Grant Thornton LLP was the department’s contracted supplier.

a) The effective date of the contract was the 3^rd August 2020

b) The duration of the contract is for 3 years with termination due on the 28^th July 2023.

c) The total, non-committed value that can be spent under the contract is £4.6m over 3 years

d) No revisions were made to the total value of the contract noted above; however the monthly fixed rate was reduced to reflect the demand for services in market.

The Department for International Trade has recruited six Export Champions for Northern Ireland. Pending final appointment processes, the Export Champions will be announced in due course. Further Export Champions for Northern Ireland may be appointed at a later date.

The Department for International Trade remains committed to listening to a wide range of voices to ensure our trade policy delivers for the whole of the UK, including businesses. We have established an extensive stakeholder engagement framework allowing business and stakeholders the opportunity to feed into our trade policy.

In addition, the Export Support Service (ESS), has helped over 11,500 UK businesses trade with Europe. ESS has also contacted businesses that have stopped trading with the EU to make them aware of support available.

Bitumen is in the trade sanctions for Russia (under oil products). It is a by-product of oil refining and is a product that has been supplied to the UK from a number of countries. The Government regularly engages with firms in the construction sector about the supply of products, and the supply of bitumen from non-Russian sources has not been raised as a concern. In particular, National Highways has been working with its supply chain to confirm compliance with sanctions and to ensure ongoing certainty of supply.

Between the 20 and 30 September, 138 number of calls were received by the service during core operating hours. Of these calls, 95 users indicated they were calling about trading with Europe, and 43 users indicated they were calling about trade with Russia, Ukraine or Belarus. On the 10 October the ESS Helpline service was replaced by the facility to arrange a call back with a DIT trade specialist, leveraging the recently in-housed International Trade Advisors. This has allowed DIT to switch to an integrated model across our services. The Export Support Digital Enquiry Service, which can be accessed via gov.uk, will continue to function as we seek positively to adapt our offer.

The utilisation performance for the service has been provided to the Rt. Hon Member for Islington South and Finsbury in answers to Question 151022 and Question 51515. A decision was taken in June 2022 to not extend the Export Support Service Helpline, so the contract expired effective from the 07 October 2022. For the duration of the contract, active steps were taken to manage utilisation.

The enquiries which were not resolved using the knowledge bank or referred to the digital enquiry team were referred to another government department to provide a response.

The data used to answer Question 51514 was taken from the supplier’s Customer Relationship Management system, whereas the data used to answer Question 51512 is taken from the supplier’s telephony system. As the contract expired on 07 October 2022, we do not have access to the supplier’s telephony system to provide the breakdown as requested.

The Export Support Service helpline was launched in October 2021. The preparation of material for its knowledge bank was carried out by DIT, and Hinduja Global Solutions Ltd (HGS UK) uploaded it to their system. The cost was included within the initial implementation period, with the total cost of implementation being £145,666. The total cost associated with the operation of the service in between October 2021 and 30 September 2022 was £1,002,158.

DIT delivered a single marketing campaign to promote the Export Support Service helpline and Digital Enquiry Service. Paid marketing activity ran from October 5th 2021 until March 31st 2022, and the total cost is £925,327.

Though there are no plans at present to add Malawi to the Prime Minister’s Trade Envoy Programme, the Department for International Trade is constantly reviewing suitable markets to identify where the appointment of a Trade Envoy can be of greatest benefit to the trade and investment aims of the UK.

Any users which were not accounted for in the figures provided in the answer to Question 51514 either refused to provide their data or were not businesses, and this data is stored on separate systems. The number of calls received by the Export Support Service is reported using the supplier’s telephony system, which was used to answer Question 51512. The case outcome data is reported using the supplier’s Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system, which was used to answer Question 51514. The difference between these figures is the number of calls logged on the telephony system, and the number of cases entered into the CRM system.

Recently released statistics show the Department for International Trade (DIT) supported inward investment that contributes to the Government’s green industrial revolution agenda. These statistics can be found by accessing https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/department-for-international-trade-inward-investment-results-2021-to-2022

This shows that DIT supported nearly £13 billion of net zero aligned foreign investment in the financial year 2021 to 2022, creating almost 9,000 new jobs.

A previous DIT publication related to the green industrial revolution agenda can be found by accessing

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/net-zero-related-inward-investment-in-the-uk-18-november-2020-to-24-september-2021

This shows that since the 10 Point Plan was announced on 18 November 2020 to 24 September 2021, DIT supported £2.6 billion worth of net zero aligned foreign investment, creating nearly 3,000 new jobs.

Recently released statistics show the Department for International Trade (DIT) supported inward investment that contributes to the Government’s green industrial revolution agenda. These statistics can be found by accessing https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/department-for-international-trade-inward-investment-results-2021-to-2022

This shows that DIT supported nearly £13 billion of net zero aligned foreign investment in the financial year 2021 to 2022, creating almost 9,000 new jobs.

A previous DIT publication related to the green industrial revolution agenda can be found by accessing

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/net-zero-related-inward-investment-in-the-uk-18-november-2020-to-24-september-2021

This shows that since the 10 Point Plan was announced on 18 November 2020 to 24 September 2021, DIT supported £2.6 billion worth of net zero aligned foreign investment, creating nearly 3,000 new jobs.

Recently released statistics show the Department for International Trade (DIT) supported inward investment that contributes to the Government’s green industrial revolution agenda. These statistics can be found by accessing https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/department-for-international-trade-inward-investment-results-2021-to-2022

This shows that DIT supported nearly £13 billion of net zero aligned foreign investment in the financial year 2021 to 2022, creating almost 9,000 new jobs.

A previous DIT publication related to the green industrial revolution agenda can be found by accessing

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/net-zero-related-inward-investment-in-the-uk-18-november-2020-to-24-september-2021

This shows that since the 10 Point Plan was announced on 18 November 2020 to 24 September 2021, DIT supported £2.6 billion worth of net zero aligned foreign investment, creating nearly 3,000 new jobs.

The Department has an extensive analytical function which monitors trade flows published by the Office for National Statistics. UK exports to the EU totalled 274.8 billion in the 12 months to March 2022.

The department has supported over 11,000 UK businesses to trade with Europe through the Export Support Service and, through our independent trade policy, we have opened up opportunities for UK businesses across the world. We have agreed trade deals with 71 countries and the EU, accounting for £808bn of UK trade in 2021 and including our first new deals negotiated from scratch with Australia and New Zealand.

All of the tradeshows in India that the Department for International Trade (DIT) had planned to support at the start of 2021 (January – March) via the old Tradeshow Access Programme were cancelled due to Covid. Tradeshows in India for the remainder of 2021 were also cancelled.

We are however making support available to UK businesses for them to attend and exhibit at a number of events in India for the remainder of 2022/23, via the new UK Tradeshow Programme.

DIT actively supports businesses in a variety of ways to seek export opportunities in India.

All of the tradeshows in India that the Department for International Trade (DIT) had planned to support at the start of 2021 (January – March) via the old Tradeshow Access Programme were cancelled due to Covid. Tradeshows in India for the remainder of 2021 were also cancelled.

We are however making support available to UK businesses for them to attend and exhibit at a number of events in India for the remainder of 2022/23, via the new UK Tradeshow Programme.

DIT actively supports businesses in a variety of ways to seek export opportunities in India.

Through the Export Strategy, the Department for International Trade (DIT) is targeting the barriers affecting small-and-medium sized businesses (SMEs) by providing a single point of contact for businesses who export or wish to do so. SMEs also benefit from the Internationalisation Fund, having so far attracted around 4,400 applications and allocated around £21M in funding.

DIT work with businesses to reduce trade barriers and secure world-class free trade agreements, supporting British business to take full advantage of trade opportunities.

DIT has directly assisted Solihull based Evac+Chair, a globally renowned manufacturer of evacuation chairs, with market access issues into both Spain and USA resulting in their business growth.

The Export Support Service, as part of the refreshed Export Strategy launched last November, helps businesses at every stage of exporting. It is a front door for businesses who require support adapting to changes following Brexit.

Furthermore, the Department has initiatives such as the Export Academy and the Export Champions scheme that help to give businesses the knowledge and practical help that UK businesses need.

Goods exported to the EU in the 12 months to July 2022 were up 17.9% in current prices compared to the previous 12 months, whilst Services exports to the EU and non-EU increased by 8.0% in current prices during the same period.

The Green Trade and Investment Expo (GTIE) remains a key event in the Government’s drive towards net zero and a greener economy. GTIE is a chance to showcase the investment and export opportunities presented by HMG’s focus on these areas. It will be central to clean growth trade activity, coinciding with International Trade Week and just ahead of COP27, where the UK will once again showcase our innovative green companies.

GTIE will demonstrate UK leadership in capitalising on the environmental business and clean growth opportunities available in the UK. The northeast location is also important to HMG’s levelling up agenda.