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Written Question
Department for International Trade: Staff
Tuesday 29th September 2020

Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough)

Question to the Department for International Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, how many members of staff her Department employs.

Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)

The Department for International Trade employs both domestic and overseas staff, who are contracted separately through the Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO).

There were 2,766 staff employed directly by the Department for International Trade (DIT), within DIT and UK Export Finance, as of 31 August 2020. Staff working on DIT objectives but contracted through the FCDO total 1,411, with a total employed figure for the DIT workforce of 4,177*.

*This figure does not include those on loan to DIT from other Government departments who remain on their home departments payroll, contractors, military staff, people on secondment from other organisations, those who are on loan or secondment out of DIT, on unpaid special leave or career break.


Written Question
Department for International Trade: Training
Tuesday 15th September 2020

Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough)

Question to the Department for International Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, how much the Department spent on unconscious bias training in each of the last five years.

Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)

Unconscious bias training is mandatory for all staff in the Department for International Trade (DIT), including UK Export Finance (UKEF), who are required to complete an on-line learning module on an annual basis.

There is no cost to DIT for this training provided by Civil Service Learning which offers to their learning catalogue on an annual subscription model for Civil Service organisations.


Written Question
Department for International Trade: Staff
Tuesday 15th September 2020

Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough)

Question to the Department for International Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, how many members of staff in their Department have one or more of the words equality, diversity, inclusion, gender, LGBT or race in their job title.

Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)

I refer my hon. Friend to the answer I gave on 9 September to Question 83937.


Written Question
Department for International Trade: Staff
Wednesday 9th September 2020

Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough)

Question to the Department for International Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, how many members of staff in her Department have equality, diversity or inclusion in their job title.

Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)

There are 10 employees in the Department for International Trade (including UK Export Finance) with Equality, Diversity or Inclusion in their job titles.


Written Question
GATT
Wednesday 17th July 2019

Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough)

Question to the Department for International Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, which countries have used GATT Article XXIV to ensure tariff-free access to their markets in each of the last ten years.

Answered by George Hollingbery

The WTO maintains a list of all agreements that WTO Members have entered into in order to eliminate tariffs on trade between them. A full list of such agreements concluded since 1995 can be found on the Regional Trade Agreements database on the WTO website, at: http://rtais.wto.org/UI/PublicAllRTAListAccession.aspx


Written Question
EU External Trade
Monday 15th July 2019

Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough)

Question to the Department for International Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, which of the EU's trade agreements with third countries has the Government not yet secured agreement with those countries to roll over.

Answered by George Hollingbery

In the event of the UK leaving the EU with a negotiated agreement, the UK and EU have agreed that existing international agreements would apply as they do today for the duration of the implementation period.

Nevertheless, we have been working with our trading partners to have bilateral agreements ready in place for when we need them, whether that is after an Implementation Period or for a potential No Deal. We have signed or agreed in principle agreements with 32 countries. Total trade in 2018 between the UK and these countries accounted for 63% of the UK’s trade with all the countries with which the UK is seeking continuity in the event of a potential No Deal.1 That has moved from 28% since March. A regularly updated list of agreements signed is available on GOV.UK and alongside a list of remaining agreements.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/existing-trade-agreements-if-the-uk-leaves-the-eu-without-a-deal/existing-trade-agreements-if-the-uk-leaves-the-eu-without-a-deal

1 The figures quoted above are based on total goods and services trade (imports and exports) with the UK, according to the most recent data (ONS, 2018). They cover 65 countries that are party to 35 agreements. These are the countries covered by existing EU agreements in force in 2018. This excludes Turkey, Andorra, San Marino which are part of customs unions with the EU, and Japan, as the Economic Partnership Agreement only came into force on 1st February 2019.


Written Question
UK Trade with EU: Exports
Friday 12th July 2019

Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough)

Question to the Department for International Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, if he will list the 100 tariff lines on which UK exporters to the EU will face the highest tariffs in the event of the UK leaving the EU without a deal; and what the ad valorem equivalent tariff is for each of those lines.

Answered by George Hollingbery

If the UK leaves the European Union without an agreement, the EU will be required to apply its MFN tariff regime to all UK exports, in compliance to WTO regulations. At the moment, the EU has not given any indication that it will modify its MFN tariff regime as a consequence of the UK leaving the EU without any agreement.

The highest EU MFN tariff lines will be on dairy products, meat, sugar, fruits and vegetables. Further information on all the current EU’s MFN tariff rates can be found at the following website: https://madb.europa.eu/madb/euTariffs.htm.