Asked by: Nick Thomas-Symonds (Labour - Torfaen)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, to outline how many times the Prime Minister's Trade Envoy for Ukraine has visited that country since (a) being appointed and (b) February 2022.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
Due to travel restrictions arising from Covid 19 and FCDO’s strict advice not to travel due to the ongoing war, the Prime Minister’s Trade Envoy to Ukraine has been unable to visit since being appointed.
However, the Department for International Trade, now known as the Department for Business and Trade, has delivered trade sanctions to help cripple Putin’s war machine, agreed a Digital Trade Agreement with Ukraine, removed all tariffs under the UK-Ukraine Free Trade Agreement, and continues to play a big role in supporting Ukrainian reconstruction efforts.
Asked by: Nick Thomas-Symonds (Labour - Torfaen)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, how many applications have been made to the Attendee element of the UK Tradeshow Programme; and how much has been spent on that element in 2022-2023.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
A total of 258 and 164 applications have been submitted to the UK Tradeshow Programme, seeking support to either exhibit at, or attend, overseas trade shows respectively.
Forecasted spend for 2022-23 is £228k for exhibitor support and £53k for support to attendees. In addition, there is a further £16k of spend on Export Academy training across both elements of the programme.
Asked by: Nick Thomas-Symonds (Labour - Torfaen)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, how many applications have been made to the Exhibit element of the UK Tradeshow Programme; and how much has been spent on that element in 2022-2023.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
A total of 258 and 164 applications have been submitted to the UK Tradeshow Programme, seeking support to either exhibit at, or attend, overseas trade shows respectively.
Forecasted spend for 2022-23 is £228k for exhibitor support and £53k for support to attendees. In addition, there is a further £16k of spend on Export Academy training across both elements of the programme.
Asked by: Nick Thomas-Symonds (Labour - Torfaen)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, how much of the Internationalisation Fund has been allocated to exporters in 2022-23.
Answered by Andrew Bowie - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
During the 2022-23 financial year, the Internationalisation Fund has paid £7 million to 1,093 exporters in England as of 20 January 2023.
Asked by: Nick Thomas-Symonds (Labour - Torfaen)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what the cost to the public purse was of her travel arrangements for the World Economic Forum in Davos.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
Details of Ministerial travel are routinely recorded on the Department’s transparency returns, published at https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/dit-ministerial-gifts-hospitality-travel-and-meetings. Returns are published on a quarterly basis.
Asked by: Nick Thomas-Symonds (Labour - Torfaen)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, whether she held discussions with the United States Trade Representative at the World Economic Forum in December 2022.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Secretary of State had a bilateral discussion with the United States Trade Representative at the World Economic Forum in Davos on 18th January 2023.
This was their second bilateral discussion since the Secretary of State’s appointment in September 2022.
Asked by: Nick Thomas-Symonds (Labour - Torfaen)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, how many times she has met with the United States Trade Representative since September 2022.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Secretary of State had a bilateral discussion with the United States Trade Representative at the World Economic Forum in Davos on 18th January 2023.
This was their second bilateral discussion since the Secretary of State’s appointment in September 2022.
Asked by: Nick Thomas-Symonds (Labour - Torfaen)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, if she will list the meetings she held whilst at the World Economic Forum in December 2022.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
All meetings held by the Secretary of State in her Ministerial capacity are routinely released on quarterly Departmental transparency returns. These will be published at https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/dit-ministerial-gifts-hospitality-travel-and-meetings in due course.
Asked by: Nick Thomas-Symonds (Labour - Torfaen)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, pursuant to the Answer of 12 January 2023 to Question 114753 on Department for International Trade: Public Expenditure, whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential impact of the reduction of the Total Departmental Expenditure Limit; and whether she expects her Department to reduce its headcount in financial years 2023-24 and 2024-25.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
Spending Review 2021 provided a £67.6 million cash increase for the Department for International Trade (DIT) over the Spending Review period, enabling HMG to transform and digitise its services for exporters and investors, maintain increased capacity to secure world class free trade agreements and continue to support the rules-based international trading system. Sustainable DIT workforce plans for 2023-24 and 2024-25 will be finalised as part of the current annual business planning process.
Asked by: Nick Thomas-Symonds (Labour - Torfaen)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, how much of the funding allocated for Tradeshow Access Programmes remains unspent in 2022-23.
Answered by Andrew Bowie - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Any unspent allocations are redirected to other forms of export support.