Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of creating additional bank holidays in (a) England, (b) Wales and (c) Northern Ireland for their respective saints' days.

We recognise the importance of celebrating the respective saints’ days across the UK. While an additional bank holiday may benefit some communities and sectors, the cost to the economy of an additional bank holiday remains considerable. The latest analysis estimates the cost to the UK economy for a one-off bank holiday to be around £2bn. The Government fully considers the effects of any additional bank holidays, which is why we rarely create them.

The Government has no plans to change the well-established and accepted arrangements for bank holidays.