Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, if she will set out (a) the free trade agreements her Department is currently actively negotiating and (b) the number of FTE officials engaged in this work.

This Government is currently in negotiations with eight partners – India, the Gulf Cooperation Council, Canada, Mexico, Israel, Switzerland, Greenland and the Republic of Korea. We also have plans to start negotiations with Turkey and the Maldives.

With the Machine of Government, Trade Negotiation Group increased its responsibility to cover wider trade policy and FTA implementation. In October 2023, DBT had 722 staff in the Trade Policy, Implementation and Negotiations Group.