The Department for International Trade (DIT) has this week announced that it will recruit 2 new Directors General to oversee the department’s growing export and investment agendas.

The creation of the Director General Investment and the Chief Exports Officer positions will build significant new senior capability in the department as it pursues an ambitious, targeted and strategic approach to promoting exports, and supporting greater inward and outward investment.

The Directors General will work with businesses from across the UK to generate wealth and prosperity, and ensure that companies of all sizes can take full advantage of global investment opportunities and the growing appetite for British goods and services abroad.

The Director General Investment will lead a global DIT team, co-ordinating government departments and working in partnership with the private sector to attract and retain high quality overseas investment.

The Chief Exports Officer will lead the implementation of a new export strategy to ensure that new and existing exporters can access the right financial, practical and promotional support to sell overseas. Export promotion is an essential element of the recently published government Industrial Strategy, with details of a new export strategy review unveiled in the Autumn Budget.

Find candidate information packs for:

Applications close on the 3rd January 2018 with the view to appoint in the new year.

Building on the Autumn Budget, Minister for Trade and Exports, Baroness Rona Fairhead today (1 December 2017) announced a new Export Strategy Review to consider how the UK can encourage and support British businesses to take advantage of the huge potential to grow our exports.

A new government review will consider how the UK can encourage and support British businesses to take advantage of the huge potential to grow exports Minister for Trade and Exports, Baroness Rona Fairhead, announced today.

The Export Strategy review, led by the Department for International Trade (DIT), will work closely with businesses, and across Whitehall, to explore the barriers to exporting and identify the best ways in which government can help drive and support UK companies to increase exporting activity and unlock high potential opportunities overseas.

Baroness Fairhead has also launched a new UK Export Finance (UKEF) product for UK exporters and their supply chains. It will ensure exporters have more time to pay for supplies of goods and raw materials, while helping smaller companies in export supply chains secure early payment to support their cash flow.

Exports rose by 13.6% to £602 billion in the latest year on year figures, but with only 9% of British companies exporting, there is huge scope for more businesses to reach new customers by meeting demand for UK goods and services overseas.

Almost 300,000 UK companies produce goods and services that could be exported, but have no overseas sales. The new strategy will encourage these businesses to identify opportunities for export, and prepare them to win international contracts.

In the coming months DIT will work with industry to understand the challenges faced by UK firms, increase awareness of export support and finance that is already available, and explore how this can be improved.

Minister of State for Trade and Exports, Baroness Rona Fairhead said:

UK exports are going from strength to strength, but the potential for further growth is huge, particularly as only 9% of UK businesses currently export.

The Export Strategy review will draw on expertise from across government and the private sector, helping us to understand how best to support British companies to take advantage of opportunities in overseas markets. Throughout the process, we will look for significant input from UK businesses, both large and small, to ensure we develop a strategy that meets their needs.

In the last financial year, UKEF provided £3 billion in support for 221 companies’ exports; improving awareness and understanding of how export finance can help prospective exporters to compete globally will allow even more to benefit.

In last week’s Budget, the Chancellor announced that, in addition to new products from UKEF, the government will launch a campaign to promote the support they provide through the ‘Exporting is GREAT’ campaign.

The flagship great.gov.uk export platform, which was launched 1 year ago, lists thousands of export opportunities for UK companies worth millions of pounds. It also puts firms in touch with global buyers at the click of a mouse. Since its launch, great.gov.uk has promoted 11,400 export opportunities, and helped around 2.7 million users either begin or grow their exporting journeys.

Mr Peattie was guest of honour at one of the oil and gas industry’s most highly anticipated events at the Fairmont Hotel, in St Andrews, where he spoke to a 500-strong gathering about the challenges faced in the nuclear decommissioning and oil and gas sectors.

The Offshore Decommissioning Conference, which ran from November 27 to 29, saw some of the industry’s leading figures listen to Mr Peattie’s keynote speech on the similarities between the 2 sectors.

He addressed delegates on the parallels of decommissioning in nuclear and oil and gas, and spoke of collaboration, skills, standardising solutions and achieving the mission.

Mr Peattie, who took over as CEO at the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority in March, has extensive experience of the oil and gas industry with a 35-year career spanning the sector.

He started out as a young engineering graduate at BP in 1979.

The event, hosted by industry bodies Decom North Sea and Oil & Gas UK, highlighted the continued importance of cross-sector learning via the nuclear and marine salvage sectors.

Mr Peattie shared his knowledge on the opportunities that arise from the synergies between the 2 industries.

He said:

As CEO of the NDA, I’m thrilled now to be able to have the opportunity to transfer learning and experience from my oil and gas years to nuclear. And maybe even facilitate some flowing back the other way too.

Being keynote speaker at such a prestigious event is an honour. Energy has been in my blood from a very young age and is still a passion of mine.