Asked by: Christine Jardine (Liberal Democrat - Edinburgh West)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, how much her Department spent on recruitment consultants in each of the last three years.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston
The total cost of support from external recruitment consultants for 2020, 2021 and 2022 was £648,408.47. This covers support for recruiting substantive civil servants at delegated grades and Senior Civil Servants (SCS) grades and Non-Executive Directors (NEDs), at the Department for International Trade and UK Export Finance.
Recruitment consultant support is used when the department is looking to recruit for roles that require a specialised or senior skillset to ensure we maximise our reach, and to help attract external candidates.
Year | Total Spend |
20/21 | £183,480.00 |
21/22 | £161,970.70 |
22/23 year to date 31/01/23 | £302,957.77 |
Total | £648,408.47 |
Asked by: Christine Jardine (Liberal Democrat - Edinburgh West)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what the cost to the public purse has been of Ministerial severance pay in her Department in each year since 1 January 2016.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston
Under the Ministerial and Other Pensions and Salaries Act 1991, eligible Ministers who leave office are entitled to a one off payment equivalent to one quarter of their annual salary at the point at which they leave Government. This applies only where a Minister is under 65 and is not appointed to a ministerial office within three weeks of leaving government. Individuals may waive the payment to which they are entitled. That is a matter for their personal discretion. Details of such payments are published in departmental annual reports and accounts, and ministerial salaries are published on GOV.UK at https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1027301/Salaries_of_Members_of_Her_Majestys_Government_-_Financial_Year_2021-22_-_Publication.pdf.
Asked by: Christine Jardine (Liberal Democrat - Edinburgh West)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what steps she will take to support businesses with cross-border supply chains after the end of the transition period.
Answered by Graham Stuart
The Department for International Trade is supporting cross-government efforts to prepare businesses for the end of the transition period. Steps include redeploying a number of advisors to provide direct advice to companies, developing digital tools covering all the steps needed to move goods across the border and webinars being run for EU based businesses to support their continued trade with UK partners.
Asked by: Christine Jardine (Liberal Democrat - Edinburgh West)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, whether the UK Trade Envoy to Brunei made representations to the Government of Brunei on the whipping and stoning to death of LGBT+ people during his visit to that country in November 2018.
Answered by Graham Stuart
The Prime Minister’s Trade Envoy to Brunei, Paul Scully, did not make representations to the Government of Brunei on their internal laws when he visited in 2018 to promote the trade links between our countries.
This was the Trade Envoy’s first visit to Brunei in this capacity and as such was introduced to key stakeholders.
He was hosted by the Minister of Finance and Economy and focused on opportunities in: oil and gas; financial services; and technical / professional education. Human rights issues are the responsibility of the FCO.
The Minister of State for Asia and the Pacific raised UK concerns about hudud punishments during a visit to Brunei Darussalam in August 2018. More recently he raised these issues on Friday 29 March in a letter to the Deputy Foreign Minister. Additionally, the British High Commission in Bandar Seri Begawan regularly discusses the introduction of the Sharia Penal Code with the Government of Brunei.
Asked by: Christine Jardine (Liberal Democrat - Edinburgh West)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what the (a) premium income (b) claims paid and (c) monies at risk of UK Export Finance were relating to the defence sector for the financial years (i) 2015-16, (ii) 2016-17 and (iii) 2017-18.
Answered by Graham Stuart
The premium income for defence transactions is presented in the table below.
Financial Year | Gross Premium GBP | Net Premium GBP |
2015/16 | 89,865.80 | 89,865.80 |
2016/17 | 64,818,167.46 | 46,858,612.39 |
2017/18 | 4,823,315.65 | 4,823,315.65 |
No claims were paid relating to defence sector contracts during this period.
The monies at risk for defence transactions are presented in the table below.
FY | Net Amount at Risk £m |
2015-16 | 1,219.3 |
2016-17 | 2,749.8 |
2017-18 | 2,537.6 |
Where such information is not commercially sensitive, UKEF publishes details of the companies it has supported on an annual basis in its Annual Report and Accounts which are presented to Parliament and can be found on UKEF’s website.
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/uk-export-finance-annual-reports-and-accounts
Asked by: Christine Jardine (Liberal Democrat - Edinburgh West)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what progress he plans to make on increasing food and drink exports to India in advance of the next India-UK Joint Economic and Trade Committee.
Answered by Greg Hands
India is a priority market for DIT's Food and Drink sector team which works closely with DEFRA, UK regional colleagues (including Devolved Administrations), dedicated overseas staff in India, UK Export Finance and trade policy officials. This collaborative export promotion work helps UK companies enter and grow sustainably in the market. In addition, India and the UK have identified food and drink as a specific workstream in the Joint Trade Review.
Asked by: Christine Jardine (Liberal Democrat - Edinburgh West)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of establishing a business-led Joint Working Group on Food and Drink as part of the India-UK Joint Trade Review.
Answered by Greg Hands
The UK-India Joint Trade Review successfully reported back to the Joint Economic and Trade Committee (JETCO) in January. Ministers endorsed several recommendations from the Review, including further collaboration between our Governments to explore addressing non-tariff barriers to trade specifically in the food and drink sector. Detailed inputs from industry will be crucial to informing this work so we welcome continued engagement with business. As my officials finalise workplans with their Indian counterparts they will be communicating to business how they might provide input.
Asked by: Christine Jardine (Liberal Democrat - Edinburgh West)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, if he will impose a ban on the export of arms to Saudi Arabia.
Answered by Mark Garnier - Shadow Economic Secretary (Treasury)
The Government takes its export licensing responsibilities very seriously and our processes have been subjected to public and judicial scrutiny.
The Government operates a rigorous and robust process to ensure that any licences for UK defence exports are consistent with the Consolidated EU and National Arms Export Licensing Criteria. The policy remains as announced to parliament in a Written Ministerial Statement on 25 March 2014.
The key test for the Government for our continued arms exports to Saudi Arabia in relation to International Humanitarian Law (IHL) is whether there is a clear risk that those weapons might be used in a serious violation of IHL. The situation is kept under careful and continual review.