Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, how many officials in her Department are working on the ongoing negotiations with the Gulf Co-operation council.
The Department for International Trade (DIT) had just over 600 ‘full-time equivalent’ staff working directly on trade negotiations in January.
DIT operates a ‘flexible resourcing model’ in order to maximise efficiency across our trade negotiations. The number of staff working on a trade deal at any one time will change depending on the stage and scale of the negotiations. Staff often work across multiple negotiations.