Question to the Department for International Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what training his Department has provided to (a) general civil servants, (b) fast stream civil servants and (c) senior civil servants on understanding the scrutiny and legislative roles of the UK Parliament; how many such courses have taken place; and how many civil servants have attended such training courses in each of the last five years.

As part of EU Parliamentary Scrutiny awareness raising and training across the department, the EU Trade Policy team have held internal training sessions on EU Parliamentary Scrutiny. Events were open to all grades of staff including fast streamers. Approximately 30 staff attended each of the sessions.

The Department for International Trade also offers a range of training sessions on the scrutiny and legislative roles of the UK Parliament to all members of staff. This has included specific training on secondary legislation processes as part of a ‘Secondary Legislation Awareness Week’ in February 2018, and other sessions that were included in Parliament Week in November 2017. The Department offers training as part of its ‘Delivering for Ministers’ programme and delivers bespoke training for teams on request.

Detailed records of attendance at training sessions on parliament are not held centrally by the department, but over 300 people have attended such sessions since the Department’s formation in July 2016. Attendance has not been broken down by grade.