Asked by: Joshua Reynolds (Liberal Democrat - Maidenhead)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps his Department is taking to promote recognition of UK professional IT qualifications, including CITP status, in trade negotiations with international partners.
Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
Provisions on the recognition of professional qualifications (RPQ) are an important part of the services chapters in the UK’s international trade agreements, including within the UK-Switzerland RPQ Agreement and our Free Trade Agreements with Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Australia, New Zealand and India.
DBT works closely with our overseas partners to promote the UK’s world-leading professional qualifications. Under our international arrangements DBT has committed to encourage our independent occupational regulators and professional membership bodies, including the British Computer Society, to consider pursuing RPQ agreements with international partners. DBT supports these bodies to do so.
Asked by: Joshua Reynolds (Liberal Democrat - Maidenhead)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of consumer protections in the parcel delivery sector, particularly where subcontracting arrangements are in place.
Answered by Blair McDougall - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
Ofcom is the independent regulator for the postal sector with the responsibility and powers to regulate postal services.
The ‘Mail Integrity Objectives’, set out in Ofcom’s Essential Condition 1, seek to minimise the potential for parcels to be subject to loss, theft, damage or interference. Currently this Essential Condition is effectively restricted to Royal Mail’s services delivered under its universal postal service obligation.
Ofcom engages regularly with all parcel operators to understand their approach to implementation of, and compliance with, its consumer protection measures.
Asked by: Joshua Reynolds (Liberal Democrat - Maidenhead)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, how much funding has been allocated for redundancy packages related to workforce reductions in export support services.
Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
A programme of transformation for the Department for Business and Trade’s export services is ongoing and will entail workforce changes. It is not yet possible to determine a level of redundancies that might result from that process. Any related funding needs will be addressed within the course of business planning.
Asked by: Joshua Reynolds (Liberal Democrat - Maidenhead)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what estimate has been made of the total savings to be achieved through workforce reductions in export support services.
Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The transformation of the department is ongoing and it is not yet possible to determine how many staff might be redeployed or may leave the department. Therefore, it is not yet possible to determine total savings that will be achieved.
Asked by: Joshua Reynolds (Liberal Democrat - Maidenhead)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, over what time period workforce reductions in export support services will take place.
Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Department for Business and Trade’s new export structures in the UK are expected to be in place from 1 April, however the workforce reductions in teams involved in export work across the UK and overseas will be ongoing over the course of 2026.
Asked by: Joshua Reynolds (Liberal Democrat - Maidenhead)
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 export support service workforce reductions on small and medium-sized enterprises seeking to export.
Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
We are changing how we deliver export support in line with the Trade Strategy, and in response to the asks of businesses and our stakeholders, to provide a more accessible and easier to navigate offer that utilises technology to deliver more cost-effective and impactful support for SME exporters. For the first time, DBT has integrated its support for SMEs in a single place – the Business Growth Service – making government support for SME exporters more accessible and effective.
We will focus our resources where they can have the greatest impact, supporting businesses with the highest growth potential and targeting markets with significant economic opportunity. This strategic approach will deliver better value for taxpayers and stronger results for UK exporters. In addition, we expect UKEF to play a more substantial role in supporting SMEs to export.
Asked by: Joshua Reynolds (Liberal Democrat - Maidenhead)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether he has undertaken consultation with (a) business organisations and (b) export-focused SMEs on workforce reductions in export support services.
Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
We are changing how we deliver export support in line with the Trade Strategy, and in response to the asks of businesses and our stakeholders, to provide a more accessible and easier to navigate offer that utilises technology to deliver more cost-effective and impactful support for SME exporters. For the first time, DBT has integrated its support for SMEs in a single place – the Business Growth Service – making government support for SME exporters more accessible and effective.
We will focus our resources where they can have the greatest impact, supporting businesses with the highest growth potential and targeting markets with significant economic opportunity. This strategic approach will deliver better value for taxpayers and stronger results for UK exporters. In addition, we expect UKEF to play a more substantial role in supporting SMEs to export.
Asked by: Joshua Reynolds (Liberal Democrat - Maidenhead)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps he is taking to ensure continuity of export support services during workforce reductions.
Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
We are changing how we deliver export support in line with the Trade Strategy, and in response to the asks of businesses and our stakeholders, to provide a more accessible and easier to navigate offer that utilises technology to deliver more cost-effective and impactful support for SME exporters. For the first time, DBT has integrated its support for SMEs in a single place – the Business Growth Service – making government support for SME exporters more accessible and effective.
We will focus our resources where they can have the greatest impact, supporting businesses with the highest growth potential and targeting markets with significant economic opportunity. This strategic approach will deliver better value for taxpayers and stronger results for UK exporters. In addition, we expect UKEF to play a more substantial role in supporting SMEs to export.
Asked by: Joshua Reynolds (Liberal Democrat - Maidenhead)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, how many staff positions in export support services will be reduced in each individual export market as a result of the Department's workforce reduction programme.
Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
As set out in the Trade Strategy our overseas network will increasingly focus on the markets, sectors and opportunities that will drive UK economic growth for the next decade and beyond. We will have fewer export support staff in some markets as we focus more of our resource on attracting high value inward investment and tackling the market access barriers that hold British exporters back. We are working through the specific impact in each market, but directly supporting British exporters will remain the biggest part of what DBT teams do overseas.
Asked by: Joshua Reynolds (Liberal Democrat - Maidenhead)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, how much funding his Department has allocated for AI and digital technology to replace staff removed from export support services.
Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
DBT is making use of AI tools to improve our services to business, but we are not replacing staff with AI and digital technology.