Trade, Exports, Innovation and Productivity — House of Commons, 2016-01-13
Topic: Foreign Trade
Geoffrey Robert Clifton-Brown (Conservative, Centre-right): I think we all have to encourage UKTI to operate within the financial climate that exists. I have to say that I would put the money into UKTI in order to expand exports, but I would make sure that it was operating as well as it possibly could. Another suggestion that I have for the Minister is that UKTI should be benchmarked against the best export agencies in the world to see how it is doing. We should never be complacent in this life, and benchmarking is one way of getting that information Despite what the company in my constituency said when we went to see Lord Maude, I think that what my hon. Friend the Member for Horsham (Jeremy Quin) has just said is right. Our ambassadors are some of the best trained in the world, and we have one of the most comprehensive networks of embassies. After all, it was the Conservatives, in this Parliament and the last one, who started opening embassies where the previous Government had closed them. We have the network, but in some places we need to sharpen up the expertise. However, we have a good foundation on which to build We have the British brand and the British language and we exercise our soft power through the BBC World Service and the British Council. We are very well established in many of the major markets in Brazil, Russia, India and China—the BRIC markets—and in other smaller markets where we need to concentrate our efforts. We need to concentrate on the high-growth markets, as opposed to on Europe, which has lower growth. I am delighted that our exports to China are growing in such big quantities, albeit from a very low base. UKTI is putting significant resources into China, and it is paying dividends. The visit by China’s Premier, Xi Jinping, last year will only help to cement those efforts I do not want to make too long a speech, but I want to outline some things that we could do to help companies to export. I have some specific ideas for fiscal incentives to give to small and medium-sized businesses. We could give them fiscal help with export-related activity. That could be a better way of alerting many companies to the possibilities. Companies are very astute about ways of saving tax, and we need to find the best ways of encouraging all small and medium-sized businesses to export. It would also be helpful to inform them that finding out more about their potential export markets need not involve huge costs A further suggestion, which I have already mentioned, is that we should extend the TAP programme from three to four years where success has already been demonstrated. If a company cannot achieve success within three years, it is unlikely to do so, but if it has already demonstrated success, as that company in my constituency has done—[Interruption.] I wish that my right hon. Friend the Minister on the Front Bench would listen. Please! If the Government extended the TAP programme from three to four years where success had been demonstrated, it would be helpful My third suggestion is that we should buddy a successful exporting SME with one that is exporting for the first time. That would be really helpful, because there is a real fear of the unknown for a small company with only a few employees. It has to deal with the VAT, the national insurance, the marketing and the manufacturing, and that can be quite frightening for a small company. It can be quite off-putting. Buddying such a company with one that is in the same market—although not one that is directly competing—would be helpful.