Lord Green, Minister of State for Trade and Investment, addressed over 100 CEOs of the UK's leading investors at UKTI's Business Summit on Monday 11 July 2011. The event saw the launch of the 2010/2011 Inward Investment report.

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115 new jobs every day, as UK continues to draw overseas investment

Business Secretary Vince Cable today reaffirmed the importance of inward investment in rebalancing the economy, as he published figures showing 94,598 jobs created or safeguarded in 2010/11. Crucially, over two thirds of new jobs came from existing investors. This demonstrates that companies investing in the UK are staying, growing and succeeding, stimulating growth across the country. In a year when inward investment is recovering from global uncertainty, the UK has recorded a strong performance, attracting investment from 54 countries. Prime Minister David Cameron said: "In this competitive, globalised world it is our determination to do all that we can to secure more investment, more jobs and more trade. This will be critical to get our economy back on track, to build sustainable long-term growth and help rebalance the economy so that we are not over reliant on any one industry or on one corner of the country. "That is why we have radically stepped up the importance of trade and investment throughout government, to make sure we fly the flag for Britain at every opportunity, and ensure that Britain is the first choice destination for overseas companies. "And I can assure investors that you have got a government that is absolutely on your side, we are cutting corporation tax, we are cutting red tape and our plan for growth puts at its heart the commitment to remove barriers to help companies invest and business to thrive." The UK remains Europe’s top destination for foreign direct investment (FDI), attracting 28 projects each week and generating nearly 2000 jobs each week. This supports the UK’s position as the destination of choice for businesses of every size. UK Trade & Investment (UKTI), the department that supports businesses coming to the UK, has been significantly involved in building up the country’s competitiveness in terms of inward investment. In 2010 / 11 UKTI helped to generate nearly 50,000 jobs - up 6 per cent on the previous year. This equates to 136 every day and 959 every week. Separately UKTI helped to set up 849 new projects, which itself is up 12 per cent on 2009/10 figures. Speaking to over 100 CEOs of the UK’s leading investors at UKTI’s Business Summit, Business Secretary Vince Cable said: “The UK is rightly proud of what it achieves in exporting ideas and products overseas, but also in bringing new technologies and talent home. “When a business locates in the UK it can have a positive impact on local jobs and on improving skills across the country. With more overseas companies choosing the UK to set up their headquarters than anywhere else, we are in a good position to capitalise on these opportunities.” Since 1 May 2011 responsibility for inward investment delivery in England (except London, which has its own arrangements) transferred to UKTI’s Inward Investment Services network. This forms an integral part of UKTI’s seamless end to end service for overseas businesses looking to invest in the UK, who will now benefit from the expertise of one single FDI Hub. Dr Cable added: “UKTI has put new private sector led arrangements in place to support investors. These will provide a clear point of entry for interested companies, giving professional advice on where to establish themselves and who to work with. This arrangement will be pivotal to improving support for inward investment and demonstrates the Government’s commitment to making it work.” Foreign Secretary William Hague said: “Sustained inward investment is crucial in maintaining our economic health, and so we must ensure that the UK remains an attractive place to do business and that foreign investors are aware of what we have to offer. “FCO and UKTI staff, at our embassies and high commissions overseas, actively champion the UK’s strengths and I hope to see continued investment in the UK as a result.” As well as highlighting the projects and jobs created through inward investment, today’s report also shows the UK’s most significant international partners: the USA, Japan, India Germany and France. Jobs have increased across a range of sectors, including financial services, environmental technologies, e-commerce and software and computer services. The biggest of these increases was 212 per cent in financial services, where London remains the world’s foremost financial centre.

Fact file – 2010/11

• The UK received investments from 54 countries.
• The USA continues to be the largest source of investments, generating 36,424 jobs (a 15 per cent increase from 2009/10).
• Investment from Germany into the UK is rising.
• Australia, the UK’s ninth largest investor this year, generated 4,344 jobs, up 458 per cent.
• India regained its position of the third largest investor with project figures up by 5 per cent to 97.
• Spain moved up the ranking to eighth, withh projects up by 47 per cent (to 56) and jobs generated up by 116 per cent (to 3,542).
• The UK’s top investors from the Eurozone remain France and Germany, with Switzerland and Italy making significant increases. Swiss projects increased to 45 (up 50 per cent) whilst Italy generated 2,940 jobs (up 210 per cent).
• The UK recorded a 41 per cent increase in Environmental Technologies projects, resulting in 111 projects with 4, 096 associated jobs (up from 1,803).
• Financial Services saw the largest increase in associated jobs, up from 5,450 to 17,004 (a 212 per cent increase).
• In November 2010 the Prime Minister launched ‘Tech City’ in Shoreditch, London, to encourage high value technology investment in the UK. It is now home to over 250 rapidly-growing companies.

Business quotes

Mr Akio Fukui, CEO of Mitsubishi Power Systems Europe (MPSE), said: "Being in the UK helps MPSE get closer to our UK and European customers. The UK is committed to having an open and competitive economy, and as an inward investor we were and are made to feel welcome and valued. There continue to be examples that the UK is keen to maintain and enhance its competitive position as a location for FDI, such as; the commitment to reduce corporation tax, taxation on foreign branch offices, and the so called patent box. UK Trade and Investment and Scottish Development International have helped us to understand the local market, access available support, as well as assisting us get the opportunity to showcase our business to relevant areas of Government. " Mark Elborne, President and CEO of GE UK said: “The UK is an important region for GE – in fact, it is the next biggest territory for GE outside of the United States. Over the past 10 years we have invested over £14billion in acquisitions in the UK as a result of the high levels of technology expertise, sector knowledge and ground breaking innovation here. The depth of skills and manufacturing tradition in this country are extremely attractive to a company like GE, which explain why we have chosen to locate over a dozen global centres of excellence here - researching, designing, and manufacturing innovative solutions which help to solve some of the biggest environmental and healthcare challenges we face both at home and overseas.” Graham Lay, Vice President at HP Enterprise Services, said: "The UK is an important market for HP; home to our largest R&D facility outside the US and the global centre for research on cloud computing and security technologies. The UK is also where we develop and deploy many of HP's most innovative technology solutions for customers, providing British enterprises with the technology required to compete globally. Underpinning this is the need for the UK to have a deep pool of highly skilled people and a positive environment for enterprise and innovation. HP welcomes the encouragement in the higher education paper for greater collaboration between universities and businesses - such as the partnership HP enjoys with the University of West of England to jointly create and deliver a course on Enterprise Computing. We look forward to the government's forthcoming strategy on research and innovation and are committed to supporting measures that drive deeper links between education and enterprise." Gary Hendler, CEO and President Eisai Europe Ltd, said: “The UK has traditionally been an attractive market for life sciences industry investment due to its strong science base, its unique single healthcare system and stable business environment. The UK now however faces challenges for global investment from developing (BRIC) markets and it is vitally important that the UK sustains an attractive business environment to continue to attract investment in a time of limited resources. The UK is making good progress in this direction with research and financial measures, however patient access to innovative new medicines must be ensured to continue to attract investment. “In 2009 Eisai chose Hatfield in the UK to base it's European Knowledge Centre, a £100 million investment in drug discovery, development, management and manufacturing. This investment has been rewarded by the launch of Eisai's first independent oncology product Halaven - first launched in the UK and then the rest of Europe; and the recent submission for marketing authorisation of perampanel, a new class of treatment, discovered and developed by Eisai in the UK, as a treatment for partial-onset seizures in patients with epilepsy.”       Complete release at http://www.ukti.gov.uk/uktihome/item/163640.html

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