Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many non-disclosure agreements her Department has signed with (a) companies and (b) trade associations advising the Government on preparations for contingency planning for the UK leaving the EU without a deal.

The Government has non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) with some private sector organisations. Confidentiality requirements are a common element of contractual obligations and are used by departments to protect commercial considerations; to reflect the sensitive nature of some discussions; and to facilitate conversations that otherwise may not have been able to take place, due to concerns around sensitive information.

The requested information on the number of NDAs is not held centrally by Defra and could not be provided without incurring disproportionate cost.