Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, with reference to Government transparency data entitled DIT: spending over £25,000 for September 2022, for what purpose her Department spent £37,981 on corporate event management and marketing with Commonwealth Enterprise and Investment Council on 13 September 2022, transaction reference 462424.

Commonwealth Enterprise and Investment Council (CWEIC, the Commonwealth accredited business organisation) were contracted by the former Department for International Trade to plan and co-design and manage the delivery of various business aspects of the Commonwealth Games Business and Tourism Programme, including the Business Forum on 28^th July 2022 to attract businesses, investment and trade opportunities.

This was the payment for event management including a series of plenary sessions, recruitment of a targeted business audience and co-ordinating Heads of Government and Commonwealth Business Leaders, producing the programme and agenda and carrying out customer feedback at the Business Forum.