Question to the Department for Exiting the European Union :

To ask the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, how many civil servants have been sent to Brussels at any point to engage in the detail of the Brexit negotiation talks; and how many of these have been seconded from outside the Government.

We have released information on the UK's senior negotiating team on Gov.uk. As an indication of the number of civil servants in attendance at negotiations in Brussels, at the second round we had over 90 civil servants in attendance, and for the third round, over 100. The total number of staff will vary from round to round as we deploy the negotiating team best able to work on the issues under negotiation. We are drawing together expertise from a wide range of departments where there is specific relevant knowledge on the issues to be negotiated.

I can confirm that of the Department for Exiting the European Union staff who attended the negotiations in July and August, none were seconded from outside of Government. We do not hold information on the contractual arrangements of individuals from other Government Departments.