To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills how many British businesses UK Trade and Investment have assisted in exporting for the first time in each of the last 36 months. (277787)

Data for the past three years are available from UK Trade and Investment’s (UKTI) Performance and Impact Monitoring Survey (PIMS). Results reported in March 2009 for the previous year confirm that UKTI assisted some 20,700 businesses to exploit opportunities in overseas markets. The survey sample indicates that some 2,200 of these were not yet exporting and some 3,500 had been exporting for less than two years, at the time of interview.

Equivalent figures for the two previous years are:

2007-08: some 15,900 businesses assisted, of which some 1,100 were not yet exporting and some 2,700 had been exporting for less than two years;

2006-07: some 15,000 businesses assisted, of which some 1,200 were not yet exporting and some 2,400 had been exporting for less than two years.