Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, how many full-time equivalent staff in his Department are currently working on renegotiating the UK's relationship with the EU.

The Prime Minister, my right hon. Friend the Member for Witney (Mr Cameron) will lead the negotiations with the Chancellor of the Exchequer, my right hon. Friend the Member for Tatton (Mr Osborne), myself, and the Minister of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right hon. Friend the Member for Aylesbury (Mr Lidington) all playing an important role. Departments, including the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, are staffing this appropriately. It is not possible to identify full time equivalent staff numbers because of the wide range of staff who are contributing on an ad-hoc basis.