Asked by: David Lammy (Labour - Tottenham)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what assessment her Department has made of the economic impact of sanctions on (a) Russia’s GDP, (b) UK foreign direct investment in Russia and (c) the value of UK trade in goods and services with Russia in FY2022-23.
Answered by Ranil Jayawardena
In coordination with her allies, Britain is introducing the most severe economic sanctions that Russia has ever faced. The expected impacts of trade sanctions imposed to date are available on GOV.UK. We do not speculate on future sanctions.
Asked by: David Lammy (Labour - Tottenham)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, how many bilateral trade deals the Government will be able to sign on 1 February 2020.
Answered by Conor Burns
We have an ambitious programme to maximise the opportunities of leaving the EU on the 31 January, including Free Trade Agreements (FTAs), championing the WTO and rules-based system, and securing market access wins. The government has a manifesto commitment to have free trade agreements with countries covering 80% of UK trade within 3 years of leaving the EU. This includes negotiating FTAs with the US, Australia, New Zealand and Japan in parallel to negotiations with the EU. We are planning to launch rest of world trade negotiations as soon as possible after we leave the EU.
Asked by: David Lammy (Labour - Tottenham)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, how many trade negotiators are employed by her Department.
Answered by Conor Burns
I refer the Rt Hon Member for Tottenham to the answer I gave to the Hon Member for Dundee East on 23 January 2020, UIN: 5362.
Asked by: David Lammy (Labour - Tottenham)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what estimate his Department has made of the proportion of the Civil Service workforce in his Department dedicated to planning for (a) the UK leaving the EU and (b) projects relating to the UK leaving the EU.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
Exit is an all-of-government operation. The Department for Exiting the European Union is doing detailed work with departments to prepare for the upcoming negotiations by understanding the risks and opportunities of leaving the EU and coordinating planning.
The Department for International Trade was established as a direct result of the referendum decision to leave the EU to secure UK and global prosperity by promoting and financing international trade and investment and championing free trade.
Given the interactions between EU exit work and the Department’s other priorities, it would not be possible to give an accurate figure.
Asked by: David Lammy (Labour - Tottenham)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, how many (a) applications, (b) applicants, (c) interviews and (d) job offers there have been for trade negotiator positions in his Department since July 2016.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
At this stage, the Department’s primary focus is on developing our trade policy positions, international relationships and approach to future trade negotiations.
The Department has run a number of recruitment exercises since July 2016 for both internal Civil Service and external candidates. From these recruitment exercises the Department’s Trade Policy Team has taken on over 150 new members of staff to fill a range of trade policy positions, including analytical and legal posts.
We are also in the process of recruiting a Chief Trade Negotiations Adviser at the level of Second Permanent Secretary.
Asked by: David Lammy (Labour - Tottenham)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, how many full-time equivalent trade negotiators his Department employed on 31 March 2017.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Department for International Trade has a strong core of trade policy officials, which has quadrupled in size since 24 June (from 45 to over 200 today) and is continuing to grow. The trade policy team includes policy and country specialists, as well as economic analysts and lawyers.
Asked by: David Lammy (Labour - Tottenham)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, how many full-time equivalent third-party contractors and consultants his Department plans to employ in (a) 2017, (b) 2018 and (c) 2019; and what the cost to the taxpayer will be of that employment in each of those years.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The department for International Trade currently employs 106 full time equivalent third-party contractors and consultants, and would expect to employ similar numbers in the future.
Asked by: David Lammy (Labour - Tottenham)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, how many full-time equivalent third-party contractors and consultants his Department has employed since its establishment; and what the cost to the public purse has been of that employment.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
Since the formation of the Department for International Trade in July, this department has employed 106 full time equivalent third-party contractors and consultants.
Asked by: David Lammy (Labour - Tottenham)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what estimate his Department has made of the number of trade negotiators that will be required to conduct parallel negotiations with the EU, the World Trade Organisation and other nations in the next two years.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Department for International Trade has a strong core of trade policy officials, which has quadrupled in size since 24 June (from 45 to over 200) and is continuing to grow. This includes policy and country specialists, as well as economic analysts and lawyers.
At this stage our primary focus is on developing our policy positions, international relationships and approach to future trade negotiations.
Asked by: David Lammy (Labour - Tottenham)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, how many third party (a) consultants and (b) consultancy companies his Department plans to commission; and what the cost to the public purse of such commissioning will be in (i) 2017, (ii) 2018, (iii) 2019 and (iv) 2020.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Prime Minister announced the creation of the Department for International Trade on the 13 July 2016. The budget for the new Department is being finalised and will be set out in the Supplementary Estimate.
We are currently establishing whether we need to call upon external support as part of the internal planning round for the 17/18 Financial Year.