Department for Business and Trade: China
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether Ministers from his Department took Government phones and laptops on recent delegations to the People's Republic of China.
Answered by Kate Dearden
The Department for Business and Trade takes security of its information and devices seriously.
Ministers (and officials) are provided with guidance on appropriate use of government-issued devices during overseas travel, in line with cross-government security policies. DBT Ministers have taken DBT devices on overseas visits to China, including April 2025, September 2025, and January 2026; Lord Stockwood did not take DBT devices when he visited China in April/May 2026.
The Department asks travellers to apply proportionate mitigations, based on specific risks associated with countries. For security reasons, it would not be appropriate to provide detailed information on those measures.
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