Question to the Department for International Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what assessment she has made of the potential benefits for businesses located in (a) Morley and Outwood constituency and (b) the rest of the UK of the Government's proposed UK-Singapore Digital Economy Agreement.

The Digital Economy Agreement (DEA) will expand access to Singapore’s digital economy – worth an estimated £9.4 billion in 2019 – for British businesses in Morley and Outwood and across the country.

In 2019, the UK sold almost £5 billion worth of services to Singapore, 70% of which were digitally delivered. The DEA will open further opportunities for British businesses to deliver their services through digital trade.

UK businesses also sold £5.5 billion worth of goods to Singapore in 2019. Digitising and streamlining customs and border processes can greatly reduce the administrative and other costs goods encounter at the border, benefiting both businesses and consumers.

The DEA would help to cut red tape and boost growth for British businesses who want to trade more efficiently using electronic transactions, e-signatures and e-contracts. It also will aim to remove unjustified data localisation requirements which can add significant costs to UK businesses, effectively shutting smaller traders out of new markets.