Asked by: Alistair Strathern (Labour - Mid Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, with reference to her Department’s publication entitled DBT ministers’ overseas travel: July to September 2023, published on 15 December 2023, how much of the (a) £5,711.94 spent on the visit of the Minister of State for Business and Trade to India from 1 July to 4 July 2023 and (b) £6,123.51 spent on his visit to Oman from 12 September to 15 September 2023 was spent on air travel.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
a) Of the £5,711.94, £5.463.14 was spent on air travel to India between 1 July 2023 and 4 July 2023.
b) Of the £6,123.5, £6,123.5 was spent on air travel to Oman between 12 September 2023 and 15 September 2023.
Asked by: Alistair Strathern (Labour - Mid Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, with reference to her Department’s publication entitled DBT ministers’ overseas travel: July to September 2023, published on 15 December 2023, how much of the (a) £14,486.53 spent on her visit to Australia and New Zealand from 13 July to 19 July 2023 and (b) £7,223.21 spent on her visit to India from 24 August to 27 August 2023 was spent on air travel.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
a) Of the £14,486.53, £14,074.71 was spent on air travel between 13 July and 19 July 2023.
b) Of the £7,223.21, £6,668.21 was spent on air travel between 24 August and 27 August 2023.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to support mid-sized UK businesses in their efforts to expand into the Indian market.
Answered by Earl of Minto - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The UK’s 5.4 million SMEs are at the centre of our ambition to reach £1 trillion in exports annually by 2030. The Export Support Service International Markets (ESS IM) provides in-market support for UK SMEs and for SMEs ready to export, our overseas teams can provide insight, guidance, 1:1 consultations and trusted referrals in all regions of the world, working together with other Department for Business and Trade (DBT) teams overseas. In addition, we are continuing to negotiate towards a UK-India Free Trade Agreement and we have provisionally agreed a chapter which aims to ensure that SME's can understand, navigate, and benefit from the whole FTA.
Asked by: Carla Lockhart (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
Question to the Northern Ireland Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what steps he is taking to promote investment into Northern Ireland from India.
Answered by Steve Baker - Minister of State (Northern Ireland Office)
In March 2021, the Northern Ireland Office announced that £8 million of New Deal for Northern Ireland funding would be provided to Invest Northern Ireland, to expand their overseas presence in new locations, and expand their presence in existing locations. This funding has seen new Invest Northern Ireland staff members recruited in countries across the world, including India, and other key investment and export markets.
This in-market presence is a direct result of our New Deal funding and will help Northern Ireland businesses gain increased access to these markets and promote Northern Ireland as a location for inward investment.
The Northern Ireland Investment Summit on 12 and 13 September, led by the Department for Business and Trade in partnership with the Northern Ireland Office and Invest Northern Ireland, will further position Northern Ireland as an ideal location for investment and investors from across the world.
Asked by: Navendu Mishra (Labour - Stockport)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, pursuant to the Answer of 9 May 2023 to Question 183602 on Overseas Trade: India, if he will make an estimate of the number of jobs that have been created in Greater Manchester as a result of the UK-India investment relationship.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Official Statistics on inward investment at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/department-for-international-trade-inward-investment-results-2021-to-2022 contain details on the number of jobs created from Foreign Direct Investment from India in to the UK, and jobs created from all FDI in to Greater Manchester. However it is not possible to publish figures at a more granular detail due to the risk of disclosing company level details. More information is available in the technical annex.
Asked by: Navendu Mishra (Labour - Stockport)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what guidance her Department issues on access to UK markets for Indian businesses.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Department for Business and Trade supports Indian businesses to invest in the UK by providing end-to-end project management; help with understanding the commercial opportunities through bespoke proposals and inward visits; a strategic account management offer and links with local and national partners, including Chambers of Commerce, Local Enterprise Partnerships and Mayoral Combined Authorities.
Making the UK the top investment destination in Europe from India, attracting new investment into communities and helping to level-up the country including in the north-west remains one of the Department for Business and Trade’s top priorities. Together, the UK-India investment relationship supports over half a million jobs across both economies.
Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether the draft treaty text of the free trade agreement with India on digital services and data would preclude the Government from taking unilateral action to block Voice over Internet Protocol phone calls to UK households, made from overseas using spoofed UK numbers.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
A free trade agreement with India offers the opportunity to deepen our already strong trade relationship.
We are seeking an agreement that benefits both businesses and consumers. This includes commitments on the protection of core consumer rights, and advancing digital consumer rights, such as seeking access to redress and reducing spam.
Round 8 is currently taking place in India, and we will provide the House with an update on negotiations after the round. We do not discuss details of live negotiations, and will only sign a deal that is fair, reciprocal, and ultimately in the best interests of the British people and the economy.
Asked by: Navendu Mishra (Labour - Stockport)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the value of medical imports from India has been in each Financial Year since 2018.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) is responsible for the collection and publication of data on imports and exports of goods to and from the UK. HMRC releases this information monthly, as a National Statistic called the Overseas Trade in Goods Statistics (OTS), which is available via their dedicated website (www.uktradeinfo.com). From this website, it is possible to build your own data tables based upon bespoke search criteria.
Classification codes (according to the Harmonised System) are available to assist you in accessing published trade statistics data in the UK Global Tariff. Goods moving to and from the UK are identified by an eight-digit commodity code. These are publicly available from the UK Trade Tariff at https://www.gov.uk/trade-tariff.
The term ‘medical’ goods could cover a wide range of commodity codes.
Trade data related to imports from India is publicly available on www.uktradeinfo.com.
Asked by: Matthew Offord (Conservative - Hendon)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, What recent discussions she has had with her Indian counterpart on increasing (a) trade with and (b) foreign direct investment from India.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The United Kingdom’s trading relationship with India was worth over £24 billion last year and we are already India’s top investment destination in Europe. My Rt Hon. Friend for Berwick-upon-Tweed, the former Secretary of State for International Trade engaged with her Indian counterpart in August, and her successor, my Rt. Hon. Friend for Saffron Walden, has already spoken with him.
With a 1.4 billion population and an increasing demand for high quality products and services, India is a clear trading priority for the UK. Together, we have already reduced trade barriers ranging from medical devices to Scotch whisky and Welsh lamb.
We remain determined to strengthen our economic cooperation with India.
Asked by: Matthew Offord (Conservative - Hendon)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what recent steps her Department has taken to help ensure that British businesses are able to trade overseas in the context of the UK no longer being part of EU trade agreements.
Answered by Ranil Jayawardena
To date, we have agreed trade deals with 71 countries plus the EU, covering trade worth £808 billion of our bilateral trade in 2021.
We are just getting started. Negotiations to join the Trans-Pacific Partnership are continuing. In addition, we have launched negotiations with India, Canada, Mexico, and the Gulf Cooperation Council, plus we are preparing to begin negotiations on new trade deals with Israel and Switzerland.