International Trade Minister, Baroness Fairhead, today (Friday 2nd November) visited Belfast where she met members of the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) in Belfast to understand their concerns and help encourage SMEs to make the most of ever increasing global opportunities and demand for their high-quality goods and services.

99% of Northern Ireland’s large businesses already export. Baroness Fairhead will urge SMEs to consider exporting as a way to boost their prosperity, hire more people and drive growth in their communities.

The event comes ahead of Small Business Saturday, with FSB and the Department For International Trade (DIT) organising a series of events to promote ‘business-to-business’ engagement and overseas trade. Baroness Fairhead will be attending the latest of these events, which will give companies the chance to share their thoughts on exporting and current government support.

Speaking at the event, Baroness Fairhead, said:

Northern Ireland’s export performance is a great example to the rest of the UK, and I hope to see others taking inspiration from those businesses that are selling their goods and services in all corners of the world.

Our job is to ensure that SMEs, and all of Northern Ireland’s businesses, are able to make the most of increasing export opportunities. The government’s Export Strategy sets out an offer which will help companies reap the rewards that exporting brings, and I’d encourage companies to talk to their local Trade Adviser or visit GREAT.gov.uk to access this support as soon as they are ready.

Members of the FSB in Northern Ireland, such as Core Systems, Environmental Street Furniture, SMART Global and The Momentum Group will all attend the event.

Commenting, FSB NI Head of External Affairs, Roger Pollen said:

The SME sector in Northern Ireland employs more people than the entire public sector and all larger businesses combined, and is vital to the overall success of the NI economy. FSB members run businesses across a variety of industry sectors, with many already exporting their products in markets around the globe. For some not currently exporting, there exists an opportunity to expand their business overseas. It is crucial that the support and guidance is available from government to help them on that path.

Looking closer to home, in the run up to Small Business Saturday, we would encourage consumers to support their local small business, in what are challenging times for the high street. While the world of retail is changing, local small businesses provide a personal service which often can’t be replicated elsewhere. Beyond this, we must look to assist businesses that have traditionally served a home market to seize the opportunity to export as well – whether that is in manufacturing or retail. We are very pleased to be working with the department to help assist this expansion of trade for our members and look forward to continued engagement.

Last month, FSB and DIT hosted an ‘engagement day’ in Dungannon, which included a number of workshops on key topics such as Brexit, exporting, procurement and social media, with one of the aims being to break down common preconceptions to trading overseas.

Northern Ireland exported £10 billion worth of goods and services in 2017. The country’s renowned aerospace industry, with 60 companies serving the sector, is particularly prominent as machinery and transport make up £2.6 billion of the total figure.

In the Summer, DIT launched the government’s Export Strategy which sets out how they will support businesses to make the most of the opportunities presented by markets around the world.

A government-led collaboration with business, developed after extensive engagement with a range of UK firms – the Strategy sets a new ambition increase exports as a proportion of UK GDP to 35%.

Further Information:

DIT’s Survey of UK Registered Businesses 2017 shows that only 1% of Northern Irish businesses with a turnover of more than £500k and a product that suitable for export are yet to do so

Export support is available to businesses of all sizes, including:

• GREAT.gov.uk – which offers a tool to help SMEs take their first steps towards international trade, a range of export opportunities and details of how to contact our network of Trade Advisers in the UK

• UK Export Finance – which has up to £50 billion of export credit available to help British businesses break into exciting overseas markets

• Export Champions – DIT has set up a network of businesses who currently export across the UK, these champions are on hand to offer help and advice to their fellow SMEs.

• If you or your business is interested in exporting, the Department for International Trade has a range of support to suit your business. You can contact your regional trade team here or access wider support on your export journey. here

October has been another busy month and one that has asked questions about how we can shape the future of the Parole Board.

Justice Select Committee, 10 October

I appeared at the Justice Select Committee on 10 October to speak about the work of the Parole Board and how the prison population can be safely reduced, as part of the “Prison Population 2022: planning for the future inquiry.”

The evidence I gave showed the work being done by the Parole Board and its justice partners to reduce delays caused by unnecessary deferrals and adjournments — important work which I spoke about in my last blog.
I also spoke about the fact that the backlog of outstanding parole cases that had occurred after the 2013 Osborn Booth & Reilly Supreme Court Judgment has been cleared. This backlog had a peak of over 3000 prisoners in 2015 and it was a huge success to eliminate it. To do this we had to completely change how we worked and now hold more oral hearings than we have ever held before (and 5 times the amount held in 2005/6!).

Despite the success of getting rid of the backlog, the number of parole eligible prisoners remains at a high level and we cannot stop working and innovating to ensure that they are provided with fair and timely hearings.

The IPP sentence

Prisoners sentenced under the Imprisonment for Public Protection (IPP) are a contributing factor to the high prison population. My evidence to the Justice Select Committee explained that there are many reasons why the IPP population isn’t going down as quickly as we would like.

The IPP sentence was abolished in 2012, but not retrospectively, and many prisoners remain in custody years after their original tariff has expired. Since the abolition of the sentence, the headline IPP prison population has now fallen by 57% — from a peak of 6,080 in 2012 down to 2,598 by 30 September 2018. These cases are some of the most complex that come before the Board and so, despite increased progression rates in recent years, there is further work to be done across the system.

Whilst this progress is encouraging, the number of IPP prisoners recalled to custody continues to rise. Without further legislative change the legacy of IPP prisoners will remain for many years to come, not least because and it can be expected that the rate of progression will slow down as the number of IPP prisoners in the system falls.

IPP Families Event in Parliament

On 17 October I spoke at a policy launch event on ‘The Secondary Pains for Family Members of Indeterminate Imprisonment’. The research by Drs Harry Annison and Rachel Condry (from the Universities of Southampton and Oxford respectively) examines the challenges faced by family members of prisoners sentenced to the indeterminate Imprisonment for Public Protection (IPP) sentence.

What is clear is that the Parole Board can play its part to help family members of IPP prisoners. For example, the work we are carrying out to reduce the number of deferrals — we know the impact such delays have on prisoners and their families.

Another way we can help is by doing our main role well — ensuring that we continue to deliver timely hearings in a safe manner. To do that we need a steady stream of members joining the Parole Board.

New Members Joining on 1 November

On 1 November we welcome 25 new members to the Parole Board (13 judicial members and 12 psychiatrist members). This comes at an important time — a lot of our members came to the end of the tenure in September 2018 and we need these new members to fill the gaps that our very experienced former colleagues have left. We held a great New Members Training event in Derbyshire last week and I am sure that our new 2018 cohort will be a credit to the Board.

Welcome Caroline

And last — but by no means least — Caroline Corby starts her tenure as permanent Chair of the Parole Board on 1 November. She has been our Interim Chair since the Spring and I have every confidence that she is the right person to guide us through the reforms that are happening, and help make the Board more effective than ever before.