Press release: UK Government urges Welsh businesses to export

In 2016 there were more than 3,800 businesses exporting in Wales with an annual combined value of £12.4bn exports. Now, Ministers are urging other business to take up the support on offer including financial incentives and online matching services.

To mark the anniversary Secretary of State for Wales Alun Cairns has announced that he will be writing to 26,000 Welsh businesses that have been identified as potential exporters and sending them a copy of a dedicated exporting guide for Welsh businesses.

The Wales Export Guide, sets out the full range of support available to Welsh businesses from the UK Government and contains inspiring stories of companies based in Wales that are successfully exporting. Alun Cairns hopes that businesses will recognise the huge potential available to help them invest and grow.

Secretary of State for Wales Alun Cairns said:

I want Welsh businesses to get out into the wider world, to trade and do business all around the globe. That is why we are sharing the advice, guidance and support available from the UK Government, in particular from the Department for International Trade, for businesses in our Wales Export Guide. We want to help them to build their brand abroad as we continue to increase UK exports and encourage inward investment.

DIT has helped to secure billions of pounds in export opportunities, and since its creation in July 2016, the department has also supported;

a trade mission to India which resulted in £1.2 billion worth of business deals
the largest ever healthcare trade mission to China which saw British organisations sign deals worth more than £250 million
UK architecture firms to secure a contract worth tens of millions of pounds in UAE

DIT has also set up ten working groups across 15 countries to strengthen trade and commercial ties with key trading partners around the world.

International Trade Minister, Greg Hands said:

We are already a great trading nation, but as an international economic department we now want to encourage businesses to look at whether there could be a global market for their goods and services.

By designing our own trade policy in Britain’s national interest, after we leave the EU, we will be able to take advantage of growing markets around the world and further boost our export successes.

Through great.gov.uk, the department gives UK businesses access to millions of pounds’ worth of potential overseas business, helping them start or increase exporting.

There’s been more than 2.4 million visits to great.gov.uk and more than 3,300 UK businesses have already registered on the government’s ‘Find a Buyer’ service to match UK businesses to worldwide demand.

Exporting support for Wales

DIT hosted the inaugural Wales Export Business Summit where more than 80 businesses came together to access advice and guidance from entrepreneurs, international business owners and export champions. The summit helped to connect firms starting out on their exporting journey with the expertise they need.

In the last year, DIT has supported almost 1,200 companies in Wales by helping them attend overseas trade shows, carry out crucial market research and develop international relationships.

One Welsh manufacturer that has benefited from government support is Pontypool-based company Flamgard Calidair. Through UK Export Finance, which operates as part of DIT, Flamgard secured a contract to provide specialist fire and shut off dampers to the Chernobyl site. The €1.5bn multinational engineering project, managed by international contractor Novarka, will be installed in late 2017. ENDS

Notes to editors

Contact the DIT Media and Digital Team on 020 215 2000
Follow us: @tradegovuk gov.uk/dit

Press release: Jobs boost for Welsh engineering sector

Welsh Secretary Alun Cairns: CAF rail investment a ‘strong endorsement’ of Wales’ skills base and business environment.

Spanish train manufacturer Construcciones y Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles (CAF) has today (13 July) announced plans to create 300 jobs at a new factory at the former Llanwern steelworks site in Newport where it will build trains and trams for the UK network.

The company has previously supplied trains to the UK from its factories in Spain and looked at more than 100 locations throughout the UK before choosing its Newport location due to is transport links and access to a pool of highly skilled workers.

Secretary of State for Wales Alun Cairns said:

The announcement of this new manufacturing facility is fantastic news for Newport and will be welcomed by everyone who wants to see a thriving Welsh manufacturing sector. It means up to 300 new skilled jobs created at the plant, the potential for thousands of jobs secured in the supply chain and the start of a new chapter for this important manufacturing site in south Wales.

We must continue to be ambitious for Wales, and to make this country an attractive destination for investors. CAF is the latest major company to invest in Wales and is yet another strong endorsement of the skills-base and the business environment we are cultivating here. We are very much open for business and I look forward to seeing the new facility taking shape over the coming years.

Richard Garner, CAF’s UK Director said:

CAF is responding to demands made by its customers who are asking for British trains, manufactured by British workers using British based suppliers.

The new factory will be over 46,000 square metres and will employ 200 people when it opens in the autumn of 2018, rising to 300 in 2019. The facility will enable the build of a range of different trains, including trams, suburban and metro trains and high speed trains. CAF plans to start recruiting people to work at the factory in spring 2018 and will be offering training and apprenticeship schemes from autumn 2018.

Speech: “It’s clear that our message simply isn’t getting through to the Government of the DRC. The killings have continued, the horror has continued.”

Statement by Stephen Hickey, Political Counsellor at the Permanent Mission of the United Kingdom to the United Nations, at the Security Council briefing on the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Thank you Mr President.

I wouldn’t normally take the floor ahead of consultations, but as both Under-Secretary-General Lacroix and the Ambassador of France have expressed so clearly, these simply aren’t normal times for the people of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Indeed, for many people in the Kasai region these are the darkest moments of their lives.

The reports emanating from this region should send a shiver down each and every spine in this room. They are reports that bear all the hallmarks of the very worst of humanity; mass killings, beheadings, mass graves, millions displaced.

Sadly, as highlighted by the Secretary-General’s Advisor on Genocide, the government’s own security forces are responsible for much of this death and destruction in certain areas of the Kasai provinces. Nearly a hundred children have been maimed and killed by their own government’s forces and children have been sexually abused by government forces.

This represents a wider, worrying trend – the Secretary-General reports that 60% of 1,444 human rights violations and abuses recorded in the DRC over the past 3 months were committed by government forces – the same government that bears the primary responsibility to protect its citizens.

When faced with hell, people should be able to look to their government in hope. For the people of the Kasai, they do so only in fear.

This does not mean that the militia operating in these areas are innocent. Not by any stretch of the imagination. As we heard from USG Lacroix, they too are responsible for rape, killing, and high levels of child recruitment.

It is clear that the situation in the DRC compels us all to take a stand. That’s why we welcome the international investigation mandated by the Human Rights Council last month. It must start as soon as possible and be conducted to international standards of independence and transparency. We urge the Government to cooperate fully with this investigation; those responsible for these horrific crimes must be held to account.

Sadly, Mr President, the situation in the Kasai is by no means an isolated example in the DRC. There is also renewed violence in the east of the country, much of which has a worrying ethnic dimension. Such violence, in different areas of DRC, only further reinforces our belief that political uncertainty and instability in Kinshasa is fuelling violent uncertainty and violent instability across the country. And this is now presenting a serious threat to regional stability.

We all know what needs to happen, Mr President, and the Ambassador of France set this out very clearly. The DRC Government knows what it needs to do; stop the violence; ensure accountability for the violations and abuses; implement the 31 December Agreement in full. As set out in this Agreement, elections should be held in six months. We simply must see progress that gives the Congolese people and the world the confidence that this will be realised. This is the issue that is fundamentally increasing frustration and tensions in the country.

To deliver on this, the Electoral Commission must release an electoral timetable setting a date for elections, in line with the 31st December Agreement and agree a budget, so that vital international funds can be released. Let me take the opportunity to welcome progress in electoral registration and the positive role played by MONUSCO in support of this. But this progress must continue – insecurity cannot be used as an excuse for further delay.

In truth, Mr President, none of this new. We’ve known what needs to happen for some time. It’s clear that our message simply isn’t getting through to the Government of the DRC. The killings have continued, the horror has continued. What has failed to continue is genuine implementation of the 31st December Agreement that laid the path toward elections. So it’s incumbent on all of us in this Council to do more.

With the eyes of the world looking on us today in open session, I ask all Council members to support a clear, unequivocal message: stop the violence; hold those responsible for violations and abuses to account; and implement the 31st of December Agreement in full without delay.

Thank you.

News story: Education Secretary unveils schemes to tackle social mobility

New initiatives to tackle social mobility and help pupils from all backgrounds reach their full potential were announced today (12 July) in a keynote speech by the Education Secretary Justine Greening.

Speaking at the Sutton Trust Social Mobility Summit, to mark its 20th anniversary, the Education Secretary confirmed that leading national and local businesses have signed up to provide careers advice to young people in 12 ‘Opportunity Areas’, which were announced in her speech at PwC in January, with the support of a £2million government-backed fund.

Building on the programme of activity being led in these areas, Justine Greening also named the schools that will act as Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) Research Schools in the Opportunity Areas. These schools will get a share of £3.5million to gather and share evidence of best practice on social mobility to help teachers tackle this issue in their schools.

Sir Kevan Collins has been appointed as the Evidence Champion for the Opportunity Areas to ensure intelligence is shared effectively across the twelve areas. The Chairs of the Partnership Boards – responsible for driving forward activity in each Opportunity Area – have been named for Derby, West Somerset and Scarborough.

Alongside this, Justine Greening reaffirmed her commitment to supporting the teaching profession, enabling teachers to be the best they can help every pupil to achieve their potential.

The announcement comes as new research published by the Sutton Trust shows that tackling social mobility could boost our annual GDP by £39billlion – the equivalent of £590 per person.

Education Secretary Justine Greening said:

This is not just a mission for government, or a mission just for the Sutton Trust. It is a generational mission for all of us.

We don’t have to accept Britain as it has been in the past. Ours is a generation that can build something better. It is a simple idea. It is a powerful idea. It is an urgent idea.

I believe now we absolutely need to fix social mobility, and make sure it happens. And make sure this is a country where there are no barriers to anybody becoming the best that they can be.

Supporting the teaching profession

Teachers are the great drivers of social mobility and can have the biggest impact on unlocking young people’s talents. Earlier this year, the Education Secretary outlined her vision for the teaching profession, announcing a £75million Teaching and Leadership Innovation Fund to invest in high quality professional development for teachers and leaders working in challenging areas. Justine Greening confirmed that £20 million – the first round of this – will go to programmes from September.

The Department is also setting aside £10 million from the Teaching and Leadership Innovation Fund for teachers and leaders in challenging schools to take part in the newly reformed, gold standard National Professional Qualifications to ensure these schools have great leaders.

This approach will help to deliver school improvement and drive social mobility across the country and help to tackle regional inequalities in educational outcomes.

Business support

Research shows that young people who have four or more workplace encounters while at school are 86% less likely to be NEET and on average will go on to earn 18% more than their peers who did not.

The Careers & Enterprise Company (CEC) is collaborating with 40 national and local ‘cornerstone’ employers to prepare pupils for the world of work at more than 260 secondary schools and colleges in the Opportunity Areas.

Employers that have signed up to this £2million initiative include: Adecco; Butlins; KPMG; Michelin; Mantra Media; NatWest; PwC; and Rolls Royce. Together with the CEC, these employers will give tailored careers support to young people in the Opportunity Areas, including:

Giving all pupils aged 11 – 18 access to at least four inspiring ‘encounters’ with the world of work; and
Giving all secondary schools and colleges in the Opportunity Areas access to a local senior business volunteer (Enterprise Adviser), who will work with headteachers and college principals to unlock local business relationships and advise on their careers programme.

This commitment is backed by leading business representatives, such as the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) and the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB). These organisations will encourage their members to offer more young people opportunities to help prepare them for future careers through activities such as mentoring, work experience, mock interviews and career talks.

Claudia Harris, Chief Executive of the Careers & Enterprise Company, said:

Over 40 of our economy’s leading businesses have stepped forward to ensure we can increase young peoples’ exposure to the world of work following clear evidence that this improves employment outcomes.

The scale of collaboration between businesses announced today will make a much-needed dent in social immobility in key areas and we are proud to be co-ordinating these efforts.

EEF Research Schools

The 11 Research Schools named by the Education Endowment Foundation will act as local centres of excellence, working with schools in the Opportunity Areas to deliver evidence-based approaches to tackling social mobility and provide resources for teachers. This will support local teachers to be the best they can be and tackle the regional inequalities surrounding educational outcomes for local pupils.

The 11 Research Schools have been named as:

Hastings Research School at Ark Blacklands Primary Academy;
Stoke-on-Trent Research School by The Keele and North Staffordshire Alliance;
Norwich Research School at Notre Dame High School;
Oldham Research School by The Greetland Academy;
Blackpool Research School at St Mary’s Catholic Academy;
Doncaster Research School by Partners in Learning;
Scarborough Research School by Esk Valley Alliance;
Derby Research School at Wyndham Primary;
West Somerset Research School at The Blue School, Wells;
Bradford Research School at Dixons Academies; and
East Cambridgeshire and Fenlands Research School at Littleport CP School.

EEF Research Schools have already developed programmes to help schools make the most of teaching assistants, training to support literacy in the early years and backing to develop Research School leads.

Justine Greening also announced that Sir Kevan Collins, Chief Executive of the EEF, would become ‘Evidence Champion’ for the Opportunity Areas. He will support the regions to better use evidence to improve outcomes and social mobility prospects for young people, particularly those from disadvantaged homes.

Sir Kevan Collins, Chief Executive of the Education Endowment Foundation, said:

We know that there are big differences in educational standards across the country. Reaching these ‘coldspots’ is one of the biggest challenges we face in our drive to improve social mobility. While evidence of ‘what works’ is one of our most useful tools to do this, we know that research on its own is not enough to make a difference in the classroom.

Research Schools are breaking down these barriers even more, so that research doesn’t stay in the pages of academic journals but has a real impact on classroom practice. Putting teachers in the driving seat can make all the difference.

The Education Secretary also confirmed the Chairs of three of the Partnership Boards that will be responsible for driving forward the activity in each Opportunity Area. They are:

Derby – Professor Kathryn Mitchell, Vice-Chancellor of Derby University;
West Somerset – Dr Fiona McMillan OBE in West Somerset; and
Scarborough – Sir Martin Narey.

All three will bring a wealth of experience and credibility to these roles and help to tackle the challenges unique to each of these areas.

Press release: Intimidation of Parliamentary candidates: Committee announces short review

The independent Committee on Standards in Public Life will be conducting a short review of the issue of intimidation experienced by Parliamentary candidates, and the broader implications of this for other holders of public office, following a request from the Prime Minister.