DIT Foreign Direct Investment Services

Inward investment will play a crucial role in supporting recovery from the COVID-19 crisis and enable the UK to build back better. According to UNCTAD, global investment flows fell by 42% in 2020 compared to 2019, with a further 10% decline expected in 2021. In this difficult climate, it will be more competitive than ever to maintain the UK’s position as a leading destination for investment.

The Plan for Growth identified inward investment as a key priority for supporting economic recovery and levelling up. To deliver this, HMG recently established the new Office for Investment (OfI) based within No. 10 and part of DIT. This is supported by a new dedicated investment function within DIT, as well as a renewed focus on improving the business environment to improve UK attractiveness to investors. As a whole, DIT is shifting towards a more proportionate and segmented approach to supporting investors, systematically using investor intelligence to better influence policy, adopting a more targeted approach to investment promotion, utilising intelligence and technology to instruct investment environment policy and to give DIT a more informed approach to setting operational objectives. These changes will allow DIT to support the Plan for Growth by creating jobs, improving innovation, and contributing to government priorities including, levelling-up, net zero and science superpower.

The Successful Bidder’s responsibilities are likely to range from gathering business intelligence and conducting market research to inform DIT priorities, to developing propositions and marketing collateral to showcase UK investment opportunities, to coordinating virtual project teams delivering end-to-end support to individual investors. In this way we aim to work alongside the provider to deliver comprehensive, holistic support that Government is uniquely best placed to provide.