Question to the Department for International Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, how many staff in his Department have negotiated and completed a free trade agreement; and with which countries those agreements were negotiated.

When recruiting civil servants, managers are able to review candidates’ previous experience and career history as part of our recruitment policies and campaigns. As a result, the Department for International Trade (DIT) has a strong and capable trade policy team which has grown significantly since its establishment in July 2016 and is continuing to grow.

DIT has almost 3,600 staff, including our ‘Trade Policy Group’ of over 400 people.

Over the summer, we also recruited internationally recognised expert Crawford Falconer as DIT’s Chief Trade Negotiation Adviser and Second Permanent Secretary. With more than 25 years of public service experience in trade and foreign affairs, Falconer will support the establishment of a world-class trade negotiation function and lead the development of a new International Trade profession for trade negotiators and will bolster the Civil Service’s trade negotiation skills.