Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, how many staff in her Department have been allocated to deal with issues related to international trade in (a) each of the past five years and (b) the next two years; and if she will make a statement.

DCMS staff allocated to trade negotiations, trade policy development, and trade analysis over the last 5 years is approximately:

2018/19 - 37.5 FTE

2019/20 - 37.5 FTE

2020/21 - 39.9 FTE

2021/22 - 36.7 FTE

2022/23 - 34.3 FTE

With regards to FYs 2023-24 and 2024-25, future staffing is subject to ongoing Departmental Business Planning, therefore we are not able to comment on it at this time.

Additionally, there is an international trade dimension relevant to many aspects of DCMS's work and so it is not possible to fully disaggregate staff time on international trade aspects versus other policy work.