Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, pursuant to the Answer of 21 December 2022 to Question 109493 on Department for International Trade: Electronic Purchasing Card Solution, what the name was of the hotel at which Lord Faulkner hosted the lunch; how many individuals attended that lunch; and how many of those were (a) UK officials or (b) business people.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Department for International Trade does not disclose the names of hotels used by either officials or ministers for security reasons. However, a total of ten individuals attended the lunch, including Lord Faulkner. Of the ten attendees, five were UK officials, one was Lord Faulkner himself and the remaining four were officials from the Taiwan Representative Office.
Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, pursuant to the Answer of 20 December 2022 to Question 107079 on Department for International Trade: Electronic Purchasing Card Solution, how many purchases with a value less than £500 were made against her Department’s budget through a Government procurement card in 2021.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Department made 2,756 transactions on a government procurement card valued under £500 in 2021.
Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, with reference to her Department’s Greening Government Commitments for 2021-25, how many tonnes of food waste were produced from her Departmental estate in Financial Year (a) 2021-22 and (b) 2022-23 up to 31 December 2022.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Department for International Trade have started collecting food waste data from April 2022 and the data for April 1st 2022 to December 31st 2022 will be published in the Greening Government Commitments Annual Report Annual Report covering 2022-2023.
Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, with reference to her Department’s publication of electronic purchasing card spending over £500, what the location was of hotel accommodation on which (a) £2,058.10 was spent on 7 June 2021 and (b) £1,724.20 on 10 July 2021; for which individuals that accommodation was purchased; and what the purpose was of the stay at those hotels.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
£2,058.10: The location for this hotel is Busan, South Korea. This transaction relates to four nights hotel accommodation costs incurred for three UK Defence and Security Exports staff who attended the Maritime Defence Industry International Exhibition (Madex 2021).
£1,724.20: The location for this hotel is Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. The accommodation covered four nights and was for the former Minister of State for Investment, my noble Friend Lord Grimstone of Boscobel, and one official. The travel was to attend events with investors onboard HMS Defender as part of the Carrier Strike Group’s visit to Saudi Arabia.
Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, pursuant to the Answer of 21 December 2022 to Question 109493 on Department for International Trade: Electronic Purchasing Card Solution, what the names were of the hotels at which the UK DSE’s Senior Military Advisor stayed in (a) the Republic of Korea and (b) Turkey.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Department for International Trade does not disclose the names of hotels used by either officials or ministers for security reasons.
Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, with reference to her Department’s publication of electronic purchasing card spending over £500 for October 2021, where was the hotel accommodation on which £5,980.00 was spent on 18 November 2021; for which individuals was that accommodation purchased; and what was the purpose of their stay at that hotel.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
This booking was for a hotel in central Belfast. A group reservation for 30 individuals was made to accommodate Ministers, Board of Trade Advisors and Department for International Trade officials attending the Board of Trade meeting and broader visit programme, which took place in Northern Ireland from 25-26 November 2021. The department paid £2,990.00 for the accommodation. The other entry for £2,990.00 reported in November 2021’s electronic purchasing card spending records was a duplication of the same transaction included in the report in error and was not an additional charge to the Department.
Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, with reference to her Department’s publication of electronic purchasing card spending over £500 for October 2021, where were the hotels on which £7497.08 was spent between the period of 18-25 October; for which individuals that accommodation was purchased; and what the purpose was of their stay at those hotels.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
The breakdown of the £7,497.08 consists of the following:
£3,041.27 - This spend related to accommodation for Lord Grimstone, and an accompanying Private Secretary, who attended and spoke at the Future Investment Initiative (FII). Lord Grimstone met several senior Saudi Ministers and international businesses. Lord Grimstone also represented the UK at the Middle East Green Initiative during his visit.
Lord Grimstone stayed for 3 nights, 2 of which were complementary for his role speaking at the event. The cost of the 3 nights’ accommodation for the Private Secretary was met by the department.
£1,296.90 – This spend relates to 5 nights (17-22 Oct 21) accommodation costs for the UK Defence & Security Exports (UK DSE) Senior Military Advisor who attended ADEX (a leading Aviation exhibition in North East Asia) in Republic of Korea as part of UKDSE delegation in October.
£1,150 – This was a lunch event at a hotel, hosted by Lord Faulkner, the Prime Minister’s Trade Envoy to Taiwan, in support of the 24th annual UK-Taiwan trade talks.
£879.09 - This relates to accommodation costs for the UK DSE’s Senior Military Advisor and the UK DSE desk officer responsible for Turkey who supported government talks with UK Embassy staff in Turkey. Accommodation for 2 people from 25-28 October for 3 nights.
£585.19 – This spend relates to 3 nights’ accommodation costs for UK DSE’s Principal Police and Security Advisor who attended MiliPol Paris (a leading Homeland security and safety exhibition) in October.
£544.63 – This spend relates to 3 nights’ accommodation costs during the period of 27-31 October 2022 for a Department for International Trade Air Advisor who was the UK representative at the USAF Air Mobility Command’s annual Airlift Tanker Convention in Orlando, Florida.
Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what their Department spent in 2021 on purchasing goods and services with a value of less than £500 on a government procurement card.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
The total spend by the Department for International Trade on purchasing goods and services with a value of less than £500 on a government procurement card was £148,099.63 in 2021.
Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, with reference to her Department’s published spending by electronic purchasing card solution over £500 for May 2022, who attended the meal purchased for £656.00 at Quilon on 27 May 2022; and whether the transaction included expenditure on alcoholic beverages.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
This was hospitality spend on lunch on 27 May 2022 for a visiting Indian Government Delegation. The delegation were visiting London as part of the UK-India Trade Negotiation discussions and a Department for International Trade-hosted Round Table event. 7 Indian Government officials were hosted by 3 UK Government officials. There was no alcohol purchased during the lunch.
Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, with reference to her Department’s publication of electronic purchasing card spending over £500 for October 2021, what the purpose was of the payment of £1,265.00 made to www.totalevent.co.uk on 2 October 2021.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
The spend relates to costs for participating in the Three Counties Defence and Security Expo in October 2021. The costs include the provision of power, lighting, audio/visual facilities, a small meeting room and the stand construction.