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Written question asked by Daniel Kawczynski (Conservative) on Tuesday, 10 September 2013, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Thursday, 12 September 2013. It was answered by Michael Fallon (Conservative) on Tuesday, 8 October 2013 on behalf of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills.

UK Trade and Investment: West Midlands

Question

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills how many new overseas contracts were won by businesses in the West Midlands as a direct result of the work of UK Trade and Investment West Midlands in the last (a) 12 months and (b) two years.

Answer

UK Trade & Investment (UKTI) has recently started to measure trade growth value. This measure was designed to record cases where an enterprise has progressed in its pursuit of overseas business opportunities to the point of successfully winning contracts. During financial year 2013-14 West Midlands small and medium-sized enterprises completed trade growth value (TGV) forms totalling £8.19 million from 25 companies.

There are no figures available prior to April 2013, when UKTI started recording TGV data; however there has been a significant increase in exports in the West Midlands in the last 18 months. Exports reached over £6.5 billion between 1 April and 30 June 2013, according to the export statistics published on 5 September 2013 by HM Revenue and Customs. Compared to the previous quarter, exports from the West Midlands increased by 6.5%, the highest growth of all English regions. Compared with the same quarter in 2012, the growth is 18%—equating to more than £1 billion more exports from the region.

The assistance provided to exporters by the UKTI team also involves help at earlier stages in this export development process. In the West Midlands in 2012/13 UKTI West Midlands supported 180 companies through our flagship Passport to Export programme and in 2013/14 to date has supported a further 182, with the aim of supporting 350 by the end of the year.

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
169096; 568 cc290-1W
Session
2013-14
Subjects
Contracts Business West Midlands UK Trade and Investment
Contains statistics
Yes
Link
View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk