Question to the Department for International Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what steps her Department has taken to help increase the number of businesses in (a) Northern Ireland and (b) the rest of the UK develop exports abroad.

The refreshed Export Strategy launched last November focuses on the barriers faced by UK businesses, particularly small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), by helping them at every stage of exporting, as part of our UK-wide Export Support Service (ESS).

We are establishing a trade and investment hub in Belfast this year to bring more investment, jobs and export opportunities into Northern Ireland. The team will be improving access to DIT services for Northern Ireland businesses.

In addition to negotiating free trade agreements with SME chapters, our work on market access includes removing non-tariff barriers – last year we resolved 200 of such barriers across 74 countries.