Question to the Department for International Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, with reference to the oral contribution of the Minister for Trade Policy of 30 January 2018, Official Report, column 243, if he will take steps to increase the transparency and provision of information to Parliament on the reasons for his appointment of members of the Trade Remedies Authority.

All public appointments to the Trade Remedies Authority will be made as part of a competitive process. We are consulting with the Cabinet Office on conducting these appointments in line with the principles of the Governance Code for Public Appointments, which sets out the roles of various parties in the process – including Ministers – and the standards they should adhere to. This guidance is freely available to the public online.