. That must be seen as an integral part of this process, as is working with organisations such as British Expertise, which does a tremendous amount to lead trade missions and give people the chance to visit other countries for the first time. It recognises that for many people doing so, there is a nervousness, because there is a different language, culture and way of life. People going abroad do not want to do something that inadvertently offends their host, so going through an organisation such as British Expertise can be important. Of course, the chambers of commerce, such as the Russo-British chamber of commerce, can organise separate events to bring together people who are keen to do business and to take forward the bonds of co-operation between countries.

I part company with my hon. Friend the Member for Shrewsbury and Atcham on this point: I am not persuaded that such work would be best delivered by a stand-alone agency that has been taken out of Government. I want the Under-Secretary of State for Skills, who is here today, to bump into people from UKTI in the corridors of Nos. 1 to 19 Victoria street; to know that they are people who work directly for him; and to know that he does not have to go through the formalities of working with an agency and going through its chief executive or directors simply because he wants to say, “Remind me what is going on in Ukraine,” or “Tell me more about Algeria.” I want him to be able to call those people into his office at short notice and get updates, and to be able to capitalise and move quickly when an opportunity arises.

That direct reporting line to Ministers is absolutely central to the ability of UKTI to be successful. UKTI’s role is simply too important to be put at arm’s length from the core of Government; UKTI should be a part of the process of government. Also, UKTI’s dual reporting structure—it reports to both the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office—is very valuable, because it engages more Ministers in its work. It ensures that more Ministers, when they are thinking of going abroad, are also thinking, “Which companies can I take with me, and how do we maximise the benefit for UK plc in the course of those visits?”

[Daniel Kawczynski]

I understand the point that my hon. Friend is making, and we will have to agree to disagree on this issue. However, only two members of UKTI’s staff have been sacked during the last six years for non-performance; that is my understanding. Does he at least share my view that it is important that the chief executive of UKTI should be more empowered when it comes to the hiring and firing of UKTI staff?

[Charles Hendry]

That can be achieved within the focus of the Department, and we can certainly see if there are ways in which the chief executive of UKTI can be given the authority that my hon. Friend calls for. However, removing UKTI from the direct responsibility of individual Ministers would lead to a loss of a significant part of the working relationship—a part that brings real benefits.

[Jeremy Lefroy]

Does my hon. Friend agree that the work that the Foreign and Commonwealth Office has done since 2010 to make trade, business and exports a real part of the roles of our diplomatic missions overseas has been hugely important, and that we are already seeing the results in increased exports to some countries that we perhaps had not traded significantly with before?

[Charles Hendry]

My hon. Friend brings me absolutely beautifully to the final part of my comments, which is on exactly that point. We are incredibly well served by our missions around the world, and by the extent to which our ambassadors and their teams are now very focused on industry and trade opportunities.

Much as I and other trade envoys would love to meet every company in Shrewsbury that wants to become involved in a country, my job is primarily to help open the doors of Government Ministers in countries where often there is not a regular flow of foreign Ministers going through, so as to push that trade process forward. However, we could not do it without the expertise and focus of others. The extraordinary growth that we are experiencing in some of those markets—there has been a doubling of trade with Russia, and a trebling of trade with some countries in the middle east—shows how that policy has been working.

[Jeremy Corbyn]

The hon. Gentleman’s point about the quality of British higher education and universities was very well made. On his travels, does he pick up, as I do, on the fact that there is great concern about the complications of applying for visas to study in Britain—the tier 4 visa system—and about the cost of higher education in Britain? From my experience of local universities in my constituency, I know that we are losing students to other places because of those complications, and the message that I get from those universities and from my travels is that we should simplify the system to continue to attract students.

[Charles Hendry]

The hon. Gentleman makes a valid point. In the countries that I have been going to, I have found that most of the students who come to the UK either self-pay or are on Government scholarships. Kazakhstan sends 9,000 students overseas, and 4,000 of those have come to Britain on full scholarships. We have been the country of choice because of the quality of our universities. There is a case for removing from the immigration figures the number of students who are coming here to study, because students can become an easy target when it comes to trying to bring down the immigration figures, when our ability to attract them is actually a tremendous national asset that we should be looking to capitalise on as best we can.

Nazarbayev university in Kazakhstan is partnering with Cambridge university and University college London, and I hope that in due course it will partner with Edinburgh university and other universities as well. All its students are taught in English; they are trilingual, speaking Kazakh, Russian and English. Our universities have a fantastic chance to make a contribution, and to ensure that the next generation of people coming through have a strongly pro-British approach, at least in part a British education, and a willingness to do business with this country.

The opportunities for us around the world are simply extraordinary and UKTI deserves a great deal of the credit for the progress that we are making in opening up markets.