Asked by: Nick Clegg (Liberal Democrat - Sheffield, Hallam)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, how many hours have been spent on training for trade negotiators since the creation of his Department.
Answered by Greg Hands
The Department for International Trade (DIT) is building on its existing strong core of trade policy expertise. At this stage our primary focus is on developing policy positions, international relationships and our approach to future trade negotiations.
DIT, in conjunction with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office has established the Trade Policy and Negotiations Faculty, dedicated to building trade policy and negotiations capability across HM Government.
The Faculty and DIT have already offered a range of training on trade policy:
These training sessions have been attended by over 800 officials from 19 Government departments and agencies.
Asked by: Nick Clegg (Liberal Democrat - Sheffield, Hallam)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, how much his Department has spent on the training of trade negotiators to date.
Answered by Greg Hands
The Department for International Trade (DIT) is building on its existing strong core of trade policy expertise. At this stage our primary focus is on developing policy positions, international relationships and our approach to future trade negotiations.
DIT, in conjunction with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office has established the Trade Policy and Negotiations Faculty, dedicated to building trade policy and negotiations capability across HM Government.
The Faculty and DIT have already offered a range of training on trade policy:
These training sessions have been attended by over 800 officials from 19 Government departments and agencies.
Asked by: Nick Clegg (Liberal Democrat - Sheffield, Hallam)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, how many trade negotiators are employed by his Department and how many were hired from (a) within the UK civil service, (b) the UK private sector, (c) from within the EU and (d) from outside the EU.
Answered by Greg Hands
The Department for International Trade has a strong core of trade policy officials, which has quadrupled in size since 24 June and is continuing to grow. This includes policy and country specialists, as well as economic analysts and lawyers.
To date, recruitment has primarily been from within the Civil Service. We are currently running an external campaign for recruiting high quality individuals with a range of policy, negotiation and trade-specific skills and experience. This external campaign is ongoing.
Asked by: Nick Clegg (Liberal Democrat - Sheffield, Hallam)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, how much his Department has spent to date on legal advice relating to Britain's exit from the EU from (a) the Government Legal Department and (b) external legal firms; and how much he plans to spend on such advice over the next 12 months.
Answered by Mark Garnier - Shadow Economic Secretary (Treasury)
DIT already has a strong and capable in-house legal team and has not needed to spend on external legal advice. In the next two years we will be developing our in-house team to build the expertise needed to deliver the best outcomes for the UK and position the UK as a global leader in free trade. We have also received many offers of pro bono support from the UK’s outstanding legal profession.
Asked by: Nick Clegg (Liberal Democrat - Sheffield, Hallam)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, how many staff are on secondment to his Department from the private sector; from which companies they are seconded; what roles they perform; and what the cost to the public purse will be of their secondment.
Answered by Mark Garnier - Shadow Economic Secretary (Treasury)
Following her appointment on 13 July 2016 the Prime Minister established the Department for International Trade (DIT). The DIT aggregates UK Trade and Investment (UKTI), UK Export and Finance (UKEF), Trade Policy Units from the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS), as well as some new hires.
Until such time as a transfer of functions order establishes the Secretary of State as a corporation sole, DIT remains a unified Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) and Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS) department for accounting purposes.
Since the department was formed in July there have been no secondees appointed from the Private Sector. Secondees previously in post with syndicate organisations have moved across to DIT on legacy terms as tabled below. These are seconded from a number of companies and occupy different roles across the department and across grades.
| DIT Secondees | Monthly Costs |
Trade Policy & Ministerial (BEIS) | 1 | £0.00 |
International Trade & Investment (UKTI) | *12 | £14,299.27 |
UK Export Finance | 0 | - |
Total | 13 | £14,299.27 |
* The majority of secondees are funded by seconding companies. Costs are based on collective monthly salaries of DIT funded secondees.
Asked by: Nick Clegg (Liberal Democrat - Sheffield, Hallam)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, how many additional employees he plans to hire from outside the civil service for the purposes of negotiating or renegotiating trade deals as a result of the decision to leave the EU; in what roles such employees will be deployed; over what timescale their deployment will take place; and what the cost to the public purse will be of their deployment.
Answered by Greg Hands
The Department for International Trade has already established a strong and capable trade policy team with significant negotiating experience. The team has more than doubled in size since 23 June and is still growing. On 8th of September, my rt hon. Friend the Secretary of State announced an open and fair competition to recruit a new Permanent Secretary to lead the Department. We will continue to hire the brightest and best talent from within the UK civil service and from elsewhere in order to deliver the best outcomes for the UK.
Asked by: Nick Clegg (Liberal Democrat - Sheffield, Hallam)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what assessment he has made of the resources required by his Department to negotiate or renegotiate trade deals as a result of the decision to leave the EU in the next 12 months.
Answered by Greg Hands
The Department for International Trade already has a strong and capable trade policy team which has more than doubled in size since 23 June. In the next year we will be developing that team to build the world class negotiating strengths needed to deliver the best outcomes for the UK. They will have the depth and breadth of expertise to handle the full range of sectoral and cross-cutting issues that arise in trade agreements, supported by analysts and lawyers.