Source · Select Committees · Northern Ireland Affairs Committee
Recommendation 7
7
Accepted
Paragraph: 41
We are pleased with the Government’s decision to set up a new DIT hub in...
Recommendation
We are pleased with the Government’s decision to set up a new DIT hub in Belfast and we acknowledge the economic benefits this could bring to Northern Ireland. However, we urge the Government to publish up to date information on the delivery of the Northern Ireland International Trade plan, the establishment of a new Trade Advisory Board, the appointment of Northern Ireland Trade Ambassadors, the development of a Trade Accelerator Plan and a “Made in NI” campaign.
Government Response Summary
DIT established a trade and investment hub based in Belfast in March last year and recruitment is underway. The team is dedicated to ensuring that Northern Ireland businesses are aware of the support services available through DIT’s Export Strategy. At the Autumn Statement £2 million was announced for the Department for International Trade to work with local partners including Invest NI to host a trade and investment event in Northern Ireland in 2023.
Paragraph Reference:
41
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government
Accepted
DIT established a trade and investment hub based in Belfast in March last year. Recruitment is underway for two remaining roles, which will bring the team to a total of ten members. The team is dedicated to ensuring that Northern Ireland businesses are aware of the support services available through DIT’s Export Strategy. These services include the Export Academy, the UK Tradeshow Programme, UK Export Finance and the newly appointed Export Champions. Furthermore, under the Places for Growth programme DIT will further grow its presence to 75 UK-wide roles based in Belfast across a range of teams in the department. The DIT Northern Ireland team have currently been focusing on increasing local business representation across the 11 UK-wide, sector-focused Trade Advisory Groups. The current submission doubles Northern Ireland business membership and includes an updated Strategic Trade Advisory Group member. With that in mind, the department will keep the need for a specific Northern Ireland Trade Advisory Group under review. On 28 November, DIT announced eight business leaders as the first-ever Northern Ireland Export Champions. Between them they represent a variety of key sectors in Northern Ireland’s economy, including food and drink, technology, and manufacturing. Having taken on these voluntary roles, each Champion will now support DIT to promote the benefits of exporting and encourage other companies across Northern Ireland to consider selling to overseas markets. This will be done through participating in DIT events, sharing their exporting stories and experiences breaking into new markets abroad with those in their sector. As part of DIT’s plan to accelerate trade across the UK under the Export Strategy, paid media activity for DIT’s export promotion campaign, Made in UK, Sold to the World, will continue to run until April 2023. The campaign features Northern Ireland companies including Lowden Guitars, Axial3D and Texthelp. At the Autumn Statement £2 million was announced for the Department for International Trade to work with local partners including Invest NI to host a trade and investment event in Northern Ireland in 2023. This will showcase Northern Ireland as an attractive and vibrant place to do business and help drive new mobile investment into its economy.