Commons Sense

House of Commons · Ministers' Questions

Trade and Investment in Wales

Thursday 15 April 2021 · 4 questions

Summarised by AI from the official record, so it can contain mistakes.

Read the full transcript on Parliament.uk

At a glance

Answered 1 Partly answered 3 Not answered 0

Key points

  • The Minister announced a new trade and investment hub in Wales to support nearly 200,000 exporters and attract investment.
  • The hub will provide support to business in Aberconwy and across north Wales, including for lamb exports to Japan.
  • The Minister defended the analysis used for trade policy, stating it provides constituency-level data on export industries.

Topics (select to filter)

Questions & Answers

Q1 Robin Millar
Economy Wales Business & Trade
Context

The MP asks about the economic impact of international trade in Wales.

Question

What recent assessment has been made of the economic effect of international trade on Wales?

Answer from Elizabeth Truss

Last month, I announced our new trade and investment hub in Wales, which will support almost 200,000 exporters and channel investment into Wales. It will play a crucial role in the export-led, jobs-led recovery for Wales.

Partly answered

Not addressed: The specific economic effect of international trade was not directly assessed; instead, a new hub initiative was introduced.

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Q2 Robin Millar
Business & Trade
Context

The MP inquires about specific benefits that a trade and investment hub will bring to exporters in Aberconwy and north Wales.

Question

What benefits has the Secretary of State identified that the hub will bring to exporters here in Aberconwy and across north Wales?

Answer from Elizabeth Truss

The trade and investment hub will provide support to business across Wales. There are already 2,000 people in Aberconwy working in export-intensive industries. The trade hub will provide support, including for Welsh lamb exports, which have resumed after more than 20 years to countries such as Japan.

Answered
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Q3 Gareth Thomas Labour (Co-op) Harrow West
Wales Business & Trade
Context

The MP questions the reliability of the “Global Britain, local jobs” analysis given its outdated data on Welsh industries and employment.

Question

Does the Secretary of State think that this outdated, incomplete analysis is a reliable foundation on which to base her trade policy for Wales?

Answer from Elizabeth Truss

The analysis that we produced as part of “Global Britain, local jobs” is the first time that we have produced data at a constituency level for export industries, and it always takes time for statistics to be processed. The new Trade Bill has enabled us to get access to more up-to-date data that we will of course continue to update our strategy with.

Partly answered

Not addressed: The reliability of the outdated analysis was not directly addressed; instead, newer data access is referenced.

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Q4 Gareth Thomas Labour (Co-op) Harrow West
Wales Business & Trade
Context

The MP questions the justification for a low number of inward investment projects in Wales compared to other regions.

Question

How can she justify those figures?

Answer from Elizabeth Truss

We are establishing a trade and investment hub in Cardiff this year that will employ up to 100 people precisely to bring more investment into Wales, more jobs into Wales, and more export opportunities into Wales.

Partly answered

Not addressed: The disparity in inward investment figures was not directly addressed; instead, a new hub initiative is announced.

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