Andrew Dismore

Question No: 2016/4032

Andrew Dismore

What impact do you consider Brexit will have on attracting non- EU international students to London universities?

London & Partners

London & Partners (L&P) is currently surveying over 100,000 prospective students from around the world to get a better understanding of their perceptions of the UK post-Brexit and whether the referendum vote is likely to deter non-EU students from studying in London.

The results will be available by the end of the year, but it is worth noting that in the last three months we have seen the highest volume ever of prospective students coming to our Study London websites, since L&P was established. The vast majority of L&P’s web traffic comes from outside the EU and last month alone over 200,000 prospective students used the English website, studylondon.ac.uk, and a further 40,000 from China used London.cn – also a record.

Question No: 2016/4033

Andrew Dismore

What have you done to support the London Fire Brigade’s trading company in its efforts to attract business overseas?

London & Partners

As part of L&P’s activity at the Rio Olympics, L&P co-ordinated an alliance with the London Fire Brigade and commercial counterparts from Transport for London, British Transport Police and London Legacy Development Corporation to sell  their expertise in international markets.

The aim was to develop and take to market a city events consultancy offer to help other cities successfully run major global events.

L&P undertook a number of dedicated meetings at the Rio Olympics (arranged with GLA help) to begin to build a pipeline of city leads.

L&P also introduced London Fire Brigade to an FDI client that manufactures Fire extinguishers, giving them the opportunity to be a commercial distributor for the product.

Question No: 2016/4034

Andrew Dismore

What have you done to support tourism from Israel to London?

London & Partners

L&P’s challenge is how best to make best use of limited resource based on analysis of industry data. L&P concentrate their leisure marketing activities in the markets that will deliver the greatest economic returns to London.

Israel currently ranks in 25th position in terms of overall visits to London, with 165,000 visitors to London last year, and in 17th position in terms of visitor spend. For this reason, no directly targeted activity to attract tourists from Israel has been undertaken thus far. However, we continually monitor tourism markets and the impact of our activities to ensure our strategy is fully up to date.

 Source: International Passenger Survey 2015

Question No: 2016/4035

Andrew Dismore

What have you done to support high-tech business links between London and Israel, and what plans have you to develop this further?

London & Partners

L&P works closely with the Department for International Trade team based at the British Embassy in Israel to support business links between Israel and London.

Israel is London’s 16th largest source market and we are currently influencing and supporting 30 investment projects. These projects are concentrated around Fintech, Adtech, E-commerce and cyber-security sectors.

L&P will be hosting an Israeli Tech Delegation in November, being organised by high-profile Israeli companies Calcalist, Bank Leumi and Leumitech.

Previously L&P organised a trade mission to Israel in November 2015. 16 SMEs from the Ed Tech and Smart Cities sectors participated along with 3 of the London Technology Ambassadors. The mission generated 25 FDI projects.

Question No: 2016/4036

Andrew Dismore

What have you done to support tourism from China to London?

London & Partners

L&P’s analysis shows that whilst China isn’t a top source market for London in terms of numbers, Chinese tourist spend is high, placing China in 10th position in terms of value.

To this end, L&P have supported trade activity to encourage tour operators to bring group bookings to London.  This includes being involved in Visit Britain’s overseas sales mission in China and also supporting their familiarisation trips.  One such trip consisted of 12 top tier travel agents and 1 representative from Hainan Airlines – the biggest airline group in China. The group also included CAISSA, which was the sole ticketing agent for the London Olympics in China; as well as U-Tour, the largest public listed travel agency in China.

L&P have also provided support to key tourism partners to educate them on the needs of the market to help them to attract more tourists.  This includes running free Chinese hospitality sessions and providing an introduction to Alipay, a Chinese payment platform.

L&P is also a member of VisitBritain’s Great China Welcome charter, which helps Chinese visitors easily identify hotels, attractions, retailers and tour operators that are making themselves ‘China-ready’ by providing information in Mandarin or Cantonese and adapting their products for the Chinese market and culture.

As part of L&P’s work on the Tourism Strategy for London, they have been analysing future tourism market growth, which will inform how we allocate tourism marketing resource.

Question No: 2016/4037

Andrew Dismore

What have you done to support business s links between London and China, and what plans have you to develop this further?

London & Partners

London continues to be the leading destination city for Chinese FDI into the UK, attracting almost 40% of all FDI projects between 2006-2015.

China is the 3rd most important source market for London FDI and accordingly London & Partners has a dedicated in-country team with staff in Beijing and Shanghai to generate business leads and to ensure that Chinese companies can get support across the country.

L&P regularly run in-market sales campaigns and meet with key business leaders and London & Partners representatives also attend and speak at industry trade shows in China.

L&P also undertake dedicated in-market business mission by their CEO and senior personnel to highlight and develop business links between London and China. This year alone they have delivered a Tech Venture Forum in Beijing and Fintech Forum in Hong Kong to promote London’s tech scene, as well as acting as a supporting partner of the Pujiang Innovation Forum in Shanghai, one of the largest tech events in China.  The Forum was widely covered by Chinese media.

We have also engaged with key industry figures to speak on London’s behalf, for example London Tech Ambassadors Russ Shaw and Gavin Poole joined the Beijing and Hong Kong forums, and Ben Brabyn, CEO of Level 39 spoke at the Pujiang Forum.

China will continue to be a key market for L&P.

Question No: 2016/4038

Andrew Dismore

What have you done to support tourism from India to London?

London & Partners

L&P focus their budget and resource in attracting tourists from markets which are going to deliver the greatest economic returns for London. India ranks in 17th positon in terms of volume of visits to London (276,000 in 2015) and in 19th position in terms of visitor spend,  therefore no direct targeted leisure tourism activity has been undertaken in the market thus far. However, we continually monitor tourism markets and the impact of our activities to ensure our strategy is fully up to date.

Source: International Passenger Survey, 2015

Question No: 2016/4039

Andrew Dismore

What have you done to support business links between London and India, and what plans have you to develop this further?

London & Partners

India is the second most important source market for London FDI and the city continues to be the leading destination for Indian FDI into the UK, attracting 35% of all FDI projects since 2003.

L&P have been developing the market further through key programs like Catalyst for Growth and India Emerging 20 (IE20).

Catalyst for growth is an annual roadshow across multiple cities in India to attract and interact with Indian business. It aims to educate businesses in India about London’s business environment and position London as the best city for Indian companies to grow.

IE20 Is a competition- based program, which identifies high growth innovative companies from India in the Tech, Media, Telecoms, Life Sciences, Financial and Business services sectors to grow their international business through London.

In addition to market visits by senior personnel, the Deputy Mayor for Business & Enterprise will be visiting India, with support from L&P, to increase London’s profile with the Indian Business Community and engage with new & existing investors.

Additionally we engage with influential business institutions & influencers like Confederation of Indian Industries (CII), Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce (FICCI) and UK India Business Council to further boost business links with India.

Question No: 2016/4040

Andrew Dismore

To what extent do human rights considerations inform your decisions on where in the world to develop business links with London?

London & Partners

L&P supports a pipeline of international companies who are considering investing in the capital. Human rights considerations are of course of vital importance and L&P works closely with the Department for International Trade, who provide guidance in this area, to help inform trade and investment decisions.

Question No: 2016/4041

Andrew Dismore

What barriers do you experience in attracting business to London?

London & Partners

Clearly, London is an expensive city in which to establish a business and live. However, this is often counteracted by the value of London’s strengths as a business destination, such as access to talent and customers, compared to lower cost locations.

Going forward, the uncertainty caused by the EU vote could be a barrier to businesses in certain sectors, as could potential outcomes of the Article 50 negotiations. That is why the Mayor is arguing for London’s voice to be heard during those negotiations.  However, London’s inherent strengths as a business destination will remain– such as our business ecosystem, culture, language, legal system and time zone and the fact that the most highly skilled and ambitious people in the world choose to live and work here.  The Mayor’s #LondonIsOpen campaign highlights and promotes these innate strengths to persuade businesses (and others) that London is still the world’s best city in which to do business

Question No: 2016/4042

Andrew Dismore

What barriers do you experience in attracting tourism to London?

London & Partners

From a tourist perspective, the main factor discouraging more people from choosing or coming back to London is the cost, followed by the fact that there are other cities on their wish list. However, London remains one of the most attractive tourist destinations in the world.

We are certain that visitors will continue to flock to London because it is a world class tourist destination, with the most vibrant and diverse cultural offering of any global city, world-class restaurants and hotels, and great transport links among many other factors. We will continue to make it clear to the world that come what may, London remains open to tourism, business and talent from around the world.

Question No: 2016/4043

Andrew Dismore

For each of the last three years, please list the international conferences that London and Partners has attracted to London?

London & Partners

London & Partners has helped 418 international conferences come to London over the last three calendar years. This figure refers only to events with 50 or more delegates, in line with industry criteria from the International Conference and Congress Association. Highlights include major conferences like the European Society for Cardiology in 2015 which attracted 33,000 delegates and £100 million of economic benefit to London.

The international conferences we have attracted are listed in the attached spreadsheets. Please note, some events are listed in the name of a third party involved in the organisation of the event (e.g. venue or conference organiser).

Question No: 2016/4044

Andrew Dismore

What economic contribution do a) EU and b) other international students make to London’s economy?

London & Partners

International students in London contribute £3 billion into the economy each year. That figure is made up of fee income; subsistence spend; and a small contribution from visiting friends and family.

EU students make up circa 30% of all international students with a total of 34,750 EU students studying in London from a total of 108,000.

In fee terms an EU student pays a UK fee which is usually lower than a non-EU fee therefore the economic contribution of EU students is proportionally lower than a non-EU student, e.g. on average an EU student contributes £23,000 pa to the economy compared to a US students who contributes on average £33,600 pa.

In total, EU students contributed £793 million in 2013-14 against over £2.2 billion contributed by non-EU students.

Question No: 2016/4045

Andrew Dismore

What economic contribution do a) EU and b) other international workers make to London’s economy?

London & Partners

London & Partners remit is to promote London to deliver economic growth for London through attracting visitors, business and investment, events and students to the capital. As such, they measure and report on the additional jobs created and supported by their promotional activity. This measurement does not extend to the contribution of international workers to London’s economy.

However, it is worth noting that GLA Economics has produced a paper on “London’s labour market” which shows the number of EEA and non-EEA workers in London’s labour market. GLA Economics estimates that in 2015 12.5 per cent of London’s jobs were held by those born elsewhere in the EEA. For workers born outside the EEA in London the figure stands at 26.2 per cent.

Source: Annual Population Survey, ONS.

Question No: 2016/4046

Andrew Dismore

What economic contribution do international company headquarters make to London’s economy?

London & Partners

Since 2011-12, London & Partners has helped 314 international companies set up headquarters in London, generating 9,013 jobs and delivering an economic contribution of £195m in GVA for London.

This accounts for 23% of all projects, 33% of jobs and 39% of all GVA generated over this period.

These companies also play a significant role in generating tax revenues for the UK economy. The City of London’s ‘London’s Finances and Revenues’ report published in November 2014 indicated that London based companies (both domestic & international companies) contributed an estimated £17.7bn in tax revenues through Corporation Tax & Business Rates in 2014/15.

Question No: 2016/4047

Andrew Dismore

What would the impact of ending EU ‘passporting’ have on London’s financial services industry’s ability to sell itself abroad?

London & Partners

If Brexit is going to work for London and the UK, it needs to work for the City of London and for all our financial institutions. The Mayor and the Deputy Mayor for Business will ensure London has a voice and will keep making the case that the  government’s top priority needs to be around our ability to attract talent, and to maintain the maximum possible access to European and global markets  to enable us to remain internationally competitive.

Question No: 2016/4048

Andrew Dismore

What would the impact of Brexit have on London’s legal services industry’s ability to sell itself abroad?

London & Partners

The Mayor and the Deputy Mayor for Business are in active discussion with government to ensure that London remains a global centre for all of our key business sectors. GLA officers are also in discussion with the Law Society about the threats and opportunities to the legal sector. Our incorruptible courts, language and legal system make London hard to beat and we will continue to press the advantages of English law and our legal services to overseas investors. London’s legal sector is agile, provides certainty and flexibility, with a strong arbitration sector as well.