Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps she is taking to reduce exporting costs for small business that export to the EU.

My department are better equipped than ever to support UK businesses to export. We offer a wide range of free support services, including a network of domestic and overseas trade advisers, sector specialists, Export Support Service, Export Academy, and International Markets network.

UK Export Finance (UKEF) also continues to focus on supporting SMEs. In 2022-23, 84% of the companies supported directly with a UKEF product were small and medium-sized enterprises.

But we are doing more – maximising uptake of new Free Trade Agreements by SMEs, using data to better target our services and working across Government to reduce barriers to exporting and simplify border processes.