Asked by: Lloyd Russell-Moyle (Labour (Co-op) - Brighton, Kemptown)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, with reference to his Department's press release, Creation of four major new Trade and Investment Hubs across the UK, published on 23 March 2021, what steps her Department is taking to work with (a) consumers and (b) other interest groups via specific outreach in those areas and other parts of the UK.
Answered by Graham Stuart
The new Trade and Investment Hubs will be home to teams of export and investment specialists. These teams can provide businesses with expert support and advice to help them maximise their export potential. They will also help businesses boost their trade in new markets overseas, gain better access to major trade markets like Japan, the US and India, and feed directly into the Department for International Trade’s (DIT) free trade agreements programme.
The new Hubs build on the nationwide support already offered by DIT. This support includes the UK Export Finance offer, the £38m Internationalisation Fund, the Export Academy programme, our network of around 300 International Trade Advisors across England, and over 400 Regional Export Champions.
Asked by: Bob Stewart (Conservative - Beckenham)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, whether Gibraltar will be included in a future trade agreement with India.
Answered by Ranil Jayawardena
In all trade deals, HM Government will be seeking trade outcomes that support British Overseas Territories’ economic interests, and which reflect their unique characteristics.
Trade and investment between the United Kingdom and India was worth £48 billion in 2019 and we are developing an even more ambitious relationship. We have committed to an Enhanced Trade Partnership with India, through which both sides are working to bring down trade barriers, open up opportunities for trade and investment, and chart the roadmap towards a potential Free Trade Agreement.
Asked by: Stephen Metcalfe (Conservative - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
What steps she is taking to strengthen the UK’s trade relationship with India.
Answered by Elizabeth Truss
Earlier this month I visited India to deepen trade ties and agree a pathway towards a future FTA with the world’s biggest democracy. A closer partnership with India will help us lead the world in areas like science, tech and the green economy, driving jobs and growth across the UK.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Conservative - Romford)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that (a) the British Overseas Territories and (b) Gibraltar are able to benefit from the Enhanced Trade Partnership with India.
Answered by Ranil Jayawardena
In all trade deals, HM Government is seeking trade outcomes that support British Overseas Territories' economic interests, and which reflect their unique characteristics.
My Rt Hon Friend the Secretary of State for International Trade and I have regular discussions with our respective counterparts. Most recently, the Minister for Commerce and Industry of India, Shri Piyush Goyal, and my Rt Hon Friend met on Saturday, 6th February 2021, at New Delhi, to discuss the Anglo-Indian trade and investment relationship. Discussions were held on the entire range of bilateral trade and economic relations.
Following significant work over the last year, we have committed to launching an Enhanced Trade Partnership with India, through which both sides will continue to work to bring down trade barriers, open up opportunities for trade and investment, and chart the route towards a potential Free Trade Agreement.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Conservative - Romford)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what recent discussions she has had with (a) her Indian counterpart and (b) representatives of Indian businesses on strengthening business, trade and investment relationships with (i) the British Overseas Territories and (ii) Gibraltar.
Answered by Ranil Jayawardena
In all trade deals, HM Government is seeking trade outcomes that support British Overseas Territories' economic interests, and which reflect their unique characteristics.
My Rt Hon Friend the Secretary of State for International Trade and I have regular discussions with our respective counterparts. Most recently, the Minister for Commerce and Industry of India, Shri Piyush Goyal, and my Rt Hon Friend met on Saturday, 6th February 2021, at New Delhi, to discuss the Anglo-Indian trade and investment relationship. Discussions were held on the entire range of bilateral trade and economic relations.
Following significant work over the last year, we have committed to launching an Enhanced Trade Partnership with India, through which both sides will continue to work to bring down trade barriers, open up opportunities for trade and investment, and chart the route towards a potential Free Trade Agreement.
Asked by: Baroness Hooper (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the announcement that the terms of an Enhanced Trade Partnership have been agreed with the government of India, what steps they are taking to ensure that Gibraltar can benefit from the provisions of that Partnership.
Answered by Lord Grimstone of Boscobel
In all trade deals, HM Government is seeking trade outcomes that support British Overseas Territories' economic interests, and which reflect their unique characteristics.
Trade and investment between the United Kingdom and India was worth £48 billion in 2019 and we are developing an even more ambitious relationship. We have committed to launching an Enhanced Trade Partnership with India later this year and are in the process of cementing the terms of this. Through the Enhanced Trade Partnership both sides are working to bring down trade barriers, open up opportunities for trade and investment, and chart the roadmap towards a potential Free Trade Agreement.
Asked by: Marquess of Lothian (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the statement by the Chancellor of the Exchequer on 25 November that they will be “spending the equivalent of 0.5 per cent of our national income on overseas aid in 2021” (HC Deb, col 830), which 20 countries have been the biggest recipients of UK bilateral aid since 2015; and what criteria will be used to determine reductions in (1) multilateral, and (2) bilateral, aid.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The top twenty recipients of UK bilateral aid between 2015 and 2019 are:
Pakistan | Democratic Republic of Congo |
Ethiopia | Kenya |
Nigeria | Sierra Leone |
Syria | Uganda |
Afghanistan | Lebanon |
Bangladesh | India |
Somalia | Jordan |
South Sudan | Burma |
Tanzania | Zimbabwe |
Yemen | Nepal |
The Government is introducing a new strategic approach which will allow us to drive greater impact from our ODA spending around a set of strategic objectives. First, tackling climate change, protecting biodiversity and financing low-carbon and climate-resilient technologies in poor and emerging economies. Second, tackling COVID-19, and promoting wider international health security. Third, prioritising girls' education. Fourth, resolving conflict, alleviating humanitarian crises, defending open societies, and promoting trade and investment, including by increasing UK partnerships in science research and technology. Finally, improving delivery of aid in order to increase the impact that we have on the ground, in the countries and the communities that they are designed to benefit and help. We will do this by strengthening accountability, value for money and in-house capability.
Asked by: Viscount Waverley (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many civil servants are working on initiatives aimed at increasing intra-Commonwealth trade.
Answered by Lord Grimstone of Boscobel
The Department for International Trade (DIT)’s Trade Policy Group (TPG) has a strong core of trade policy officials, with a headcount as of end September 2020 of 676 civil servants. Within TPG there are dedicated teams in charge of bilateral trade relations with Commonwealth members, including Australia, New Zealand, and India, as well as multilateral and regional teams, such as the World Trade Organisation and Africa teams.
In addition, DIT’s overseas network of posts (Global Trade and Investment Overseas) is responsible for supporting UK exports and investment across the world. It is formed of nine regions, each reporting to a trade commissioner, known as Her Majesty’s Trade Commissioner (HMTC), seven of whom cover Commonwealth countries as part of their trade responsibilities. As of September 2020, there are 151 UK-based civil servants – supported by 1,320 locally engaged staff – working in all HMTC regions.
Workstreams aimed at increasing intra-Commonwealth trade are progressed by teams of varying sizes, depending on their complexity, and DIT officials also work in close co-operation with civil servants across government, including the Foreign, Commonwealth, and Development Office (FCDO), the Department for Business, Energy, and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), and the Department for Digital, Culture, Media, and Sport (DCMS), as well as in diplomatic and consular posts across the Commonwealth.
The workforce data only includes civil servants employed by DIT working in the UK and on DIT payroll, and UK based civil servants and locally employed staff working overseas paid via FCDO payroll who are currently engaged in delivering DIT objectives. It does not include staff on loan to DIT from other government departments who remain on their home departments payroll, contractors, military staff, people on secondment from other organisations, those who are on loan or secondment out of DIT, those on unpaid special leave or a career break, and people working in UK Export Finance (UKEF).
Asked by: Lord Risby (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what was the level of (1) imports, and (2) exports, between the UK and India in each of the last five years.
Answered by Lord True - Leader of the House of Lords and Lord Privy Seal
The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority. I have therefore asked the Authority to respond.
Dear Lord Risby,
As National Statistician and Chief Executive of the UK Statistics Authority, I am responding to your Parliamentary Questions asking about imports and exports between the UK and South Africa, and the UK and India, in each of the last five years (HL7881; HL7882).
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) publishes data on goods and services exports for the UK with South Africa and India[1], which can be found in table 1 below. Please note that data are in current prices and, as such, include the effect of inflation. We do not have total trade data, split by country, on a volume basis (with the effect of inflation removed) at present.
Table 1: UK total trade (goods and services) with South Africa and India, in £ million, non-seasonally adjusted
| 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | |
South Africa | Exports | 4853 | 4558 | 4686 | 4570 | 4487 | 4758 |
Imports | 3344 | 3896 | 4161 | 4192 | 5036 | 6270 | |
India | Exports | 7872 | 6909 | 5771 | 6630 | 9226 | 7958 |
Imports | 11225 | 9555 | 10076 | 12052 | 12654 | 16171 | |
Source: ONS
Yours sincerely,
Professor Sir Ian Diamond
Asked by: Gareth Thomas (Labour (Co-op) - Harrow West)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, pursuant to the Answer of 2 March 2020 to Question 21133 on Overseas Companies: India, how much funding was allocated to the South Asia Network for staff and non-pay expenditure in (a) 2017-18 and (b) 2018-19; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Graham Stuart
The final budget delegated to the South Asia region for the financial year 2018-19 was £4.30m, comprising £3.25m for local staff and non-pay expenditure and £1.05m relating to salary costs for civil servants based in the region.
The final budget delegated to the South Asia region for the financial year 2017-18 was £2.85m for local staff and non-pay expenditure. In 2017-18 budgets for salary costs relating to civil servants based in overseas regions were not delegated but held centrally.
These figures do not include elements of wider Department for International Trade budgets, which are not set at an overseas regional level but do support the delivery of trade in overseas regions, including in South Asia.
We regularly change departmental budgets to align with progress against delivery plans.