Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, how many consultants were employed by UK missions to the EU to manage (a) trade and (b) regulatory issues in the financial year (i) 2022–23 and (ii) 2023–24; what the cost of those consultants was; and how how many permanent civil servants were employed for the same reason.

The UK Mission to the EU has approximately 67 Full Time Equivalent staff working on economic diplomacy: these are primarily related to managing regulatory issues and promoting trade. Resources of other missions supporting the devolved administrations are the responsibility of the relevant devolved administration. Spend on consultants is the responsibility of individual missions. This information is not centrally held.