Yesterday we reported how the Department for International Trade has placed one of its own into the management team at one of Gloucestershire's most high profile plcs.

It was all positive according to Versarien which said it was "pleased to announce" Matt Walker, was joining the Cheltenham company for 12 months on secondment.

Neill Ricketts, CEO of Versarien (pictured below), said: "Matt will be key to ensuring the successful continued international expansion of Versarien and maintaining our special relationship with the UK Government."

Mr Walker is head of outward direct investment at the UK Government's Department for International Trade (DIT) and will work exclusively for Versarien as head of international strategy and Government relations.

Mr Walker has now spoken to Punchline-Gloucester.com and explained the partnership was all about ensuring Versarien grows with the bigger picture being that profits and high value jobs benefit the UK.

He described his secondment at Versarien with enthusiasm. It was "a marriage made in heaven".

Under his watch the Cheltenham-based advanced materials engineering group, with a particular interest in graphene and nanene, will be the first to benefit from the Government's new Outward Direct Investment (ODI) Strategy, said Mr Walker.

(Pictured: An artist's impression of graphene - described as "a form of carbon" made up of sheets one atom thick, with the atoms arranged in a honeycomb-shaped lattice. It is extremely conductive)

"I am a strategist working within Ministerial Strategy Directorate (MSD), within the Department for International Trade (DIT)," said Mr Walker.

"This means that I work on strategies proposed by Ministers. The latest strategy I was in charge of was the Outward Direct Investment (ODI) Strategy, which is basically DIT for the first time ever supporting UK companies to expand overseas (either market entry or expansions within the market of presence).

"This policy went live and global last month (April) with an announcement at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) where the Secretary of State for International Trade (Dr Liam Fox) decided there was a role for Government to help UK businesses expand as long as they do not offshore jobs, as this would be a political own goal.

"In return, Government will be able to measure the economic benefit that ODI brings (e.g. repatriation of profits, high value jobs in the UK, technology transfer etc); and given that the UK is the third largest global investor in terms of actual stock, Government has been missing a trick because companies that invest overseas are more profitable.

"Versarien will be the first UK company that receives direct Government help via a secondment since the new policy went live globally, as Government wants to see the UK as the world leader in graphene, especially given it was invented in the UK; and given that Versarien wants to conduct ODI in order to expand."

Read more: Government official parachuted into fast-growing business