Question to the Department for International Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, with reference to her Department’s publication of electronic purchasing card spending over £500 for October 2021, where was the hotel accommodation on which £5,980.00 was spent on 18 November 2021; for which individuals was that accommodation purchased; and what was the purpose of their stay at that hotel.

This booking was for a hotel in central Belfast. A group reservation for 30 individuals was made to accommodate Ministers, Board of Trade Advisors and Department for International Trade officials attending the Board of Trade meeting and broader visit programme, which took place in Northern Ireland from 25-26 November 2021. The department paid £2,990.00 for the accommodation. The other entry for £2,990.00 reported in November 2021’s electronic purchasing card spending records was a duplication of the same transaction included in the report in error and was not an additional charge to the Department.