Tag Archives: HM Government

Foreign investors continue to see investment opportunities in Wales as new figures published today by the Department for International Trade showed the country attracted 85 inward investment projects in 2016-17.

This led to over 2,500 new jobs being created and nearly 9,000 safeguarded providing security and stability to thousands of families.

In another record year, the UK attracted 2,265 foreign direct investment projects which led to the creation of nearly 15,000 new jobs across the country.

Secretary of State for Wales Alun Cairns said:

The latest set of figures demonstrate the need to seek and drive further international business investment in Wales – bringing jobs, prosperity and opportunity for communities. That is why I am fully committed to ensuring Welsh businesses are central to UK Government trade missions.

Seeking new markets and investment partners will enable us to land the major deals that will grow the Welsh economy and help to forge lucrative relationships around the world. Our departure from the EU is an opportunity to step up to our commitment to attracting inward investment – not step away from it.

Enterprises – whether large or small – can be assured that the UK Government and the Department for International Trade is ambitious for Wales and is committed to doing all it can to provide certainty and stability. We must continue to make Wales an attractive destination, matching the commitment shown by companies like Aston Martin, in securing sustained investment for the long-term.

International Trade Secretary, Liam Fox, said:

Wales with its renowned pharmaceutical, life sciences and creative sector industries continues to be a draw for foreign investors who want to take advantage of the expertise this country has to offer. As an international economic department, the Department for International Trade will continue to promote the UK as a whole to potential investors and support the Business Wales to attract inward investment.

The figures published today show that the US retains the top spot accounting for 577 projects of all inward investment projects to the UK. China (including Hong Kong) remains in second place with 160 projects and last year’s third place India is joined by Australia and New Zealand in joint third place with 127 projects each.

Demonstrating the diversity of the UK’s economy, sectors that performed particularly well include technology, renewable energy, life sciences and the creative industries which all saw an increase in the number of projects.

As part of the government’s drive to attract inward investment, in January this year the department launched a major global marketing campaign – Invest in GREAT Britain and Northern Ireland – to promote the UK’s offering to international investors.

To date, the campaign has generated 1.4 million page views of the invest section of the great.gov.uk digital service and recorded over 540 prospective investor enquiries.

Notes to Editors

• The department records wider types of inward investment projects, including mergers and acquisitions and those that are not publicly announced by foreign investors
• Therefore, the FDI project figures reported are different from those reported by external organisations, such as EY and FT, who track FDI project flows mostly based on investment announcements
• These external organisations report on calendar year, while the department’s statistics are for financial year
• EY’s UK Attractiveness Survey 2017 ranked the UK first in Europe for FDI projects in total

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Figures published by the Department for International Trade have today revealed that the UK attracted more foreign direct investment (FDI) projects than ever before for the year 2016 to 2017.

With more than 2,200 projects recorded, the post-referendum figures show an increase of 2% on the previous year. The data also shows that 75,226 new jobs were created, and 32,672 safeguarded, amounting to over 2,000 jobs per week across the country.

Overall, the UK is the number one destination for inward investment in Europe, with the technology, renewable energy, life sciences and creative industries all seeing an increase in the number of projects.

International Trade Secretary, Dr Liam Fox, said:

Almost one year on since the EU referendum, the UK continues to attract record levels of inward investment and remains extremely attractive to foreign investors.

As an international economic department, we continue to promote the strengths of the UK as a great inward investment destination, with an open, liberal economy, world-class talent and business-friendly taxation.

Overview

Of the record number of projects that the UK attracted, the Department for International Trade helped to secure over 80% of them.

The US retains the top spot investing in 577 projects in the UK, with China (including Hong Kong) remaining in second place with 160 projects. In third place is France with 131 followed by last year’s third place India and Australia and New Zealand with 127 projects each.

Government support for investment

As part of the government’s drive to attract inward investment, in January this year the department launched a major global marketing campaign – Invest in GREAT Britain and Northern Ireland – to promote the UK’s offering to international investors.

To date, the campaign has generated 1.4 million page views of the invest section of the great.gov.uk digital service and recorded over 540 prospective investor enquiries. It is already producing positive results with Chinese e-commerce company Kuajing.com opening a London office and UpCloud, a Finnish cloud hosting company, setting up a UK base with plans in place to expand this – both investment decisions that were made after engaging with the campaign.

Investment across the UK

Looking across the UK, inward investment continues to spread to the regions and devolved administrations:

• the Northern Powerhouse attracted 348 projects, creating nearly 15,000 new jobs
• the Midlands Engine attracted 223 projects which resulted in 8,341 new jobs being created
• through 183 FDI projects, 5,547 new jobs were created in Scotland
• Northern Ireland secured 34 projects, which created a total of 1,622 new jobs
• Wales attracted 85 projects, with 2,581 new jobs created

Five reasons why the UK is a great place for overseas businesses to invest:

1. Opportunities: More than 420,000 new businesses set up in 2015 in the UK [Source: BankSearch].
2. Ease of doing business: UK is seventh in the World Bank Ease of Doing Business ranking (2017).
3. FDI confidence: the UK comes fourth in A.T. Kearney’s FDI Confidence Index in 2016, up one place on 2015.
4. Competitive tax environment: Tax system ranked in the top 10 most business friendly in the world according to the October 2016 World Bank: Ease of Doing Business report.
5. World-class talent and skills: In 2015 to 2016, the UK was the top-rated major European economy for growing, retaining and attracting global talent [Source: Insead, Human Capital Leadership Institute: The Global Talent Competitive Index 2015-16].

Notes to editors

• The department records wider types of inward investment projects, including mergers and acquisitions and those that are not publicly announced by foreign investors
• Therefore, the FDI project figures reported are different from those reported by external organisations, such as EY and FT, who track FDI project flows mostly based on investment announcements
• These external organisations report on calendar year, while the department’s statistics are for financial year
• EY’s UK Attractiveness Survey 2017 ranked the UK first for FDI in Europe

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One of the benefits of securing work with government is its record of paying suppliers on time. Over 80% of undisputed invoices to SMEs are paid within 5 days, with the remainder paid within 30 days. These terms make for loyal and happy suppliers, and small businesses would like to see more of the same.

This is why it’s good news that Crown Commercial Service has been hard at work in passing down prompt payment terms to tier one suppliers. They have focused on 32 strategic suppliers to central government ie large companies that secure the greatest amount of contracts. This week marks a milestone in that all 32 strategic suppliers have now signed up to the Prompt Payment Code which is an acceptance that they will follow government’s lead in paying their small business suppliers within 30 days. This is welcome news to thousands of small business owners.

Government is not stopping at the largest of companies; it’s encouraging companies of all sizes to sign up to the Prompt Payment Code, including small ones. Doing so is a way of saying you’ll treat suppliers as you’d like to be treated yourself ie getting paid on time!

Recognising that prompt payment continues to be a big issue for small business, the government has also announced the appointment of a Small Business Commissioner also recently(https://publicappointments.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/appointment/small-business-commissioner/), whose sole focus will be dealing with issues and complaints around late payment. The chosen candidate will have a 4 year tenure which will hopefully be sufficient time to bed-in a culture of prompt payment across the UK corporate scene.

As small business owners, we’ve all been there when it comes to having to chase clients for overdue bills. It puts a strain on client relations and, more critically, puts the business at risk.

These moves to encourage large government suppliers to sign up to the Prompt Payment Code and the appointment of a Commissioner are steps in the right direction of ensuring the survival rate of the smallest firms in Britain.

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If you work at Sellafield or live in the local area then over the last year you may have noticed more of our Civil Nuclear Police (CNC) officers out and about speaking to people.

Chances are you have seen one of our Project Servator deployments.

Launched on 4 July 2016, the aim of Project Servator is to deter any hostile threat by detecting suspicious activity in the local area.

Unpredictable and highly visible deployments made up of armed officers, dogs or behavioural detection officers can pop up anywhere and anytime on site or within the surrounding area making it difficult for any hostile threat.

Project Servator, originally started by our colleagues in the City of London Police, was launched by the CNC at Sellafield one year ago.

In that time, there have been more than 1,500 deployments across the area. These have varied from speaking to Sellafield site workers to visiting over 55 local shop keepers, all to promote the “trust your instinct” message. Officers have also given presentations about Servator and what it means to apprentices at Gen2, local schools and colleges and local community groups.

In the last few months there have been 135 deployments where officers have been out in the community, engaging with local residents to encourage them to report anything suspicious. No matter where they go our officers have received a warm welcome with lots of interest in the project and their role in general.

Supt Graham Shaw, who is the Operational Unit Commander for Sellafield, said: “The idea of Servator is to deter any hostile threat, but also to reassure people and let them know we’re there.

“Other benefits include deterring crime in the area. The unpredictable nature of our deployments, both day and night, mean any criminal can be detected.

“The support and involvement from workers on site or residents in the local community, who have either engaged with our officers during a deployment or reported suspicious behaviour, means that together we send a strong message to any criminal – you will be detected.”

Project Servator will continue to develop within the CNC. The number of officers who are involved with Project Servator is set to increase with our roll out across the other sites we police. Our deployments are also taking on a new element with the involvement of plain clothed officers engaging with members of the public during our visible patrols. These officers are highly trained in behavior detection. Their expertise is in noticing the subtle, sometimes unconscious ways in which people behave differently when they are stressed or anxious.

Supt Shaw added “We look forward to developing Project Servator within the CNC and using different unpredictable tactics will continue to help us deter any criminal behavior.”

If you are interested in Project Servator and are part of a community group who would benefit from a presentation, please email servator@cnc.pnn.police.uk for more information.

Remember, trust your instinct and report any suspicious activity directly to the CNC by calling 019467 73999.

Keep up-to-date with Servator deployments, recruitment information or anything CNC by following us on Twitter: @nuclearpolice

Notes to Editors: There is an opportunity to interview Supt Graham Shaw during a Servator deployment in Seascale. He will be available between 10am- 11am on Thursday 6 July 2017.

If you require an interview, please contact Jane Younger on 019467 80710.

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Some of the most dangerous and radicalised extremists are now being housed in the government’s first specialist centre at HMP Frankland – helping stem the flow of radicalisation behind bars and preventing their influence over others.

More than 4,500 frontline officers have also received the latest specialist counter-extremism training to identify and challenge extremist views, boosting the government’s ability to tackle this evolving threat. New recruits to the prison service now receive the training as standard, and work will continue at pace to train every prison officer across the estate.

HMP Frankland is the first of 3 separation centres, forming part of the wider government strategy to tackle extremists in prisons. Two further centres are planned to follow at other establishments in the coming months, with the 3 centres combined holding up to 28 of the most subversive offenders.

Offenders are placed in the specialist centres if they are involved in planning terrorism or are considered to pose a risk to national security. Those seeking to influence others to commit terrorist crimes, or whose extremist views are purposely undermining good order and security in the prison estate, may also be placed in the centre.

Prisons Minister Sam Gyimah said:

Extremism must be defeated wherever it is found. The most dangerous and subversive offenders are now being separated from those they seek to influence and convert – an absolutely crucial element of our wider strategy to tackle extremism in prisons and ensure the safety of the wider public.

It is also right we give our hard-working staff the skills and knowledge they need to keep our prisons and communities safe. Over 4,500 frontline staff have now received the specialist training they need to identify and counter the poisonous and repugnant activities of extremists – work that is essential to the safe running of prisons and fundamental to public protection.

The new centre at HMP Frankland was one of the central recommendations of a landmark review into extremism in prisons. The government takes the threat of radicalisation and extremism in prisons extremely seriously and has built on the recommendations in the review to further boost efforts to tackle extremism.

Today’s news forms part of the government’s wider strategy to tackle extremism, which includes:

The formation of a new directorate for Security, Order and Counter-Terrorism – responsible for monitoring and dealing with the evolving threat of extremism.

A launch of a new unit that will analyse intelligence and advise prisons in England and Wales on how to deal with specific threats, as well as instruct and train prison and probation staff on how best to deter offenders from being lured into extremism.

Extremist literature being banned from prisons and the removal of anyone from communal worship who is promoting dangerous views.

A new training package to identify, report and combat extremism being rolled out to all prison officers and new pre-employment vetting check for chaplains and imams was introduced in February 2017.

Notes to editors

The first of a number of offenders were placed in the separation centre last week. For operational security reasons, we will not comment further on the identity or number of offenders held within the centre.

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