Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many officials employed in his Department in June 2016 had substantial experience of international trade negotiation.

The specific information requested is not collated centrally and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.

Many of the people employed in Defra’s EU and International Trade directorate and in the Great British Food Unit have knowledge and experience of international negotiations, including on securing access to markets. In the last two years we have opened or improved terms for over 200 new markets. Successes include Beef to the Philippines, Lamb to Kuwait and strengthened collaboration frameworks with China and Japan.