Asked by: Lord Grocott (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Viscount Younger of Leckie on 17 July (HL16983), what are the job descriptions of each Trade Envoy; whether any assessment has been made of their effectiveness in relation to the terms of their appointment; and whether those envoys are accountable to (1) the Prime Minister, (2) the Secretary of State for International Trade, (3) the Foreign Secretary, or (4) another Cabinet minister.
Answered by Lord Young of Cookham
The Terms of Appointment for the Programme provide the framework to which Trade Envoys work to. They outline Trade Envoys’ roles and responsibilities when undertaking Trade Envoy duties, as well as outlining the Department for International Trade commitment to them. Under the Terms of Appointment, they are appointed for the term of a parliament, after which the sitting Prime Minister will decide whether to keep the current cadre in their role.
Trade Envoys regularly help UK business secure export successes, by either lobbying on their behalf, or helping to create the environment for them to succeed.
Trade Envoys are appointed by the Prime Minister and are ultimately accountable to the Prime Minister, though they regularly report specific issues to other Ministers as necessary.
Asked by: Lord Grocott (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Viscount Younger of Leckie on 17 July (HL16983), what has been the total cost of the Trade Envoy system since 2012 including staffing support and travel costs.
Answered by Lord Young of Cookham
Since the Programme was launched in November 2012 the cumulative cost of travel and subsistence has been £848,962.
Accurate staffing support figures for the programme are not available as the programme pre-dates the formation of the Department and has changed as the programme has evolved.
For 2018/19 the programme’s staffing costs were approximately £551,000. This is based on the average salary costs for the current staffing level.
Asked by: Lord Grocott (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Viscount Younger of Leckie (HL16983), whether they will include the list of Trade Envoys and appointment dates in the text of the Written Answer for inclusion in Hansard.
Answered by Lord Young of Cookham
I refer the Noble Lord to the Written Ministerial Statement given by my Rt Hon Friend the Secretary of State for International Trade on 18 July 2019, HCWS1760.
On the 18 July 2019 my Noble Friend Lord Risby was appointed as the Prime Minister’s Trade Envoy to Lebanon which is in addition to his current role as the Prime Minister’s Trade Envoy to Algeria. Also on the 18 July 2019 the Hon. Member for Dudley North, Ian Austin MP, was appointed as the Prime Minister’s Trade Envoy to Israel. These two new appointments take the total number of Trade Envoys to 27 parliamentarians covering 58 markets.
Full List of Prime Minister’s Trade Envoys, their Markets and date of appointment
Trade Envoy Name | Designated Markets | Date of PM Appointment |
Lord Risby | Algeria | November 2012 |
| Lebanon | July 2019 |
Baroness Morris | Jordan, Kuwait, Palestinian Territories | November 2012 |
Baroness Bonham Carter | Mexico | November 2012 |
Richard Graham MP | Indonesia | November 2012 |
| Trade Envoy to the ASEAN Economic Community | July 2015 |
| Philippines, Malaysia | January 2016 |
Baroness Nicholson | Iraq | January 2014 |
| Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan | April 2016 |
| Kazakhstan | July 2017 |
Lord Janvrin | Turkey | January 2014 |
Mark Prisk MP | (Investment Envoy) Nordic and Baltic Region | April 2014 |
| Brazil | March 2016 |
Sir Jeffrey Donaldson MP | Egypt | November 2015 |
Adam Afriyie MP | Ghana | January 2016 |
| Guinea | September 2017 |
Lord Popat | Uganda, Rwanda | January 2016 |
John Howell MP | Nigeria | January 2016 |
Rushanara Ali MP | Bangladesh | March 2016 |
Lord Astor of Hever | Oman | November 2016 |
Lord Faulkner | Taiwan | January 2016 |
Lord Lamont | Iran | January 2016 |
Baroness Northover | Angola | January 2016 |
| Zambia | July 2017 |
Paul Scully MP | Myanmar, Brunei, Thailand | July 2017 |
Jeremy Lefroy MP | Ethiopia | July 2017 |
Andrew Selous MP | South Africa | July 2017 |
Mark Pritchard MP | Georgia, Armenia | September 2017 |
Mark Menzies MP | Argentina, Colombia, Peru, Chile | September 2017 |
Simon Hart MP | Panama, Dominican Republic, Costa Rica | September 2017 |
Ed Vaizey MP | Vietnam, Laos,Cambodia | September 2017 |
Sir Henry Bellingham MP | Libya | June 2018 |
Pauline Latham MP | Kenya | August 2018 |
Andrew Rosindell MP | Tanzania | September 2018 |
Ian Austin MP | Israel | July 2019 |
Asked by: Lord Grocott (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask Her Majesty's Government which trade envoys are currently in post, broken down by (1) the countries or groups of countries to which they are assigned, and (2) the date of their appointment.
Answered by Viscount Younger of Leckie - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
There are currently 26 appointed Trade Envoys and details are attached.