Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many staff in his Department have been allocated to deal with issues related to international trade in (a) each of the past five years and (b) the next two years; and if he will make a statement.

The Department has a central coordinating team working directly on issues related to international trade. The following table shows the number of full-time equivalent (FTE) staff in the central coordinating team in each of the last five years.

In the next two years, the number of staff will be dependent on business planning. The central team is supported by advice from Departmental officials on specific policy areas as needed.