Question to the Department for International Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, with reference to page 21 of the Northern Powerhouse Strategy, published in November 2016, when his Department plans to put in place sector and infrastructure and regeneration specialists in the north of England; and in which areas such specialists will be located.

We have recruited four sector specialists who are located across the North of England and are focussing on the prime and enabling sectors identified in the Independent Economic Review conducted by Transport for the North. A fifth specialist will join the team in February. Two property and infrastructure specialist have been recruited and are in place in the North of England. A recruitment exercise is underway to fill a third, recently vacant, position.