UK Trade & Business Commission
Since Feb 2020, Liz Truss hasn't met with members of the regional network of advisers that help small and mid-sized firms build export strategies to become successful overseas, recent answers to parliamentary questions have revealed.
“I hope the secretary of state will commit to closer consultation with regional trade experts in future so as to better understand the needs of different parts of the U.K. economy” says co-convenor of the Commission and Leeds Central MP Hilary Benn in response.
Export Minister Graham Stuart’s answers to Benn’s questions show that during the same period ministers held 27 meetings with regional trade advisers. Of these, 10 took place in the Northern Powerhouse region, 1 in the Midlands Engine, 15 in the South, and 1 in London. 3/
UK Trade & Business Commission
The closure of the Swindon Honda factory “reminds us how damaging uninformed government policy can be” says Benn. “It's disappointing that while the government is embarking on new trade deals, the secretary of state is paying little heed to the needs of our regional economies”
In our session on SME barriers to trade, we heard from James Sibley
,Head of International Affairs Federation of Small Businesses. He said: “We’ve spoken for years now about improving the international trade adviser network that DIT operates.
"The regional performance of that is quite patchy.”
Contracts for advisers are outsourced by region says James Sibley
: “The kind of advice on offer to small firms that’s reported back to us can often be quite poor,” he adds, calling for more of a mission to provide “the right advice at the right time”
Contracts for international trade advisers have also offered more money to those operating in England’s wealthiest regions. Labour’s Shadow Trade Secretary Emily Thornberry has argued this needs to change.
Between April 2015 and May 2021, some £179 million worth of export promotion contracts were awarded to advisers across the country, with additional funding added in June.