Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, how many Government officials with trade negotiating skills are currently based in Brussels.

There are currently over 40 civil servants across Government working as one team dedicated to trade policy, for example in the UK Permanent Representation to the EU in Brussels, the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, the Department for International Development, and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. In addition, officials based in other government departments and agencies, whose roles are not trade specific, are regularly involved in working on trade-related issues as appropriate.