Asked by: Andrew Griffith (Conservative - Arundel and South Downs)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, pursuant to the Answer of 14 November 2024 to Question 13639 on Crawford Falconer, whether he plans to recruit a new Second Permanent Secretary and Chief Trade Negotiation Adviser.
Answered by Justin Madders - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
DBT have no plans at this time to recruit a Second Permanent Secretary or a Chief Trade Negotiations Adviser at Permanent Secretary level, further to the departure of Sir Crawford Falconer on 31 December 2024.
Asked by: Andrew Griffith (Conservative - Arundel and South Downs)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, how many officials from his Department travelled to Baku to (a) attend and (b) support COP29 in the last three months.
Answered by Douglas Alexander - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
Within the last three months, nine officials from the Department for Business and Trade travelled to Baku to attend COP29.
Asked by: Andrew Griffith (Conservative - Arundel and South Downs)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, how many officials in his Department worked from home for more than one day a week on average over the month to 30 October 2024.
Answered by Justin Madders - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
Since the pandemic, the Department for Business and Trade (DBT) have had a hybrid working policy in place.
DBT’s hybrid working approach means staff should spend 40-60% of their contracted hours (averaged over a month) in the office or visiting stakeholders and businesses, and the rest of their time working from home.
This works out to be on average 2-3 days working from home per working week for a full-time member of staff.
Asked by: Andrew Griffith (Conservative - Arundel and South Downs)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, how many items of ministerial correspondence received by his Department have not received a reply within 14 days of receipt in the last three months.
Answered by Justin Madders - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
Ministers and the Department place great value on effective and timely handling of ministerial correspondence and keep performance of this under review.
The Cabinet Office publishes routine statistics on Departmental performance which can be find on GOV.UK (https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/data-on-responses-to-correspondence-from-mps-and-peers).
Asked by: Andrew Griffith (Conservative - Arundel and South Downs)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what meetings he has had with representatives from UK Hospitality since 30 October 2024 on the potential impact of the Autumn Budget 2024 on the hospitality industry.
Answered by Gareth Thomas - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
DBT engaged with UK Hospitality as part of a budget briefing call with retail, hospitality and small business representatives held on 4th November. The department also engages very regularly with UK Hospitality, through the Hospitality Sector Council, addressing strategic issues on areas including high street regeneration, skills, sustainability, and productivity.
Asked by: Andrew Griffith (Conservative - Arundel and South Downs)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what discussions his Department has had with representatives from President-Elect Trump’s transition team on UK-US trade.
Answered by Douglas Alexander - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The incoming US administration is currently in the process of nominating members of its Cabinet and appointing senior staff.
The Prime Minister had a warm introductory call with President-elect Trump on 6 November. During this call, the Prime Minister offered his congratulations and said he looked forward to working closely with President-elect Trump across all areas of the special relationship.