Question to the Department for International Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what steps her Department has taken to ensure that SMEs in (a) Stoke-on-Trent and (b) Staffordshire can benefit from future free trade agreements.

The Department is providing tailored regional activity to ensure Small & Medium Enterprises (SME’s) can fully benefit from the opportunities that Free Trade Agreements provide. In Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire, we have added resources through our Midlands-based regional teams to manage this activity. We have recruited a dedicated International Trade Adviser (ITA) within the Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) to work with the LEP on their strategic trade priorities and on promoting the benefits of all future trade agreements. We also founded the Export Academy to provide businesses with the knowledge, skills, and tools to develop and export plan and implement it. Future activity will focus on a combination of online offerings, trade missions, and direct one-to-one support from our dedicated team of 6 International Trade Advisers that cover Stoke and Staffordshire.