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Written question asked by Emily Thornberry (Labour) on Monday, 10 October 2022, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Wednesday, 12 October 2022. It was answered by James Duddridge (Conservative) on Friday, 21 October 2022 on behalf of the Department for International Trade.

Trade Agreements

Question

To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, with reference to the answer of 8 September 2020 to Question 81659 on Trade Agreements, how much public money was spent by her Department in each of the financial years from 2017-18 to 2021-22 on expenditure related to the proposed establishment of a dedicated Trade Negotiation Facility to support future trade negotiations.

Answer

The Government switched to remote technology to conduct trade negotiations during the COVID-19 pandemic. Our success in doing so means countries now operate international dialogues on a hybrid basis with a blend of remote and face-to-face discussions. This contrasts with the pre-pandemic international norm of always conducting trade negotiations in person.

This change, spearheaded by the UK, has negated the requirement for a dedicated Trade Negotiation Facility.

The spend by financial year on developing a potential dedicated venue is as follows:

Year

Spend

2017/18

£0

2018/19

£0

2019/20

£760,000

2020/21

£249,000

2021/22

£0

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
59550
Session
2022-23
Related items
Trade Agreements
Tuesday, 8 September 2020
Written questions
House of Commons
Grouped for answer
Yes
Subjects
Expenditure Trade agreements Department for International Trade
Contains statistics
Yes
Link
View this Written question on www.parliament.uk