Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps her Department is taking to (a) identify and (b) prevent any potential conflicts of interest for (i) Cabinet Ministers and (ii) Ministers in her Department in relation to the UK-India free trade negotiations.

The Department for Business and Trade manages ministerial conflicts of interest through an established system set out in the Ministerial Code and led by the Cabinet Office. This ensures that steps are taken to avoid or mitigate any potential conflicts of interest.

The Permanent Secretary, together with the Prime Minister’s Independent Advisor for Ministers’ Interests, have reviewed the interests of DBT Ministers and, where necessary, have proposed mitigations to manage any potential conflicts of interest. These mitigations have been agreed and implemented with the relevant Minister.

We do not manage conflicts of interest for Ministers outside of the Department for Business and Trade.

The Ministerial Code is available on GOV.UK at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/ministerial-code.