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UK Export Finance (UKEF), the UK’s export credit agency, is on Monday 16 October launching a new partnership with 5 major high street banks allowing smaller businesses to access millions of pounds in government-backed trade finance directly from their bank in seconds.

UKEF, as part of the Department for International Trade, provides financial support to help UK companies sell to international customers. This new partnership with Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds, RBS/NatWest and Santander, announced by Liam Fox in July, comes as the Board of Trade met for the first time last week (12 October).

For the first time companies which supply exporters can now access UKEF-backed finance, helping them become part of major export contracts and spreading the benefits of trade to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) across the UK.

Secretary of State for International Trade, Liam Fox, said:

Small businesses are the backbone of our economy, and giving them the support they need to seize international trading opportunities is a priority for the Department for International Trade as an international economic department.

That’s why we’re partnering with the five major high street banks to make government-backed finance from UK Export Finance readily available in a matter of seconds, opening up new global contracts to businesses across the UK.

UKEF provides guarantees to banks to help businesses access bank finance, even where they’ve reached their credit limit or where the deal is considered too risky for the banks to take on alone – opening up emerging global markets to UK suppliers.

With this new partnership for finance up to £2 million, SMEs can access UKEF support directly from their bank quickly and efficiently, without the need to apply separately. Provided a transaction meets UKEF’s criteria, the bank will just notify UKEF through a new secure digital platform. This means that, where previously it could take weeks in addition to the banks’ own turnaround times to access this support, it will now take a matter of seconds where the transaction is eligible.

As a result, the UK’s SMEs can quickly and easily access the funds they need to increase their exports, grow their revenue and sell British products around the world just by speaking to their bank manager.

At the same time, companies that aren’t yet selling overseas but are supplying products directly to those who are will also now qualify for UKEF support. Supplying to an exporter is a great way for smaller companies to get products into new markets, and government-backed finance can help secure contracts with big UK exporters to benefit from worldwide demand for UK goods and services.

Mike Cherry, National Chairman at the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB), said:

Through our work with the Secretary of State for International Trade, I am delighted to see the Government’s plans to improve access to export finance.

The success of the UK economy rests on helping more small businesses to export, and export more. FSB research shows 20 per cent of UK small firms already export, and with the right support this could double.

Today’s announcement of faster and more readily available finance means more small businesses will be able to access growth markets around the world.

Small firms’ contribution to the UK’s export market is of course not limited to those that sell products overseas. Our research highlights that one in six of all UK small businesses also form part of a supply chain of which the end product is exported, so opening up export finance to this group of firms is great news.

Businesses interested can find out more by speaking to their bank.

UKEF Case Studies

Chemian Technology

Darlington based pharmaceutical company Chemian Technology saw demand for its natural insect repellent rapidly increase following the Zika virus outbreak in 2016.

UKEF provided a loan guarantee for the company, allowing them to access significantly higher levels of funding. As a result, the company had the financial resources to grow its overseas business activities, including securing a £500,000 contract with an Italian buyer.

Read more here.

Fast Technologies

Specialist engineering company, Fast Technologies, recently secured a £1.4 million contract exporting to the Republic of Ireland – a huge opportunity for a company with a turnover of £1.1 million.

UKEF helped to secure a £750,000 capital loan for Fast, meaning that they had access to the money needed to fulfil the order. The contract led to the Derry based business taking on more staff before securing an additional £1.4 million deal with the same customer.

MR Solutions

MR Solutions is a Queen’s Award-winning SME at the cutting-edge of MRI research based in Guildford. Due to its reputation for high quality and innovation, there is a high international demand for its products among academic and medical institutions. But complexity and high specifications of its products, they take time to manufacture, meaning that there can be long periods between winning and completing a contract – and therefore getting paid.

UKEF provided an 80% guarantee on a £598,000 working capital loan, allowing it to secure and finance a high-value contract with Sydney University that it may otherwise have had to turn down, resulting in a successful deal worth in excess of over £1 million.

Read more here.

The Civil Service Diversity & Inclusion Strategy outlines a range of ambitious proposals to achieve this aim, including:

• to build a dedicated ethnic minority programme to improve the representation of ethnic minority staff at the most senior levels across the Civil Service;
• to create a Diverse Leadership Task Force that will report to the Cabinet Secretary;
• to publish a data dashboard tracking progress on diversity and inclusion targets by April 2018;
• to establish a new framework for measuring inclusion;
• to embed diversity and inclusion in Single Departmental Plans.

The Civil Service has already made significant progress towards increasing the diversity of its workforce. Introducing measures such as anonymised recruitment and making Permanent Secretaries accountable to the Head of the Civil Service for improving diversity and inclusion have made a positive difference to the amount of under-represented groups in the Civil Service.

On gender whilst 42% of current Senior Civil Servants are women, in 2017, 49% of all new recruits into the SCS were women. The proportion of women at Senior Civil Service level (42%) is now greater than the representation of female executives and Board Directors in FTSE 100 companies (26%).

The proportion of ethnic minority civil servants has increased rapidly from 9.4% in 2012 to 11.2% today, and representation of disabled people within the Civil Service has increased every year since 2010, from 7.6% to 9.9% in 2017. Only 4.6% of Senior Civil Servants are from ethnic minority communities, however, and only 3.3% report having a disability, so there is more to be done.

Speaking today at the launch of the strategy, Caroline Nokes, Minister for Government Resilience and Efficiency, said:

The Civil Service leads the way on diversity in many ways. The gender pay gap is lower than in the private sector, we have significantly increased our representation of minority groups at every level, and our award winning Fast Stream programme is now broadly representative of the wider population in terms of diversity characteristics and social background. We are committed to driving this further, however, and I am proud that we are putting inclusion at the forefront of our agenda and for the Civil Service to act as a leading light for other organisations across the UK.

Cabinet Secretary Jeremy Heywood said:

In order to serve the country to the best of its ability, the Civil Service must ensure that it reflects the diversity of the UK. Having a diverse workforce is not enough though, if it is to be truly brilliant, the Civil Service must strive to be inclusive and must create an environment where differences of thought and outlook are not only respected, but expected.

Although progress has been considerable over the past few years, today’s strategy highlights how we must go further. Our ambition to become the most inclusive employer by 2020 is testament to our commitment to diversity and inclusion and to making the best use of talent that exists in all parts of society.

John Manzoni, Chief Executive of the Civil Service and Cabinet Office Permanent Secretary, added:

There are many studies and reports that evidence that diverse and inclusive organisations perform better and have happier people. The Civil Service, in order to ensure that it delivers the best quality service to the taxpayer, has a duty to attract and retain the best people from all corners of society. Our commitment to becoming the most inclusive employer in the UK by 2020 should also set an example to other public and private sector organisations.

The Government has been urged to help the UK become the clear world leader in the development of Artificial Intelligence (AI) – to boost productivity, advance health care, improve services for customers and unlock £630bn for the UK economy.

Experts from industry and academia today (Sunday 15 October 2017) unveiled new proposals for how Government can work with industry to stay ahead of the competition and grow the UK’s use of AI right across the economy – from smarter scheduling of operations in health care, to hiring on-demand self-driving cars.

The Industrial Strategy Green Paper, published in January, identified AI as a major, high-potential opportunity for the UK to build a word-leading future sector of our economy.

The independent review, ‘Growing the Artificial Intelligence Industry in the UK’, was announced as part of the Digital Strategy in March, and led by Dame Wendy Hall, Professor of Computer Science at the University of Southampton, and Jérôme Pesenti, Chief Executive of BenevolentTech. The reviewers were asked to report on how this pioneering technology can best thrive and grow in the UK and will inform BEIS and DCMS policy making relevant to this exciting new sector.

Culture Secretary Karen Bradley said:

I want the UK to lead the way in Artificial Intelligence. It has the potential to improve our everyday lives – from healthcare to robots that perform dangerous tasks.

We already have some of the best minds in the world working on Artificial Intelligence, and the challenge now is to build a strong partnership with industry and academia to cement our position as the best place in the world to start and grow a digital business.

Business Secretary Greg Clark said:

Artificial intelligence presents us with a unique opportunity to build on our strengths and track record of research excellence by leading the development and deployment of this transformational technology.

This important review exemplifies the world-class expertise the UK already has in AI, demonstrating the huge social and economic benefits its use can bring.

We will continue to work with the sector in the coming months to secure a comprehensive Sector Deal that make the UK the go to place for AI and helps us grasp the opportunities that lie ahead.

Many sectors across the UK economy are already embracing innovation through AI and benefitting from its use in how they do their business day-to-day including:

• Health: Using the most advanced Artificial Intelligence, Your.MD has built the world’s first AI Personal Health Guide that provides users immediate trustworthy healthcare advice from the NHS to anyone with access to a mobile phone;

• Banking: To help verify customer identity and increase security for HSBC customers, the bank has created an AI chatbot, Olivia, who can assist customers 24 hours a day, 365 days a year with their enquiries;

• Education: With technology that records patterns of behaviour, including what learning style works for each student, CENTURY, an AI platform, is helping children learn and teachers provide more personalised education programmes, with feedback and suggestions to help fill knowledge gaps;

• Legal services: AI is helping lawyers to do legal searches and to draft the best standard documents, the law firm Pinsent Masons has developed its own team of computer scientists and legal engineers to put AI into practical context for its lawyers; and

• Cars: Driverless cars are set to make the roads safer for pedestrians and car drivers alike, with companies like Oxbotica developing fully autonomous operating systems that diagnose vehicle issues and identify the best, most logical route on the move.

AI is also being deployed in a variety of different ways to assist businesses and consumers such as:

• protecting consumers and shoppers against spam and bank fraud;

• computer vision that monitors CCTV to improve safety;

• managing and monitoring supply chains to reduce loss and waste;

• improving electricity grid management to save costs and reduce CO2 emissions; and

• using data to provide personal shopping recommendations.

Professor Dame Wendy Hall, Regius Professor of Computer Science at the University of Southampton said:

I was very honoured to be asked to co-chair this review at a time when AI is set to make major changes to the way we live and work. I’m particularly keen to ensure that we use it to inform the establishment of initiatives and programmes to help us extract the most value from artificial intelligence for the country; that includes an emphasis on increasing and improving our skill levels to prepare the workforce for the number of jobs the industry will need for the future.

AI has been around for a very long time as a concept and this latest surge of technological development is likely to see automation continue to escalate and accelerate in every walk of life. Now is the time for us all – scientists, researchers, entrepreneurs and the government – to come together and address the issues about how AI is going to impact society and seek ways to ensure that we’re able to deliver the great breakthroughs the technology has the potential to deliver.

Jérôme Pesenti, CEO of BenevolentTech, the technology division of BenevolentAI said:

In our AI review, we focused on recommendations that are both practicable and deliverable. By following these recommendations, Government, Academia and Industry can help strengthen the UK’s position in the global AI market. Our proposals are deliberately specific and boil down to three fundamentals – enable better access to data, create a greater supply of AI skills and promote the uptake of AI. I am looking forward to working with Government, Academia and Industry to drive these changes.

The report makes 18 recommendations for how to make the UK the best place in the world for businesses developing AI to start, grow, and thrive including:

• Skills: increasing the UK’s AI expertise through new initiatives including an industry-funded Masters programme, and conversion courses to bring a broader range of people into the field;

• Increasing uptake: helping organisations and workers understand how AI can boost their productivity and make better products and services, including public services;

• Data: ensuring that people and organisations can be confident that use of data for AI is safe, secure and fair by making more data available, including from publicly-funded research; and

• Research: building on the UK’s strong record in cutting-edge AI research, including making the Alan Turing Institute a national institute for AI.

These recommendations will now be carefully considered in discussions towards a potential Industrial Strategy sector deal between Government and the AI industry.

As part of the Industrial Strategy, the Government has increased investment in research and development over the next 4 years by £4.7 billion to create jobs and raise living standards, including through the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund.

The Business Secretary announced in April that the first £1 billion of investment is being made in six key areas in 2017/18, driving progress and innovation that will create opportunities for businesses and sectors across the UK.

The work – the bulk of which starts this month – includes resurfacing, safety barrier and lighting upgrades, drainage maintenance and repairs and new signs and road markings on many of the region’s busiest roads. In particular, it includes:

• £3.4m for new noise reducing barriers at eight locations along the M40 in Buckingham and South Oxfordshire
• £3.1m for safety upgrades at the Hare Green Roundabout, Harwich Road junction on the A120 near Colchester
• £3.5m for major repairs to accident damaged bridges on the A47 Saddlebow interchange at King’s Lynn
• £1.9m for resurfacing on the A1 between Langford and Baldock
• £1.1m to repair a bridge on the A14 at Claydon
• £3.2m for resurfacing on the A11 between Besthorpe and Spooner Row

The work, which is all being carried out between now and next summer, is part of Highways England’s commitment to improve safety and ensure better journeys across the East region’s busiest roads. It will be carried out in phases across different roads to minimise its impact on people’s journeys.

Highways England regional Capital Delivery Team Leader Aran Nugent said:

This work will improve safety and provide smoother journeys for the millions of drivers that use our road network across the East of England every day.

We care about drivers’ journeys and we understand that roadworks can cause some disruption for drivers and local residents, so we have planned the work carefully and closely with local authorities, local parishes and other transport services to reduce its impact as much as we can.

While we are carrying out this essential work, I would urge motorists to plan their journeys ahead and allow extra time where needed.

The work has been planned as follows, weather permitting, and further details on each scheme will be made available in advance via Traffic England and local media to help people plan ahead:

Road*	Main activities	Expected dates
A12	Resurfacing, road markings, safety improvements, safety barrier repairs, traffic signals, bridge repairs, safety improvements	November 2017 – March 2018
A120	Slip road improvements, bridge refurbishment, signage improvements, safety improvements, lighting renewal, carriageway repairs, resurfacing	November 2017 – March 2018
A47	Bridge repairs, safety improvements, road markings, safety improvements, pedestrian warning signs, traffic signals, layby resurfacing, weather station renewal	Ongoing, completion by March 2018
M11	Resurfacing, drainage works, embankment repairs, barrier repairs, sign replacement	Ongoing, completion by November 2017
A14 (Suffolk)	Weather station relocation, signage improvements, safety improvements, lighting renewal, bridge repairs, concrete carriageway repairs, resurfacing	Ongoing, completion by March 2018
A14 (Cambs)	Resurfacing, bridge repairs, road markings and fencing	October 2017 – March 2018
A428	Signs and road markings safety improvements	January 2018
A1 / A1(M)	Signs and road markings, resurfacing, safety improvements, bridge repairs, weather station upgrade, electrical repairs, drainage repairs, technology improvements, upgrading street lighting to LED, vegetation removal, landscape improvements	Ongoing, completion by March 2018
M1	Resurfacing, bridge repairs, road markings, technology improvements, electrical repairs, upgrading street lighting to LED	November 2017 to March 2018
A421	Signs and road markings, electrical repairs, safety improvements	October 2017
A5	Signs and road markings, weather station upgrade, upgrading street lighting to LED, traffic signal improvements	October 2017 to March 2017
M40	Noise barrier installation at seven sites along the M40; technology renewal at three locations in Buckinghamshire	January 2018 – March 2018

*Each activity is at specific locations along the road, not along the whole road unless otherwise stated.

General enquiries

Members of the public should contact the Highways England customer contact centre on 0300 123 5000.

Media enquiries

Journalists should contact the Highways England press office on 0844 693 1448 and use the menu to speak to the most appropriate press officer.