Lords to quiz representatives of London Stock Exchange and BIS on SME exports
The House of Lords Select Committee on Small and Medium Enterprise Exports will on Thursday take evidence from representatives of AIM, the London Stock Exchange's international market for smaller growing companies, the Better Regulation Executive, the Government's SME Envoy and trade officials from the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills in the penultimate evidence sessions of their inquiry.
The Committee will first hear evidence on sources of finance for SME exporters from Marcus Stuttard, Head of AIM at the LSE, and Tim Hames, Deputy Chief Executive of the British Private Equity and Venture Capital Association (BVCA). This session will focus on how and where SMEs can secure investment and capital to develop their export activities at a time when banks seem reluctant to lend to small businesses.
The Committee's focus will then move on to how regulation affects SME exporters with two sessions covering both domestic regulation of SMEs and trade negotiations involving the regulatory regimes of importing countries. The Committee will hear first from Adam Jackson , Director, BIS Enterprise Directorate and SME Envoy, and Graham Turnock, Chief Executive of the Better Regulation Executive.
This will be followed by evidence from Michael Williams and Eamon Cassidy, Deputy Directors, Trade Policy Unit, and Christopher Parish, Acting Head, and Christopher Chew, Head of Policy at the Export Control Organisation.
The evidence sessions will start at 10:10am on Thursday 10 January in Committee Room 2 of the House of Lords.
The Committee's final evidence session will be held on Monday 14 January when they will hear evidence from the following Ministers:
- Lord Green of Hurstpierpoint, Minister of State for Trade and Investment
- Michael Fallon MP, Minister of State for Business and Enterprise