Question to the Department for International Trade:

To ask Her Majesty's Government how many civil servants in the Department for International Trade are dedicated to trade negotiations with (1) the United States, (2) Japan, and (3) Australia. [T]

The Department for International Trade’s Trade Policy Group (TPG) has a strong core of trade policy officials which has significantly grown from 45 to 723 (excluding the Export Control Joint Unit and Trade Remedies Investigations Directorate) since 2016. In TPG, we have dedicated teams in charge of coordinating each of our new free trade agreement negotiations, including the US, Japan, Australia, and New Zealand. We have 3 Chief Negotiators and 3 Deputy Chief Negotiators currently, as well as the Government’s Chief Trade Negotiation Advisor.

Trade negotiations will be progressed by teams of differing sizes depending on their complexity and the Department also works closely with experts in other Departments.