Agenda item

To provide comments on the export support framework and pilot initiatives outlined in annexes 1, 2 and 3.

David Smith (Director for Economic Development) and Steve Samson (Trade Development Manager) were in attendance for this item.

1.    Mr M Dance (Cabinet Member for Economic Development) introduced the report which provided an update on the state of play for supporting Kent businesses with exporting and outlined the proposal for a trade and export development framework for Kent.

2.       Mr Samson said that Kent County Council had worked closely with business support organisations and strategic partners for a number of years to boost Kent export levels and support Kent exporters under the ‘Kent International Business (KIB)’ business programme. Core export services provided in Kent included those offered by the Department for International Trade (DIT), Kent Invicta Chamber of Commerce and Enterprise Europe Network as well as externally funded support programmes that provided micro-financing to help businesses with international trade. He informed the Committee that phase one of the SME internationalisation Exchange (SIE) project was due to be completed and that following a recent study of various export schemes, the KIB partners were looking to pilot 3 actions that were to be implemented during phase two of the Interreg project and drew members attention to annex 3 of the report.

3.    The officer responded to comments and questions as follows:

(a)  Mr Samson said that one of the key objectives for Kent County Council was to streamline the current KIB support and provide a more staged journey to ensure that Kent businesses knew who they had to contact and at what stage this had to happen in their export journey. Queries into Kent County Council were often generated through businesses who had received an overseas enquiry and needed advice on how to proceed and who to contact.

(b)  In response to the proposed pilot actions in Kent, one of the interventions supported by the KIB partners was to provide greater internal resources for companies and this would be achieved through the Export Manager Scheme. The preferred option that Kent County Council had explored was to provide funding to companies that would then be used to appoint a trade and export specialist. This option would offer greater sustainability for companies in the future as it would allow them the option to appoint external or internal candidates with the latter ensuring that the specialist knowledge is contained in-house.

(c)   Mr Samson confirmed that companies used air freight to distribute products abroad but others used road haulage.

(d)  In response to EU Interreg funding, Mr Samson confirmed that funding for the SME Internationalisation Exchange (SIE) Project would expire at the end of December 2021 which would provide a 21-month period to test the proposed pilot actions. Supplementary to this, Mr Smith assured the Committee that SIE project covered 85% of the estimated costs of the proposed pilot support schemes and the remaining 15% was provided by Kent County Council through ‘in-kind’ staff time. Therefore, Kent County Council were effectively maximising impact primarily through organising businesses across Kent by providing them with a network data base of contacts to grow their export opportunities and not through financial expenditure. Mr Smith advised the Committee that the Government had promised further funding opportunities to support export-related opportunities, however details of this were pending following Brexit negotiations.

(e)  With regards to whether there would be increased demand on Kent County Council following the outcome of Brexit, Mr Samson said that that KIB partners were starting to prepare for the increased demand following Brexit, for example the Kent Invicta Chamber of Commerce were undertaking work to improve their process around customs paperwork which would compliment the export documentation work. Briefings were also due to be arranged for companies working with DIT. In terms of resources, Kent County Council’s role would primarily be to sign post companies to the correct contact point and would heavily rely on the DIT to provide companies with the latest information. Kent County Council were in the process of exploring how best to communicate this message to key businesses.

4.    RESOLVED that the report be noted.