Nigel Huddleston: The breakdown of the £7,497.08 consists of the following: £3,041.27 - This spend related to accommodation for Lord Grimstone, and an accompanying Private Secretary, who attended and spoke at the Future Investment Initiative (FII). Lord Grimstone met several senior Saudi Ministers and international businesses. Lord Grimstone also represented the UK at the Middle East Green Initiative during...
Nigel Huddleston: This booking was for a hotel in central Belfast. A group reservation for 30 individuals was made to accommodate Ministers, Board of Trade Advisors and Department for International Trade officials attending the Board of Trade meeting and broader visit programme, which took place in Northern Ireland from 25-26 November 2021. The department paid £2,990.00 for the accommodation. The other entry...
Nigel Huddleston: The precise details of any future free trade agreement are a matter of negotiation; we would not seek to pre-empt these discussions. The Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership’s (CPTPP’s) investment chapter includes investor protections that are backed by a modern and transparent investor state dispute settlement (ISDS) mechanism. These commitments guarantee...
Nigel Huddleston: This spend was by the Director General Trading Systems who hosted a dinner for her counterparts attending the G7 Trade Working group ahead of the G7 Trade Ministers meeting on 21st October 2022. A total of 17 people attended the dinner, and no alcoholic beverages were purchased or consumed.
Nigel Huddleston: The National Defense Industrial Association (NDIA) spend was to purchase additional conference and exhibition passes purchased for the UK delegation attending the Special Operations Forces Industry Conference (SOFIC) 2022 exhibition in Tampa, USA. The exhibition space came with 16 complimentary passes, but a further 14 were required to meet the needs of the delegation attending. The spend...
Nigel Huddleston: This hotel booking was for Department for International Trade staff involved with delivering the UK House Business Programme at the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games over a 16-night period. 422 rooms were booked at a cost of £150 per night inc breakfast. UK House was a key component of the Commonwealth Games Business and Tourism Programme which has to date recorded over £13m of export...
Nigel Huddleston: Earlier this year, the Government concluded negotiations with China under Article 28 of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade. In these negotiations the UK is using historic trade data to ensure that the tariff rate quota volumes in our World Trade Organization Goods Schedule provide continuity for traders. The upcoming change has been made on this basis and therefore is not expected to...
Nigel Huddleston: The Government has committed to producing scoping assessments which are published at the point of launching a negotiation. These include a preliminary assessment of the potential implications for the environment. It has also committed to publishing an impact assessment at the point of signature, which include a more detailed assessment of the likely environmental impacts. The Government...
Nigel Huddleston: This spend was in relation to travel by the Deputy Director in the Sponsorship and World Events team, who was requested to accompany Minister Adams in support of the Osaka 2025 Expo. This was a last-minute business class booking to Tokyo and had extremely limited availability. The department does not ordinarily book travel in this way.
Nigel Huddleston: The spend relates to costs for participating in the Three Counties Defence and Security Expo in October 2021. The costs include the provision of power, lighting, audio/visual facilities, a small meeting room and the stand construction.
Nigel Huddleston: This was hospitality spend on lunch on 27 May 2022 for a visiting Indian Government Delegation. The delegation were visiting London as part of the UK-India Trade Negotiation discussions and a Department for International Trade-hosted Round Table event. 7 Indian Government officials were hosted by 3 UK Government officials. There was no alcohol purchased during the lunch.
Nigel Huddleston: The total spend by the Department for International Trade on purchasing goods and services with a value of less than £500 on a government procurement card was £148,099.63 in 2021.
Nigel Huddleston: Europe remains a vital export destination for British businesses, exporting £344.6 billion in the year to June 2022, up 16% in current prices on the previous year. My department has around 300 trade experts across Europe, charged with resolving market access barriers, encouraging investment and promoting UK exports. Our refreshed Export Strategy launched last November to help businesses at...
Nigel Huddleston: All IT equipment issued by the department is encrypted. Any mobile device reported as lost is immediately deactivated and the contents remotely deleted. The user account on any laptop reported as lost is also immediately locked. Further investigation of lost devices is carried out where appropriate, including reporting the matter to the police. We are not aware of any data loss or compromise...
Nigel Huddleston: I would like to clarify that there is no formal inquiry underway, contrary to press reports. The Government has reviewed the reports about UK components being recovered from Russian military equipment. It is likely that some Russian military equipment contains sub-components, some of which are dual-use and are not controlled, obtained from a range of countries, including the UK. The UK,...
Nigel Huddleston: The total value of gifts (given) over the last three years, by recipient country, is not held centrally by the Department for International Trade (DIT). The department fulfils the requirement to publish transparency data in line with the Government’s transparency agenda and this can be found at DIT ministerial gifts, hospitality, travel and meetings on GOV.UK.
Nigel Huddleston: The number of diplomatic gifts that have been given in each of the last three years, by recipient countries is not held centrally by the Department for International Trade (DIT). The department fulfils the requirement to publish transparency data in line with the Government’s transparency agenda and this can be found at DIT ministerial gifts, hospitality, travel and meetings on GOV.UK.
Nigel Huddleston: It is vital that increased trade is not based on the exploitation and abuse of workers. The Modern Slavery Act 2015 requires businesses with a turnover of £36m or more to publish modern slavery statements annually to report on the steps they are taking to ensure modern slavery is not taking place in their operations and supply chains. Additionally, the Procurement Bill includes provisions to...
Nigel Huddleston: The Department's energy usage and CO2 emissions are published in our Annual Report and Accounts. Please see https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/department-for-in ternational-trade-annual-report-and-accounts (page 84) for the latest published figures. Crown Commercial Service (CCS) operates a centralised energy procurement strategy for central government and is responsible for...
Nigel Huddleston: A) Yes, there has been an increase to the departmental expenditure limit spending in the Indo-Pacific region since 16 March 2021. B) The Department for International Trade has not incurred any annually managed expenditure spending in the Indo-Pacific region since 16 March 2021. The publication of the Integrated Review in March 2021 affirmed the UK’s increased focus and long-term...