Asked by: Alan Brown (Scottish National Party - Kilmarnock and Loudoun)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, if he will make an assessment of the contribution of the Scotch whisky industry to the international reputation of the UK food and drink industry; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Graham Stuart
Scotch Whisky is an important part of the UK’s overall exports, representing 20% of UK food and drink exports.
Ministers and officials from this department have regular discussions with the Scotch Whisky Association and other representatives from the industry and actively work with them to help increase whisky exports. Representatives of the Scotch Whisky Association recently joined business delegations to Africa and India led by the Prime Minister. The industry is supported in a similar way to other food and drink producers; we help them take advantage of a wide range of overseas opportunities. The importance of the industry to the UK economy cannot be overstated, being the largest export within the sector with international sales valued at over £4 billion in 2017.
Asked by: Alan Brown (Scottish National Party - Kilmarnock and Loudoun)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what plans the Government has to support companies exporting Scotch whisky; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Graham Stuart
Scotch Whisky is an important part of the UK’s overall exports, representing 20% of UK food and drink exports.
Ministers and officials from this department have regular discussions with the Scotch Whisky Association and other representatives from the industry and actively work with them to help increase whisky exports. Representatives of the Scotch Whisky Association recently joined business delegations to Africa and India led by the Prime Minister. The industry is supported in a similar way to other food and drink producers; we help them take advantage of a wide range of overseas opportunities. The importance of the industry to the UK economy cannot be overstated, being the largest export within the sector with international sales valued at over £4 billion in 2017.
Asked by: Alan Brown (Scottish National Party - Kilmarnock and Loudoun)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what recent discussions he has had with representatives of the Scotch whisky industry on increasing exports of Scotch whisky; if he will make an assessment of the effectiveness of recent steps taken by that industry to increase such exports; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Graham Stuart
Scotch Whisky is an important part of the UK’s overall exports, representing 20% of UK food and drink exports.
Ministers and officials from this department have regular discussions with the Scotch Whisky Association and other representatives from the industry and actively work with them to help increase whisky exports. Representatives of the Scotch Whisky Association recently joined business delegations to Africa and India led by the Prime Minister. The industry is supported in a similar way to other food and drink producers; we help them take advantage of a wide range of overseas opportunities. The importance of the industry to the UK economy cannot be overstated, being the largest export within the sector with international sales valued at over £4 billion in 2017.
Asked by: Rosie Cooper (Labour - West Lancashire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the role and remit is of his Department's Global Health Team.
Answered by Steve Brine
The Department has two key teams dealing with global health.
The Department of Health and Social Care’s International Team leads on the United Kingdom’s relationship with the World Health Organization and health aspects of other international bodies and fora, including certain other United Nations organisations, the G7, the G20 and the Commonwealth, working closely with the Department for International Development, Public Health England (PHE) and other partners across Government. It also leads on the Department of Health and Social Care’s bilateral relationships with other countries; on co-ordinating strategy across Government; and on the health implications of trade. This collaboration entails information-sharing with a number of countries including lower and middle income countries, including during international meetings, through the facilitation of visits by overseas delegations, and by working with officials at the Department for International Development on their programmes.
The Department of Health and Social Care shares expertise and learning with officials in developing countries at all levels in health ministries. The Global Health Security team, through the Department’s Official Development Assistance (ODA) allocation, works closely with a number of low and middle income countries (LMICs) to share best practice and build capacity including through the Fleming Fund to strengthen surveillance of antimicrobial resistance (AMR), the International Health Regulations (IHR) strengthening project and the UK Public Health Rapid Support Team (UK-PHRST). The team also works to support the Chief Medical Officer in strengthening international collaboration to tackle AMR.
In addition, the Global Health Research team uses ODA funding to commission and deliver research of direct and primary benefit to people in LMICs, through the National Institute for Health Research, to improve global health outcomes.
Public Health England (PHE) delivers ongoing programmes of work in developing countries to provide training and facilitate health systems strengthening. Information sharing is part of this work. PHE also works with specific countries to improve their capability for compliance with IHRs, and has formal memoranda of understanding with India and Nigeria to facilitate the exchange of information and expertise.
The PHE UK-PHRST responds to urgent requests from ODA eligible countries to support them to control disease outbreaks.
Asked by: Rosie Cooper (Labour - West Lancashire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps the Government is taking to share the expertise and learning generated from the NHS with health minsters in developing countries.
Answered by Steve Brine
The Department has two key teams dealing with global health.
The Department of Health and Social Care’s International Team leads on the United Kingdom’s relationship with the World Health Organization and health aspects of other international bodies and fora, including certain other United Nations organisations, the G7, the G20 and the Commonwealth, working closely with the Department for International Development, Public Health England (PHE) and other partners across Government. It also leads on the Department of Health and Social Care’s bilateral relationships with other countries; on co-ordinating strategy across Government; and on the health implications of trade. This collaboration entails information-sharing with a number of countries including lower and middle income countries, including during international meetings, through the facilitation of visits by overseas delegations, and by working with officials at the Department for International Development on their programmes.
The Department of Health and Social Care shares expertise and learning with officials in developing countries at all levels in health ministries. The Global Health Security team, through the Department’s Official Development Assistance (ODA) allocation, works closely with a number of low and middle income countries (LMICs) to share best practice and build capacity including through the Fleming Fund to strengthen surveillance of antimicrobial resistance (AMR), the International Health Regulations (IHR) strengthening project and the UK Public Health Rapid Support Team (UK-PHRST). The team also works to support the Chief Medical Officer in strengthening international collaboration to tackle AMR.
In addition, the Global Health Research team uses ODA funding to commission and deliver research of direct and primary benefit to people in LMICs, through the National Institute for Health Research, to improve global health outcomes.
Public Health England (PHE) delivers ongoing programmes of work in developing countries to provide training and facilitate health systems strengthening. Information sharing is part of this work. PHE also works with specific countries to improve their capability for compliance with IHRs, and has formal memoranda of understanding with India and Nigeria to facilitate the exchange of information and expertise.
The PHE UK-PHRST responds to urgent requests from ODA eligible countries to support them to control disease outbreaks.
Asked by: Andrew Gwynne (Labour - Denton and Reddish)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department facilitates information-sharing with his counterparts in developing countries.
Answered by Steve Brine
The Department of Health and Social Care has two key teams dealing with global health.
The International team leads on the United Kingdom’s relationship with the World Health Organization and health aspects of other international bodies and fora, including certain other United Nation organisations, G7, G20 and the Commonwealth, working closely with the Department for International Development and other partners across Government. It also leads on the Department of Health and Social Care’s bilateral relationships with other countries; on co-ordinating strategy across Government; and on the health implications of trade. This collaboration entails information-sharing with a number of countries including lower and middle income countries (LMICs), including during international meetings, through the facilitation of visits by overseas delegations, and by working with officials at the Department for International Development on their programmes.
The Global Health Security team, through the Department’s Official Development Assistance (ODA) allocation, works closely with a number of LMICs to share best practice and build capacity including through the Fleming Fund to strengthen surveillance of antimicrobial resistance (AMR), the International Health Regulations strengthening project and the UK Public Health Rapid Support team. The team also works to support the Chief Medical Officer in strengthening international collaboration to tackle AMR.
In addition, the Global Health Research team uses ODA funding to commission and deliver research of direct and primary benefit to people in LMICs, through the National Institute of Health Research, to improve global health outcomes.
Public Health England (PHE) delivers ongoing programmes of work in developing countries to provide training and facilitate health systems strengthening. Information sharing is part of this work. PHE also works with specific countries to improve their capability for compliance with the International Health Regulations, and has formal memoranda of understanding with India and Nigeria to facilitate the exchange of information and expertise.
The PHE United Kingdom Public Health Rapid Support Team responds to urgent requests from official development assistance eligible countries to support them to control disease outbreaks.
Asked by: Andrew Gwynne (Labour - Denton and Reddish)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the role and remit is of Global Health Team within his Department.
Answered by Steve Brine
The Department of Health and Social Care has two key teams dealing with global health.
The International team leads on the United Kingdom’s relationship with the World Health Organization and health aspects of other international bodies and fora, including certain other United Nation organisations, G7, G20 and the Commonwealth, working closely with the Department for International Development and other partners across Government. It also leads on the Department of Health and Social Care’s bilateral relationships with other countries; on co-ordinating strategy across Government; and on the health implications of trade. This collaboration entails information-sharing with a number of countries including lower and middle income countries (LMICs), including during international meetings, through the facilitation of visits by overseas delegations, and by working with officials at the Department for International Development on their programmes.
The Global Health Security team, through the Department’s Official Development Assistance (ODA) allocation, works closely with a number of LMICs to share best practice and build capacity including through the Fleming Fund to strengthen surveillance of antimicrobial resistance (AMR), the International Health Regulations strengthening project and the UK Public Health Rapid Support team. The team also works to support the Chief Medical Officer in strengthening international collaboration to tackle AMR.
In addition, the Global Health Research team uses ODA funding to commission and deliver research of direct and primary benefit to people in LMICs, through the National Institute of Health Research, to improve global health outcomes.
Public Health England (PHE) delivers ongoing programmes of work in developing countries to provide training and facilitate health systems strengthening. Information sharing is part of this work. PHE also works with specific countries to improve their capability for compliance with the International Health Regulations, and has formal memoranda of understanding with India and Nigeria to facilitate the exchange of information and expertise.
The PHE United Kingdom Public Health Rapid Support Team responds to urgent requests from official development assistance eligible countries to support them to control disease outbreaks.
Asked by: Lord Jones of Cheltenham (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what progress has been made on new trade deals with (1) Brazil, (2) Russia, (3) India, (4) China, and (5) the United States; how many visits to those countries have been made since 23 June 2016 by ministers and officials of the Department for International Trade; and at what total cost.
Answered by Baroness Fairhead
The UK cannot negotiate new trade agreements whilst we are still Members of the European Union.
However, the government has established working groups with a range of key trade partners, including the United States, China and India, to explore the best ways of progressing our trade and investment relationships. Individual announcements on the progress of working groups will continue to be made on Gov.uk.
We are also using other instruments, such as Joint Trade Reviews and Joint Economic and Trade Committees (JETCOs) with countries including China, India and Brazil, to continue to deepen our respective trading relationships. We have already held JETCOs with India and Brazil this year, and will hold one with China later in the summer.
Department for International Trade (DIT) Ministers have visited Brazil, India, China and the USA on 34 occasions since 23 June 2016. No DIT Ministers have visited Russia since this date. Details of expenditure for DIT Ministerial travel overseas is published on Gov.uk on a quarterly basis. All Ministerial journeys adhere to Cabinet Office rules on international travel and are published as part of the Department’s ministerial transparency returns (the most recent can be found at www.gov.uk/government/publications/dit-ministers-meetings-hospitality-gifts-and-overseas-travel-january-to-march-2018).
The total number of DIT officials that have visited the countries listed is not recorded centrally.
Asked by: Christine Jardine (Liberal Democrat - Edinburgh West)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what progress he plans to make on increasing food and drink exports to India in advance of the next India-UK Joint Economic and Trade Committee.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
India is a priority market for DIT's Food and Drink sector team which works closely with DEFRA, UK regional colleagues (including Devolved Administrations), dedicated overseas staff in India, UK Export Finance and trade policy officials. This collaborative export promotion work helps UK companies enter and grow sustainably in the market. In addition, India and the UK have identified food and drink as a specific workstream in the Joint Trade Review.
Asked by: Justin Madders (Labour - Ellesmere Port and Neston)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what steps his Department is taking to promote UK automotive exports to the international market.
Answered by Graham Stuart
The Department for International Trade (DIT) is actively engaged in promoting UK automotive exports globally, making full use of our teams in the UK and at posts overseas including in our current priority markets: the USA, China, Germany, Central/Eastern Europe, Mexico and India. We help companies win export business through participation in overseas missions and events, including through the Tradeshow Access Programme. Recent examples include the Prime Minister’s mission to China where we supported a number of UK automotive companies, and a low-carbon vehicle mission to the USA and Mexico. We promote UK automotive industry excellence through the Great international trade campaign. We also provide competitive financial support through UK Export Finance, helping exporters and tier-one suppliers to trade internationally. Global demand for UK automotive products is strong and this Department is helping to ensure our automotive businesses take full advantage.