Sir David Amess
Conservative, Southend West
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform how many officials in his Department visited China on official business in 2007-08, broken down by grade; and what the equivalent figures for the Department of Trade and Industry were in (a) 1983, (b) 1987 and (c) each year between 1998 and 2006.
Gareth Thomas
Parliamentary Under-Secretary(Department for International Development) (Trade Policy) (also Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform), Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform) (Trade and Consumer Affairs) (also Department for International Development), Party Chair, Co-operative Party
According to records held by Carlson Wagonlit, the Department's travel agent, the number of Department of Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform/Department of Trade and Industry officials who travelled to China between April 2005 and March 2008 is as follows:
| April to March each year | Number |
| 2007-08 | 63 |
| 2006-07 | 83 |
| 2005-06 | 74 |
These figures relate to number of trips booked with Carlson Wagonlit only, and additional trips may have been taken. We are not able to provide a breakdown by grade. Information for any period earlier than April 2005 is not held centrally and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
Does this answer the above question?
Yes0 people think so
No0 people think not
Would you like to ask a question like this yourself? Use our Freedom of Information site.