Department for International Trade written question – answered at on 20 April 2021.
Andrea Jenkyns
Conservative, Morley and Outwood
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what steps her Department is taking to increase foreign investment in UK industry in order to raise productivity.
Graham Stuart
Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for International Trade)
The UK is a leading foreign investment destination; second in the world for inward Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) stocks with $2.1 trillion, behind the USA in 2019. DIT analysis of Office for National Statistics data shows that in 2018 foreign owned firms were on average 72% more productive than domestic only firms.
In 2019/20 the Department for International Trade provided support for 1,449 FDI projects, creating almost 45,000 new jobs and safeguarding a further 8,000. In November 2020, the Prime Minister announced a new Office for Investment within the Department but under the sponsorship of Downing Street to support strategic investment. We are also prioritising regional investment and growth through our High Potential Opportunities Programme.
Secretary of State was originally the title given to the two officials who conducted the Royal Correspondence under Elizabeth I. Now it is the title held by some of the more important Government Ministers, for example the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs.
