Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, how many full time equivalent staff are employed solely to process export licence applications as of 12 March 2024; and whether she has plans to review the adequacy of that staffing level.

As of 12 March 2024, the processing of export licence applications is delivered by 48.61 full-time equivalent (FTE) officials within the Department for Business and Trade (DBT). This comprised 26.5 FTE in the Licensing Unit, 19.61 FTE in the Technical Assessment Unit and 2.5 FTE in the Enforcement Team.

They are supported by teams from the Ministry of Defence and Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office who are also part of the Export Control Joint Unit and who provide advice to DBT on export licence applications.

As export licensing is a demand-led service, ECJU regularly assesses how to organise its resources to enable it to provide the most efficient and effective service and to adapt to changing demands.