Recommendation 12

The Department set out four measures in its Outcome Delivery Plan (ODP) for 2021–22 to measure its progress on its programme of trade negotiations. One of these measures, described in the previous section, is the percentage of UK trade with partners with whom the UK has a trade agreement. The NAO found that the other three outcome measures in the Department’s ODP are the projected, rather than secured, benefits and outcomes of each concluded trade agreement, and that the Department has not set any associated targets for these measures.26 We noted that it is really important that it is clear to Parliament where things have gone well and where they have not. We asked the Department if it would work with the NAO to develop a set of metrics that can be used to report to Parliament on its progress with its programme of trade negotiations.27 The Department agreed to this, stating that it had a good starting point with the existing measures in its ODP and other published material.28