Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what the cost to the public purse was of her Department's work on the Lord Mayor of London’s Overseas Engagement Programme in each year since 2010.

My department does not have a team or individual dedicated to supporting the Lord Mayor of London’s overseas engagement programme. Officials from my department have provided support to individual elements of the Lord Mayor’s programme where it delivers the Government’s trade and investment objectives. On each occasion support will have been provided by DBT teams in the relevant Embassy or Consulate as a small proportion of individuals’ overall activity. We do not capture data on time or cost at that level of detail.

No Secretary of State or Ministers in DBT or DIT participated in foreign visits as part of the Lord Mayor’s overseas engagement programme in the last 3 years for which we have records. Officials will have participated as described above.