Department for Business and Trade: Staff
(asked on 9th October 2026) - View Source
Question to the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade, pursuant to the answer of 11 June 2026 to WPQ 6817, what the staffing levels were for the latest month for which figures are available.
The table shows the number of full time equivalent (FTE) BIST staff working in, and on behalf of the UK in each overseas region as of September 2026, the latest available data point. Available data is held at regional level. The requested information is not readily available on a country-by-country basis but could be provided as a separate list.
September 2026 (latest data available) | ||
Regions | UK based staff working in other countries (FTE) | Country based staff working in other countries on behalf of the UK (FTE) |
Africa | 15 | 47 |
Asia Pacific | 38 | 193 |
China and Hong Kong | 23 | 133 |
Eastern Europe and Central Asia | 11 | 41 |
Europe | 21 | 248 |
Latin America and Caribbean | 14 | 102 |
Middle East, Afghanistan and Pakistan | 20 | 60 |
North America | 6 | 118 |
South Asia | 14 | 99 |
Total | 162 | 1,041 |
BIST also has UK-based teams working across a broad range of business and trade activities, including support for international trade missions. Most staff are in the Trade Group. However, BIST uses a flexible resourcing model, some staff work across multiple functions. The department therefore cannot separately identify the proportion of wider UK-based roles that support international trade missions.