Oral Answers to Questions

Steve Double Excerpts

Thursday 3rd September 2020 Commons Chamber

[Kevin Hollinrake (Thirsk and Malton) (Con)]

What steps her Department is taking to help the food and farming sector recover from the covid-19 pandemic.

[Steve Double (St Austell and Newquay) (Con)]

What steps her Department is taking to help the food and farming sector recover from the covid-19 pandemic.

[Jerome Mayhew (Broadland) (Con)]

What steps her Department is taking to help the food and farming sector recover from the covid-19 pandemic.

--- Later in debate ---

[Graham Stuart]

I thank my hon. Friend, who stands up for Yorkshire farmers whether of sheep or other products. This Government will stand firm in trade negotiations, and we will always do right by our farmers and aim to secure new opportunities for the industry. We are also engaging with stakeholders such as the National Sheep Association through the agri-food trade advisory group. During our negotiations, DIT is also supporting interiors and apparel textiles manufacturers who use British wool at leading international trade fairs such as Heimtextil.

[Steve Double]

Cornwall is proud to produce some of the finest and most sought-after food and drink, but the sector has been hit hard as a result of the pandemic. Will the Minister lay out how food producers in Cornwall, and indeed around the country, will benefit from the agri-food bounce-back package that he mentioned?

[Graham Stuart]

The bounce-back package, as I say, was launched in June. It facilitates additional access for small businesses’ products to UK Export Finance. It launched a suite of export masterclasses and webinars to overcome some of the lack of understanding of opportunities in foreign markets and of the challenges that are faced in entering them. It will further boost our trade efforts ahead of new opportunities that will also be presented by our FTAs.

Already, a series of over 20 agri-food export masterclasses targeted at small and medium-sized enterprises has been delivered, and that programme will continue throughout this year. My Department is working, through our international trade adviser network, to support my hon. Friend’s local Cornish food and drink companies to access virtual meet-the-buyer events and UKAP—United Kingdom agricultural policy—webinars, which will be launched in the autumn and come out of the plan that we worked with industry to create.