Inquiry into the Welsh Government’s approach to the promotion of trade and inward investment

Additional information from UKTI

Introduction to SNO

· Surfacing the National Offer (SNO) is one of the resources used by the Investment Services Team (IST) to support the delivery of inward investment into the UK. It is one of a basket of tools used by the IST to help and support investors with their location decisions.

· SNO is a database which holds information and specific data points about individual localities in the UK. The 27 data points in SNO are based around key drivers of investment location decisions. SNO is able to:

− Weight the drivers identified by the client as important for their investment;

− Combine multiple drivers (as a client frequently has a range of drivers), and;

− Combine the weightings associated with these multiple drivers to generate a “best fit” list of potential locations across sectors and sub-sectors for consideration by the client.

· Data in SNO is drawn from two principle sources: local partners (LEPs & DAs) and independent data suppliers.

· SNO is used to support a range of IST activities including project delivery, identifying locations for Investment Briefing Tours; the development of sector and sub-sector propositions and strategy development.

· Every project is different and as such requires a different handling approach and a different type of proposal. SNO is just one of many tools. IST is able to pull on a range of different tools and information sources to support the bespoke development of each client proposal. Sources include: IST Sector Team knowledge, IST Market Intelligence Service, local partners, UKTI Sector Specialists, Industry Networks and sector and sub-sector propositions.

· The limitations of SNO should also be recognised and taken into account. The 27 data points within SNO do not cover all factors which influence investment location decision-making, and the evidence-base which underpins SNO is continuously evolving.