Employees of some of the world’s largest arms companies have been on secondments to influential positions within the UK’s Department for International Trade, a freedom of information (FoI) request has revealed.

They include employees of BAE and the missile maker MBDA whose influence on British government policy towards its Saudi government clients has long been highly controversial.

Roles taken those from arms companies on secondment to the department include “developing country strategies for industry markets”. Other arms companies that have staff seconded to the government include QinetiQ, General Dynamics UK and Babcock.

An FoI request by the Guardian showed that staff on secondment included a General Dynamics UK employee who was placed as a “fusion director” inside the department’s global trade and investment group until last week.

An MBDA employee was seconded to a position in the same departmental group during 2018 and 2019 as a “country strategy lead”, while an employee of QinetiQ was seconded until late last year.

Two BAE employees were in positions – the titles were “stakeholder and communications” and “country strategy lead” during 2018 and 2019 in the same departmental group. Two Babcock employees had secondments during the same years as well.

The shadow secretary of state for international trade, Barry Gardiner, said: “These revelations confirm what many have long feared – that much of the government’s approach to developing export market growth and free trade agreements appears to have been designed by staff brought in from the arms industry and big oil.

“As we face an international climate crisis and humanitarian emergencies in countries like Yemen, it’s deeply troubling that the government’s export strategy seems to be built around support for fossil fuels and arms sales. This is not what global Britain should represent.

“At a time when the arms licensing system has already been exposed as unfit for purpose after the failure to halt arms sales to Saudi Arabia, these findings raise further concerns.

Amnesty International called for a review of such secondments. Oliver Feeley-Sprague, Amnesty International UK’s arms expert, added: “Secondments aren’t in themselves improper, but a systematic programme of ‘embedding’ arms industry representatives in government departments smacks of over-cosiness.

“The UK’s dysfunctional arms export licensing system desperately needs overhauling. We need a thorough review of whether secondments are undermining the integrity and independence of human rights protections designed to ensure ministers and officials aren’t subject to undue commercial influence.”

A spokesperson for the Department for International Trade said: “DIT’s trade policy is determined by the secretary of state. It is not unusual for industry specialists from a wide range of sectors to be seconded into government.”

A separate FoI by the Guardian showed that recent secondments to the Cabinet Office included employees of Carillion, the construction giant that went into liquidation in 2018 putting thousands of jobs at risk across the UK, and Costain, which was one of the key contractors in line to benefit from HS2.

Both were seconded to the Cabinet Office’s infrastructure projects authority group.