To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact that the Electronic Trade Documents Bill [HL] would have, if enacted, broken down by local authority area.
Answered on
23 November 2022
His Majesty’s Government has conducted its own impact assessment of the benefits of the Electronic Trade Documents Bill and found that, in our best estimate scenario, the benefits to UK businesses involved in international trade will be £1.137 billion over 10 years. We intend to publish the impact assessment shortly.
There is a diverse and geographically dispersed range of businesses involved in international trade in the UK, according to ONS figures. In 2020, there were 263,000 exporting businesses in the UK, 124,000 of which exported goods; further ONS estimates show that around 75% of UK businesses which exported in 2020 are based outside London. Current research does not allow us to assess impacts at the local authority level, however.