Agenda item

(1)       The Chairman welcomed Rob Lewtas to the meeting and invited him to give a presentation and answer questions from Members of the Committee.

(2)       Rob gave a PowerPoint presentation which gave data on exports from Kent and explained the role and work of UKTI in supporting businesses. He explained that companies which UKTI worked with generally improved their production by a third in the first year alone.  Companies that export were 11% more likely to stay in business than those that did not, and companies that exported showed an average £100k increase in income in the first 18 months. 

(3)       Rob explained that the two key roles of UKTI were investment and providing impartial advice and support.   In relation to investment UKTI had 2,500 staff, most of which were located overseas in embassy and consulates.  In the UK they had 400 advisors; UKTI advisors were located in Rye and Tunbridge Wells.  Regarding impartial advice and strategic support, UKTI looked to identify and support business opportunities, it was a pick and mix option.  UKTI worked with a network of partners including LEP (Local Enterprise Partnerships) and Chambers of Commerce. 

(4)       Rob stated that the export figures for Kent covered a whole range of companies, currently 8% of Kent Companies exported compared to the national average of 10%.  If the 2% gap was closed, he estimated that this would involve 1,000 companies and would generate £114m to the Kent economy, which was a considerable contribution to the GDP of Kent. 

(5)       Rob pointed out that in relation to trading partners, Kent’s trade with France, the Netherlands and Luxemburg was larger that its exports to the USA.  European expert markets were showing a decline and emphasis was being placed on emerging markets to pick up the deficit.

(6)       In relation to UKTI’s work in Kent now and in the past, Rob explained that three or four years ago there was a perception that UKTIs main area of work was in the west Thames Valley and in the M3 corridor where the demand for services came from.   In the last two and a half years the demand had swung further east. Rob referred to two events that they held over the past 18 months in Thanet and Tunbridge Wells.  In November 2013 they had held a large event in Maidstone.  UKTI had deployed more personnel in Kent to service the growing demand. 

(7)       Rob referred to the close working relationship between UKTI and the County Council international affairs team particularly in three key areas, 1) market building, 2) incubation and 3) growth. 

(8)       Rob explained that the end of January was key to the LEP as they would need to submit their detailed proposals to the Government.  The channel for the funding was yet to be determined but the funding envelope could be £200k a year.   In relation to the role of the LEP’s, the southeast LEP was looking to devolve a lot of activity.  The LEP was in good hands in Kent as the team supporting it were well established and worked well, which was not the case in some areas. 

Question – The USA market appears to be growing quicker than the EU market what is the impact of this?

(9)       Rob stated that the USA had always been a primary destination for UK exports, with the biggest export out of the UK being motor vehicles.

Question – Important to look at the opportunities of tomorrow and be aware of the culture differences of export markets, what work is UKTI doing to engage with those Kent business which do not currently take advantage of export opportunities?

(10)     Rob explained that this was a particular issue in Kent, When UKTI worked with the usual network of partners such as local councils and Chambers of Commerce they engaged with the same organisations/businesses, the challenge was reaching businesses that were outside of these.  One way that UKTI were trying to raise the awareness of businesses to the support available to reach international markets was by being proactive and phoning them, even if they say that they are not interested at least UKTI will have checked that the business is still around.

(11)     Rob stated that UKTI’s aim was to ensure good business support for good legitimate companies; they ran a diagnostic on the company before they got involved with it, in order to increase the likelihood of success of the business and them being able to enter the external market on a sustainable basis. UKTI cross referenced the company with the records at Companies House and HMRC.  A key aim of UKTI was to ensure that the companies that they worked with make a contribution to the local and national economy through GVA growth and additional employment

Question – In order to help with finding partners for European Funding bids do other European counties have an agency doing similar work to UKTI?

(12)     Rob explained that the most obvious route for finding partners is via the Enterprise Europe route.  UKTI have a more commercial focus and tend to miss out the public sector and got straight into the commercial community.  They had a direct channel based on the individual client route.  Steve Samson would be able to answer questions on bipartite agreements.

Question – We need to look globally not just in north-west Europe, should Kent be focusing on markets such as parts of Africa where there is a common language with the UK?

(13)     Rob agreed that the African market was important and that in the past 18 months there had been a shift in that direction. There had been particular growth in the African telecoms market and high value consumer goods and vehicles for UK companies. There is a high regard for UK companies in the African market which gives our companies an advantage over Chinese companies.

(14)     The Chairman thanked Rob for attending the meeting and for helping the Select Committee with their work.