Seema Malhotra – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Seema Malhotra on 2016-01-12.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what assessment he has made of the ease by which UK SMEs can access the export market.

Anna Soubry

Increasing exports is a key factor in the Government’s long-term economic plan and, through the GREAT campaign, it continues to promote the support available to those UK businesses looking to take advantage of overseas opportunities.

According to data from the Office of National Statistics, since 2010 UK exports have increased from £444.4bn to £513.5bn per annum. At the same time, the number of UK exporting businesses has increased from 188,000 in 2010 to over 221,000 in 2014. The Government commitment is to increase this figure to over 288,000 UK exporting businesses per annum by 2020; an increase of 100,000 on the 2010 figure.