Asked by: Philip Davies (Conservative - Shipley)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what plans his Department has to mark International Men's Day on 19 November 2019.
Answered by Conor Burns
To mark International Men’s Day our diversity and inclusion team, in partnership with the Civil Service Race to the Top Network, will co-facilitate a positive BAME male role models event to inspire, empower and encourage staff. Also our Permanent Secretary will offer six speed mentoring sessions to male members of staff. Finally, our Gender Network will promote the day with a blog about striving for gender equality written by a member of our Executive Team.
Asked by: Philip Davies (Conservative - Shipley)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, how much his Department has spent on purchasing (a) national newspapers and (b) newspaper online subscriptions since 2016; and how many copies of each national newspaper were purchased in that time period.
Answered by Conor Burns
Since 2016, the Department’s Media team has spent £11,545 on national newspapers and £22,981 on newspaper online subscriptions.
Other areas of the Department may purchase national newspapers but this is not recorded centrally.
Asked by: Philip Davies (Conservative - Shipley)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what the main policy priority is for his Department for 2018; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by George Hollingbery
The Department for International Trade (DIT) published its updated Single Departmental Plan on 23 May 2018. This sets out DIT’s ambitious agenda, outlining the Department’s vision, mission, and main policy objectives. It also explains how we will deliver these priorities over the next four years.
DIT’s vision is a UK that trades its way to prosperity, stability and security. It has a mission to help businesses export, drive inward and outward investment, negotiate market access and trade deals, and champion free trade.
Our core objectives as a department are to:
Support and encourage UK businesses to drive sustainable international growth.
Ensure the UK remains a leading destination for international investment and maintains its number one position for international investment stock in Europe.
Open markets, building a trade framework with new and existing partners which is free and fair.
Use trade and investment to underpin the government’s agenda for a global Britain and its ambitions for prosperity, stability and security worldwide.
This plan will be revised annually to reflect new priorities or changes in responsibilities.
Asked by: Philip Davies (Conservative - Shipley)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, how many contractors currently employed by his Department are paid £1,000 or more per day.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Department for International Trade does not employ any contractors on £1000 or more per day.
Asked by: Philip Davies (Conservative - Shipley)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, how many contractors have been employed by his Department for (a) up to one year, (b) between one and five years, (c) between five and 10 years and (d) over 10 years.
Answered by Graham Stuart
The Department for International Trade was established in July 2016. As such, the Department has employed no contractors for a tenure of longer than 2 years.
The Department employs 213 contractors of which 96 have been employed for up to one year and 117 have been employed for more than one year.
Asked by: Philip Davies (Conservative - Shipley)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what the job titles are of civil servants in his Department who have been provided with (a) an official car and (b) a driver.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Department for International Trade contracts of employment do not include an official car and driver for UK posts.
Asked by: Philip Davies (Conservative - Shipley)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, which regulations his Department (a) has introduced as a result of EU legislation from 23 June 2016 to date and (b) expects to implement as a result of EU legislation in (i) 2018 and (ii) 2019; and what estimate he has made of the cost of each such regulation to the (A) public purse and (B) private sector.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
As a result of EU obligations, the department has made nine statutory instruments since the referendum and currently anticipates that we will make another ten instruments, to implement EU obligations between now and the end of 2019.
These nineteen instruments fall into two groups: regulations to implement export controls and regulations to ratify trade agreements which the EU will conclude while the UK remains a member.
As yet, no estimate has been made of the cost of each regulation. This is either because i) the regulations are not due to come into force until 2019 or ii) the impact of the regulations is minimal and therefore, no assessment is required.
Asked by: Philip Davies (Conservative - Shipley)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, how many of his Department's staff had a pay increase (a) above, (b) at and (c) less than one per cent since his Department's creation.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Department for International Trade (DIT) became a legal entity and an employer in its own right on 9th November 2016.
The first pay award by DIT is for the 2016/17 financial year and the award for grades below SCS (Senior Civil Servants) has not yet been finalised.
The overall pay increase for SCS staff for 2016/2017 was 1% in line with Cabinet Office and Treasury guidelines.
Asked by: Philip Davies (Conservative - Shipley)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what his Department's main policy priority is for 2017; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Department for International Trade has overall responsibility for trade policy across government. Our priorities are to:
• Promote and support UK exports of goods and services, including through export finance and insurance, to support a growing economy that works for everyone;
• Maximise opportunities for wealth creation through Foreign Direct Investment and Outward Direct Investment;
• Deliver the best international trading framework to maximise global trade and investment opportunities; and
• Build the global appetite for British goods and services and encourage more people to visit, study, invest in and do business with the UK through the GREAT campaign.
Asked by: Philip Davies (Conservative - Shipley)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what the (a) mean and (b) median pay was for staff in his Department who were (i) male, (ii) female, (iii) white, (iv) from an ethnic minority background, (v) disabled and (vi) non-disabled in the most recent year for which information is available, broken down by (A) full-time and (B) part-time workers.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) publishes much of this information each year, broken down by Civil Service organization, as part of their annual release of Civil Service Statistics. The latest data set from 2016 can be found on the ONS website: https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/publicsectorpersonnel/bulletins/civilservicestatistics/2016.
As the Department for International Trade (DIT) is newly formed, we have not had the opportunity to contribute to the most recent ONS publication. DIT’s statistics will be included in the next release, due for publication in March 2017.
DIT does not hold information on the breakdowns of ethnicity and disability pay gaps.