Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade

The Price Marking Order (PMO) requires traders to display the selling price and, where applicable, the unit price for goods, enabling consumers to compare similar products and assess value for money. The PMO was recently updated so products sold by weight or volume must show unit prices in kilograms or litres. The Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 confirmed that the price displayed on the shelf must be the price the consumer pays. The Government engaged extensively with industry on these proposals and keeps them under review to support consistent pricing information for consumers.

Following the Government's review of arms-length bodies, the UK Space Agency (UKSA) is now an integral part of the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade. Its staff are departmental officials and engage with ministers in the same way as others in the department.

The Government engaged extensively and in good faith with Jingye to seek a negotiated commercial solution that resolved the ownership of the firm.

However, despite those efforts, it was not possible to reach an agreement that was in the interests of taxpayers. The Government concluded based on the relevant factors that nationalisation was necessary in the public interest.

Since 2015, the UK has grown share of global VC investment at all stages. It now matches the Bay Area at early stage, though still lags at breakout and late stages. UK companies also progress between VC rounds at a higher rate than European peers.

To improve later-stage capital, alongside wider government measures, we have increased the British Business Bank’s total financial capacity to £25.6 billion, including £5 billion for growth-stage funds such as the £1 billion+ UK S&T Scale Up Fund. Pensions reforms could unlock up to £50 billion, supported by British Business Bank programmes helping pension funds invest in venture. In parallel, Innovate UK is working with the public finance institutions to create a connected investment pipeline to support science and technology firms from innovation to capital at scale.

Since 2015, the UK has grown share of global VC investment at all stages. It now matches the Bay Area at early stage, though still lags at breakout and late stages. UK companies also progress between VC rounds at a higher rate than European peers.

To improve later-stage capital, alongside wider government measures, we have increased the British Business Bank’s total financial capacity to £25.6 billion, including £5 billion for growth-stage funds such as the £1 billion+ UK S&T Scale Up Fund. Pensions reforms could unlock up to £50 billion, supported by British Business Bank programmes helping pension funds invest in venture. In parallel, Innovate UK is working with the public finance institutions to create a connected investment pipeline to support science and technology firms from innovation to capital at scale.

The Department meets regularly with stakeholders to discuss a range of issues around pay and remuneration.

Entitlement to bonuses and commission will depend on the terms of an individual's employment contract and any workplace pay scheme. There is no general legal entitlement to a discretionary bonus. Depending on the circumstances, where bonus or commission arrangements are contractual, the Employment Rights Act 2025’s new fire and rehire measures will also, once commenced, introduce new legal protection in this area. In the meantime, the Code of Practice on Dismissal and Re-engagement sets out employers’ responsibilities when seeking to change contractual terms and conditions of employment.

Chris McDonald MP is the current Minister of State for Science, Innovation and Investment in the United Kingdom, as appointed July 21, 2026.

This Government remains committed to driving UK science interests and investment through our international engagement. My department will continue to support research and innovation partnerships with priority countries, maintain the UK’s participation in major international collaborations, and promote opportunities through the Science and Technology Network. International engagement will help deliver the Industrial Strategy, attract global talent and inward investment, and ensure that UK science and technology contribute to long-term economic growth, prosperity and national security.

The Pubs Code Adjudicator (PCA) is a separate statutory entity independent of Government. The PCA completed its first investigation, into Star Pubs, in 2020, resulting in a penalty of £1.25m. The PCA launched an investigation into Stonegate Pubs in July 2026, which is ongoing. The PCA publishes information about its investigations on its website and in its Annual Report & Accounts.

The Department has regular dialogue with the PCA across the range of the PCA's responsibilities.

The Pubs Code Adjudicator (PCA) is a separate statutory entity independent of Government. The PCA completed its first investigation, into Star Pubs, in 2020, resulting in a penalty of £1.25m. The PCA launched an investigation into Stonegate Pubs in July 2026, which is ongoing. The PCA publishes information about its investigations on its website and in its Annual Report & Accounts.

The Department has regular dialogue with the PCA across the range of the PCA's responsibilities.

The Creative Industries Tax Reliefs have been highly effective in attracting investment into the UK Creative Industries, particularly across film, high end television (HETV) and games. The British Film Commission indicates that inward investment into Film and HETV production in 2023 totalled £5.8 billion, representing 85% of UK production expenditure.

The Government recognises that access to international finance can support the ability of UK creative businesses to scale by providing growth capital, enabling investment in intellectual property, and supporting market expansion.

Research has identified access to finance as a key challenge for creative industries businesses seeking to scale. As a response the Creative Sector Plan sets a target of making the UK the "best place to invest in creative businesses”.

My Department’s Creative Industries team is working in collaboration with the Office for Investment to attract international capital, increasing the capacity for investment in UK creative business growth.

The Pubs Code is underpinned by two principles: 1) the fair and lawful dealing by regulated Pub Owning Businesses of their tied tenants and 2) that tied tenants should not be worse off than if they were not subject to any product or service tie. Effective Market Rent Only (MRO) provisions are key to implementing the second principle.

The third statutory review of the Pubs Code and Pubs Code Adjudicator covering 01.04.22- 31.03.25 is in progress. It includes an assessment of the extent to which the Code is consistent with the two principles. The Government’s report will be published as soon as practicable.

The Pubs Code is underpinned by two principles: 1) the fair and lawful dealing by regulated Pub Owning Businesses of their tied tenants and 2) that tied tenants should not be worse off than if they were not subject to any product or service tie. Effective Market Rent Only (MRO) provisions are key to implementing the second principle.

The third statutory review of the Pubs Code and Pubs Code Adjudicator covering 01.04.22- 31.03.25 is in progress. It includes an assessment of the extent to which the Code is consistent with the two principles. The Government’s report will be published as soon as practicable.

Whilst no set date has been determined for the 2027 Joint Committee at this time, the Joint Committee is held annually with the latest being held on 3^rd June 2026. The previous committee was also held in June.

As the UK-Faroe Islands Joint Committee is an official level committee, there is no standing committee membership. It is attended by the relevant trade officials from the UK’s Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade, and the Faroe Islands’ Ministry of Foreign Affairs each year.

The Government is committed to supporting UK businesses trading with the European Union and to reducing unnecessary barriers to trade with our closest partner and biggest market to help delivery growth to every post code.

Ministers and officials in my department regularly engage with Cabinet colleagues on matters affecting exporters and economic growth.

We also provide a range of business support services, information, training, events and expert support to both new and experienced exporters, including through ‘Unlock Europe’, a free webinar series which features regular sessions for businesses on how to navigate EU regulations.

UK Export Finance (UKEF) and the British Business Bank (BBB) are working together to develop a new joint scheme to support smaller exporters, as announced on 12 July 2026.

The scheme remains in development, and detailed eligibility criteria have not yet been finalised. UKEF and the BBB are working closely with lenders and other relevant stakeholders to develop the scheme and determine eligibility criteria, with the aim of making support accessible to a broad range of smaller UK businesses.

Final eligibility criteria will be confirmed and published with the scheme's launch in Spring 2027.

Government regularly engages with universities, investors and innovative firms across the UK, including Scotland, on research commercialisation and university spin-outs. Scottish universities make a significant contribution to the UK's spin-out ecosystem and wider innovation economy, producing 12% of UK university spin-outs since 2011, demonstrating the strength of Scotland’s innovation ecosystem.

Government is investing over £1.5 billion through UK Research and Innovation to support spin-outs and research translation. This will build on the implementation of the recommendations of the Independent Review of University Spin-outs, increase in proof-of-concept funding, as well as a new Venture Doctorates programme and Enterprise Fellowships to help commercialise researchers' ideas.

The government is committed to helping viable smaller businesses access the finance they need, including through the Growth Guarantee Scheme (GGS). GGS helps smaller businesses access finance where they may otherwise struggle to do so through the commercial market. In July, the government announced a significant increase to the capacity of GGS, unlocking a further £6.5 billion of lending over the next four years. This is expected to support around 33,000 businesses across all nations and regions of the UK, including viable businesses managing temporary financial pressures.

The government continually reviews the capacity of its Public Finance Institutions alongside reviewing the availability of finance for businesses and recognises the importance of supporting firms through every stage of growth. The government has strengthened the capacity of its public finance institutions to do this, including increasing the capacity of the British Business Bank by £9.6 billion at Spending Review 2025, taking its total financial capacity to £25.6 billion.

The Government has set a five-year strategic mandate for the British Business Bank, including supporting high-growth firms to scale, improving finance markets for smaller businesses and mobilising institutional capital at scale.

The government is committed to the long-term sustainability of the UK research system, backed by a record £86 billion investment in research and development between 2026/27 and 2029/30, including a £38.6 billion settlement for UK Research and Innovation (UKRI).

The government is also providing greater long-term certainty through ten-year budgets for a range of major research programmes and institutions such as the Laboratory of Molecular Biology and the National Quantum Computing Centre.

Alongside this, the government is working with UKRI, universities and other partners to improve the financial sustainability of the research system, and ensuring public investment is focused on areas that will deliver the greatest long-term economic and societal benefit for the UK.

The Government is engaging with international regulators and partners to support the global acceptance of validated non-animal methods for medicines development. Through the Replacing Animals in Science strategy, we are strengthening regulatory confidence and supporting UK leadership in the development and adoption of alternative methods. The UK also works through the OECD Working Group of National Co-ordinators of the Test Guidelines Programme, which directs, reviews and adopts internationally harmonised non-animal methods. We continue to explore further bilateral and multilateral engagement to support internationally recognised approaches to non-animal methods.

The Pubs Code only applies to pub companies with over 500 tied tenants. The Pubs Code Adjudicator (PCA) enforces the Code. The Government currently has no plans to assess the effectiveness of the voluntary industry codes of practice governing pub-owning businesses with fewer than 500 tied pubs.

The Government is currently undertaking the third statutory review of the Pubs Code and Pubs Code Adjudicator and its report will be published as soon as practicable. The statutory review will also consider the findings of the Post Implementation Review (PIR), which analyses the Code’s impact since it came into force in 2016.

The Pubs Code only applies to pub companies with over 500 tied tenants. The Pubs Code Adjudicator (PCA) enforces the Code. The Government currently has no plans to assess the effectiveness of the voluntary industry codes of practice governing pub-owning businesses with fewer than 500 tied pubs.

The Government is currently undertaking the third statutory review of the Pubs Code and Pubs Code Adjudicator and its report will be published as soon as practicable. The statutory review will also consider the findings of the Post Implementation Review (PIR), which analyses the Code’s impact since it came into force in 2016.

The Pubs Code only applies to pub companies with over 500 tied tenants. The Pubs Code Adjudicator (PCA) enforces the Code. The Government currently has no plans to assess the effectiveness of the voluntary industry codes of practice governing pub-owning businesses with fewer than 500 tied pubs.

The Government is currently undertaking the third statutory review of the Pubs Code and Pubs Code Adjudicator and its report will be published as soon as practicable. The statutory review will also consider the findings of the Post Implementation Review (PIR), which analyses the Code’s impact since it came into force in 2016.

The Pubs Code only applies to pub companies with over 500 tied tenants. The Pubs Code Adjudicator (PCA) enforces the Code. The Government currently has no plans to assess the effectiveness of the voluntary industry codes of practice governing pub-owning businesses with fewer than 500 tied pubs.

The Government is currently undertaking the third statutory review of the Pubs Code and Pubs Code Adjudicator and its report will be published as soon as practicable. The statutory review will also consider the findings of the Post Implementation Review (PIR), which analyses the Code’s impact since it came into force in 2016.

No locations have yet been selected to benefit from the Strategic Sites Accelerator programme. The Government is working to establish the programme and secure final approvals, ahead of piloting investments in partnership with the National Wealth Fund, developers, local authorities, the devolved governments and Mayoral Strategic Authorities. We expect to publish further information on the programme's approach and invite applications once the necessary approvals have been obtained.

The Office for Investment has engaged with the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Mayoral Strategic Authority and received information on a number of potential opportunities, including Cross Point Logistics Park and Peterborough Science and Technology Park. No formal appraisal of these sites has yet been undertaken as we await programme approvals from HM Treasury. We will continue to engage with the Mayoral Strategic Authority and developers, with potential investments considered against programme criteria once these have been finalised and applied consistently across the UK.

The Strategic Sites Accelerator programme has not yet received final programme approvals. The Office for Investment has carried out significant preparatory work, including a wide market engagement and procuring a National Delivery Partner and is working closely with the National Wealth Fund to establish the programme, with approvals currently expected in September 2026. Timelines have been impacted by the reorganisation of capital budgets across Government following the Defence Investment Plan. We continue to work with HM Treasury and delivery partners to secure the necessary approvals and deliver the programme.

The Government recognises that many households face cost of living pressures, including people who live alone. Decisions on the products, services, offers and pricing made available to consumers are generally commercial matters for individual businesses. The Government does not mandate particular pricing structures or promotional offers, but through competition and consumer protection frameworks seeks to ensure that markets work fairly for consumers and businesses.

The Government publishes information on the operation of the National Security and Investment (NSI) Act 2021 in its annual reports. The most recent report, covering the 2025/26 reporting period, can be found on GOV.UK (National Security and Investment Act - Annual Reports), accompanied by a spreadsheet which covers data for previous reporting periods. It shows that the Government made 9 final orders in 2025/26, 17 final orders in 2024/25 and 5 final orders in 2023/24.

The Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023 enables new measures to strengthen the protection of personal information on the Companies House register. These measures are being implemented in phases with some already in force. People can now apply to have more of their personal information "protected" from disclosure on the public Companies House register than was previously possible.

Further measures will be introduced over the coming years, which will require new secondary legislation, guidance and system development. The Government is working to implement the measures as soon as possible.

The Government's current approach is set out through the Modern Industrial Strategy (2025) and the Digital and Technologies Sector Plan (2025), which build sovereign capability in critical technologies, including through the Sovereign AI Fund, while keeping the UK open to global markets.

This approach supports digital resilience, strengthens supply chain security and promotes capability in strategically important technologies through existing policies and programmes.

It is supported by an established framework of safeguards, including data protection legislation, UK security standards, the Cloud First policy and the Data and AI Ethics Framework.

As this remains a complex and developing policy area, engagement across government is ongoing.

The Start Up Loans programme provides access to finance for individuals seeking to start or grow a business. The programme is described as government-backed because the programme and its lending are funded by government through the British Business Bank. A Start Up Loan is an unsecured personal loan, rather than a government guarantee of borrowing from another lender. The individual borrower remains personally responsible for repaying the loan, and this is made clear to prospective applicants. Lending decisions are made by Start Up Loans’ finance providers, following assessment of an applicant’s business plan, affordability and creditworthiness.

The UK Space Agency (UKSA), which is now part of the DBIST, is a key sponsor of Race 2 Space alongside a number of industry partners and Buckinghamshire Council.

The Race 2 Space competition provides student teams the opportunity to develop practical, hands-on experience of building and testing a rocket engine which are vital skills to support a thriving spacecraft propulsion and launch sector.

Alongside funding, UKSA has supported the team at the University of Sheffield in designing the competition and mentoring students.

The UKSA’s funding of the Race 2 Space Competition sits alongside a broader skills programme supporting students across the UK.

The Government recognises the important role that collaboration between the NHS, researchers and industry can play in accelerating the development of life sciences innovations. Through the Replacing Animals in Science strategy, we are supporting partnerships that bring together expertise, data and human biological samples to develop more human-relevant approaches to research and testing. For example, the new Pre-clinical Translational Models Hub will support the development of models using cells donated by NHS patients, helping researchers better understand how people may respond to new treatments and supporting innovation in medicines development.

The Government is supporting the wider availability of organoid testing through the Replacing Animals in Science strategy. As announced on 12 August 2026, the new £20 million Pre-clinical Translational Models Hub will lead work to build and share models of human tissue, including organoids, using cells donated by NHS patients. The Hub will accelerate the development of these human-relevant approaches and make them available to researchers in universities and industry. Through UKCVAM and other strategy commitments, the Government is also supporting the validation and uptake of alternative methods where scientifically appropriate.

The UK Government has funded three studies to date and engages internationally through a range of fora, including the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space, to help develop guidelines and governance structures that meet the needs of the modern space age. This work includes international engagement on matters such as sustainability and the protection of dark and quiet skies for astronomy and scientific observation.

The department has not assessed the impact of the acquisition or discussed it with the CMA. Responsibility for investigating the impact of mergers and acquisitions on competition falls to the Competition and Markets Authority to determine independently.

The Government is committed to supporting the growth of the UK video games sector. In April we launched the £30 million Games Growth Package, doubling funding to invest in UK games businesses and develop future talent.

The UK General Data Protection Regulation applies to all companies that offer goods or services to individuals in the UK.

The Government’s Parental Leave and Pay Review is considering all current parental leave and pay entitlements, as well as the needs of working families who do not qualify for existing leave and pay entitlements, such as kinship carers. We are engaging with a broad range of stakeholders and considering a wide range of evidence as part of the Review. The Review will conclude in early 2027 with findings which will outline next steps for any potential reforms.

The Science and Society CDEL allocation is delivered through the Royal Society, the British Academy, the Royal Academy of Engineering and the Academy of Medical Sciences, which administer programmes on behalf of the Department for
Business, Innovation, Science and Trade, following the July 2026 Machinery of Government changes. The breakdown of the £219.0m Science and Society budget at Main Estimate 2026-27 is as follows:

Royal Society £113.0m

British Academy £51.9m

Royal Academy of Engineering £39.3m

Academy of Medical Sciences £14.7m

Total £219.0m

These allocations are based on the DSIT Main Estimate 2026-27 and may be refined over the course of the financial year.

The Horizon Shortfall Scheme Appeals (HSSA) process was introduced in response to concerns raised by the Horizon Compensation Advisory Board (HCAB) that many applicants to the Horizon Shortfall Scheme (HSS) may not have received comprehensive legal advice when settling their claims. The eligibility criteria therefore exclude individuals who settled with the benefit of fully funded legal advice provided by the Post Office. These criteria were developed in consultation with the HCAB, claimants’ legal representatives and postmaster organisations.

This means that a small number of individuals have not been eligible to access HSSA. However, the appeals process was specifically designed to provide funded legal support from the outset, helping applicants to fully understand and pursue their claims.

The Horizon Shortfall Scheme Appeals (HSSA) process was introduced in response to concerns raised by the Horizon Compensation Advisory Board (HCAB) that many applicants to the Horizon Shortfall Scheme (HSS) may not have received comprehensive legal advice when settling their claims. The eligibility criteria therefore exclude individuals who settled with the benefit of fully funded legal advice provided by the Post Office. These criteria were developed in consultation with the HCAB, claimants’ legal representatives and postmaster organisations.

This means that a small number of individuals have not been eligible to access HSSA. However, the appeals process was specifically designed to provide funded legal support from the outset, helping applicants to fully understand and pursue their claims.

The Horizon Shortfall Scheme Appeals (HSSA) process was introduced in response to concerns raised by the Horizon Compensation Advisory Board (HCAB) that many applicants to the Horizon Shortfall Scheme (HSS) may not have received comprehensive legal advice when settling their claims. The eligibility criteria therefore exclude individuals who settled with the benefit of fully funded legal advice provided by the Post Office. These criteria were developed in consultation with the HCAB, claimants’ legal representatives and postmaster organisations.

This means that a small number of individuals have not been eligible to access HSSA. However, the appeals process was specifically designed to provide funded legal support from the outset, helping applicants to fully understand and pursue their claims.