Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade

No specific assessment has been made of the potential impact of late payments on SME across Hamiliton and Clyde Valley.

Late payments cost the UK economy £11bn per year and cause the closure of the equivalent of 38 UK businesses every day.

The Commercial Payments Bill is the most significant legislation tackling late payments in over 25 years. It expands the powers of the Small Business Commissioner, mandates statutory interest on late payments at 8% above the Bank of England base rate and introduces maximum payment terms for larger businesses; giving the UK the strongest legal framework on late payments in the G7.

Numbers of companies with the Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) code 08 (other mining and quarrying) that entered insolvency in the UK in each year since 2018 are presented in the table below.

Note 1: these numbers represent company insolvencies registered on or before 31 August 2026.

The government is aware of reports of AI companies destructively scanning physical books as part of model training. As set out in our March report on copyright and AI, we are taking steps to help rightsholders control and license their work, including reviewing technical solutions, standards and best practice on input transparency.

This work will help inform whether Government intervention is needed, and if so, what a proportionate approach might look like.

The Government can confirm that manufacturers operating under SIC codes 2599 and 2790 are within the scope of the British Industrial Competitiveness Scheme.

Businesses must meet all of the scheme's eligibility criteria to be eligible and are encouraged to use the online eligibility checker to assess their likelihood of being eligible.

Canada is one of the UK’s closest partners and a trusted ally, with whom we share deep ties, common values and a commitment to open, rules-based trade. The Government remains committed to strengthening our trade and investment relationship with Canada and continues to engage closely on shared economic priorities.

The UK wants to continue to grow bilateral trade, and we are working with the Canadians through a range of fora including the bilateral Economic and Trade Working Group. Within this, our priority is to update the UK-Canada Trade Continuity Agreement’s Rules of Origin chapter with more modern rules reflecting today’s supply chains. We aim to conclude this over the coming months.

The Secretary of State keeps his travel plans under regular review and the Ministerial team at the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade work closely with their Canadian counterparts.

Canada is one of the UK’s closest partners and a trusted ally, with whom we share deep ties, common values and a commitment to open, rules-based trade. The Government remains committed to strengthening our trade and investment relationship with Canada and continues to engage closely on shared economic priorities.

The UK wants to continue to grow bilateral trade, and we are working with the Canadians through a range of fora including the bilateral Economic and Trade Working Group. Within this, our priority is to update the UK-Canada Trade Continuity Agreement’s Rules of Origin chapter with more modern rules reflecting today’s supply chains. We aim to conclude this over the coming months.

The Secretary of State keeps his travel plans under regular review and the Ministerial team at the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade work closely with their Canadian counterparts.

Canada is one of the UK’s closest partners and a trusted ally, with whom we share deep ties, common values and a commitment to open, rules-based trade. The Government remains committed to strengthening our trade and investment relationship with Canada and continues to engage closely on shared economic priorities.

The UK wants to continue to grow bilateral trade, and we are working with the Canadians through a range of fora including the bilateral Economic and Trade Working Group. Within this, our priority is to update the UK-Canada Trade Continuity Agreement’s Rules of Origin chapter with more modern rules reflecting today’s supply chains. We aim to conclude this over the coming months.

The Secretary of State keeps his travel plans under regular review and the Ministerial team at the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade work closely with their Canadian counterparts.

The Science and Technology Facilities Council's (STFC) prioritisation process was informed by extensive engagement with the research community, expert advisory bodies and specialist staff. This included more than 10 engagement events, written input from 48 project leads, and more than 30 Science Board, Council and expert advisory panel meetings. Science Board (Particle Physics, Astronomy and Nuclear Physics) completed a comprehensive appraisal of options based on information provided by individual projects, while Science Board (Facilities and Laboratories) and the cross-UKRI Facilities Strategic Advisory Group were consulted on facilities options. No external independent academic peer reviews were commissioned specifically for this prioritisation exercise. Science Board advice is provided confidentially and is not routinely published.

The Department has not made a specific assessment of trends in the level of public sector software licensing and cloud computing costs since the publication of the Competition and Markets Authority's (CMA) final report on cloud services in July 2025. The CMA provided input into Government's State of Digital Government review, published in January 2025, which assessed the public sector's use of digital technology.

On 21 July 2026 responsibility for investment screening and the National Security and Investment (NSI) Act passed from the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster (CDL) in the Cabinet Office to the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade. The powers and requirements under the NSI Act – including the statutory timelines, set processes, and legal tests for using the NSI Act – all remain the same.

The Community Finance Taskforce was established with a specific aim of supporting additional lending to SMEs from Community Development Finance Institutions (CDFIs). The Taskforce builds on existing cooperation between banks and community lenders and the British Business Bank’s Community ENABLE Funding programme, which seeks to increase CDFI capacity for SME lending.

The Taskforce has been asked to focus on developing a roadmap for the SME community lending sector. There are therefore currently no plans to expand the remit to cover personal lending.

The Community Finance Taskforce was established with a specific aim of supporting additional lending to SMEs from Community Development Finance Institutions (CDFIs). The Taskforce builds on existing cooperation between banks and community lenders and the British Business Bank’s Community ENABLE Funding programme, which seeks to increase CDFI capacity for SME lending.

The Taskforce has been asked to focus on developing a roadmap for the SME community lending sector. There are therefore currently no plans to expand the remit to cover personal lending.

While it is welcome that Royal Mail’s most recently released quality of service figures, for Q1 26/27, show an improvement, I have been frank in my conversations with Royal Mail’s leadership that the service has been unacceptable for too long and the pace of improvement must increase, including for customers in the North East.

Ofcom, as the independent regulator, is responsible for setting, monitoring and enforcing Royal Mail’s service standards under the universal service obligation.

Ofcom continues to monitor Royal Mail’s quality of service data closely and will take regulatory action where necessary to hold the company to account for improving service standards.

This government is committed to strengthening rights and protections to help the self-employed. Through the Commercial Payments Bill, we are legislating to end the scourge of late payments, giving the UK the G7’s toughest laws on late payments. We will also consult on a right to a written statement to give clarity to individuals on their employment status, and separately, on extending health and safety and blacklisting protections to the self-employed. The Business Growth Service will help self-employed people access the advice and support they need to grow. The Parental Leave and Pay Review is considering all forms of leave and pay, including for the self-employed.

The UK Government published the third statutory review of the Pubs Code and the Pubs Code Adjudicator (PCA) covering 1 April 2022 to 31 March 2025 on 14 September 2026.

The review concluded that the Pubs Code is operating consistently with its two core statutory principles: fair and lawful dealing by large pub-owning businesses (POBs), and ensuring tied tenants are not worse off than if they were free of their tie.

The review is a statutory obligation of the Pubs Code and completed every 3 years by the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade.

We recognise that individuals may need to attend court in a personal capacity and believe that employers and employees are often best placed to agree arrangements that reflect individual circumstances. Existing workplace arrangements, including annual leave, unpaid leave, and flexible working, can help employees manage personal commitments alongside their work responsibilities. We are making changes through the Employment Rights Act 2025 to make it more likely that flexible working requests are accepted. However, the Government has no current plans to introduce a statutory entitlement to leave for employees attending family court proceedings.

The UK is a world leader in AI security, and the AI Security Institute continues to work closely with the US government, international partners and leading AI companies, including Anthropic.

We are taking a context-based approach to AI regulation, meaning that most AI systems are regulated at the point of use by our existing expert regulators. However, we should not assume that this regulatory framework will always be sufficient as AI capabilities continue to develop. Any future measures we may take will be evidence-based and focused on the risks we need to address.

The Government is supporting the growth of the UK semiconductor sector, including the development of hardware-based cyber security technologies, through support across innovation, skills, procurement and investment. The £1.1 billion AI Hardware Plan includes an £18 million Hardware Security R&D Programme to strengthen the secure deployment and scaling of AI hardware. The Government is also supporting UK strengths in secure-by-design technologies, including the commercialisation of CHERI. Alongside this, the Government is investing £80 million in semiconductor and AI hardware skills, expanding training and career pathways to help build the pipeline of engineers and researchers needed for companies to develop these technologies.

The Intellectual Property Office (IPO) follows robust, proportionate processes to securely process 20K annual requests to record the transfer of ownership of IP rights in the register. These processes are reviewed regularly to reflect changing risk threats. The IPO is mid-way through a major transformation programme which will further improve validation processes by introducing an authenticated user account for all transactions. The recent consultation on the UK Designs system included proposals to extend the IPO’s power to resolve disputes over ownership of patents and trade marks to registered designs where that power is currently reserved for the courts.

The Intellectual Property Office (IPO) follows robust, proportionate processes to securely process 20K annual requests to record the transfer of ownership of IP rights in the register. These processes are reviewed regularly to reflect changing risk threats. The IPO is mid-way through a major transformation programme which will further improve validation processes by introducing an authenticated user account for all transactions. The recent consultation on the UK Designs system included proposals to extend the IPO’s power to resolve disputes over ownership of patents and trade marks to registered designs where that power is currently reserved for the courts.

The Intellectual Property Office (IPO) follows robust, proportionate processes to securely process 20K annual requests to record the transfer of ownership of IP rights in the register. These processes are reviewed regularly to reflect changing risk threats. The IPO is mid-way through a major transformation programme which will further improve validation processes by introducing an authenticated user account for all transactions. The recent consultation on the UK Designs system included proposals to extend the IPO’s power to resolve disputes over ownership of patents and trade marks to registered designs where that power is currently reserved for the courts.

The Intellectual Property Office (IPO) follows robust, proportionate processes to securely process 20K annual requests to record the transfer of ownership of IP rights in the register. These processes are reviewed regularly to reflect changing risk threats. The IPO is mid-way through a major transformation programme which will further improve validation processes by introducing an authenticated user account for all transactions. The recent consultation on the UK Designs system included proposals to extend the IPO’s power to resolve disputes over ownership of patents and trade marks to registered designs where that power is currently reserved for the courts.

The Intellectual Property Office (IPO) follows robust, proportionate processes to securely process 20K annual requests to record the transfer of ownership of IP rights in the register. These processes are reviewed regularly to reflect changing risk threats. The IPO is mid-way through a major transformation programme which will further improve validation processes by introducing an authenticated user account for all transactions. The recent consultation on the UK Designs system included proposals to extend the IPO’s power to resolve disputes over ownership of patents and trade marks to registered designs where that power is currently reserved for the courts.

• Royal Mail has told my department that it is delivering to the vast majority of addresses in line with its specifications.
• Where customers are not receiving the service they are entitled to expect, that is unacceptable and must be urgently addressed.
• While the latest Q1 2026-27 results show some improvement in delivery performance, this is only a first step. Performance remains below the required standards and the pace of improvement must increase. I will continue to press the company to deliver the reliable service that constituents expect and deserve.

The Department does not hold data on the value of goods and services exported from Essex to India in the last five years. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) holds data on trade from UK regions at the county level up to 2023.

The Department is committed to ensuring businesses across all regions and nations of the UK can benefit from the UK-India Free Trade Agreement. Support for SMEs in Essex and across the UK is integrated into the Government’s existing business support offer, accessible through business.gov.uk, including practical guidance on the tariff reductions and other provisions of the Agreement. The Department also engages directly with businesses and business representative organisations to raise awareness of these opportunities, support utilisation and understand how the Agreement is working in practice.

The government has assessed the impact of the UK-India Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement through its impact assessment which was published at the time of signature. Total bilateral trade (goods and services) is modelled to increase by nearly 39% in the long run, equivalent to £25.5bn a year when applied to projections of future trade in 2040.

The Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade has established and launched a new Supply Chain Centre. The Centre’s mission is to ensure that the UK has a secure supply of the inputs it needs and that businesses are equipped for sustained growth. That’s both for now and in a potentially increasingly disrupted and uncertain future.

The UK government is working with businesses, industry groups and partners across government and internationally to monitor impacts and respond to supply chain disruptions and volatility, including those caused by the conflict in the Middle East.

India is a leading investor in the UK. Indian investment is particularly important in advanced manufacturing where India has invested £6.4 billion making it the third largest source country investor in the UK. The Government expects the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement, by reducing barriers and improving market access, to create further opportunities for trade and investment between our countries. While the Government has not quantified a specific impact on bilateral FDI flows, evidence from trade agreements indicates that deeper economic integration can support increased investment.

The Government is closely monitoring the impact of disruptions to key shipping routes.

This includes regularly assessing the impact on UK supply chains, disruption to trade, including any rerouting of container ships, and of increases in prices of critical goods, shipping and energy. In doing so, we are actively drawing input from businesses on supply chain pressures and their own contingency planning to understand impacts on UK imports, exports and subsequent supply chain costs.

We also continue to work with businesses and our international partners to protect trade and investment for all those using international waterways.

The Department will publish a single monitoring report on the UK's accession to CPTPP in 2027, once two years of post-accession data is available and has been analysed. UK trade agreement monitoring reports track early-stage implementation and utilisation and are not designed to assess medium- to long-term impacts. Those impacts are assessed in later evaluation reports. For CPTPP, the Department will publish an evaluation report once five years of post-accession data is available and has been robustly analysed. We will consider a range of areas for inclusion in these reports, including the environment.

We have explored a number of proposals with our EU partners on manufactured goods, including a mutual recognition agreement on conformity assessment to remove these barriers. What was announced at the 2025 UK-EU summit reflects the outcome of these discussions. European security and competitiveness are best achieved when like-minded, trusted partners work together to bolster supply chains, competitiveness and economic security. We remain committed to working with our European partners and to tackling barriers to trade.

Canada is one of the UK’s closest partners and a trusted ally, with whom we share deep ties, common values and a commitment to open, rules-based trade. The Government remains committed to strengthening our trade and investment relationship with Canada and continues to engage closely on shared economic priorities.

The UK wants to continue to grow bilateral trade, and we are working with the Canadians through a range of fora including the bilateral Economic and Trade Working Group. Within this, our priority is to update the UK-Canada Trade Continuity Agreement’s Rules of Origin chapter with more modern rules reflecting today’s supply chains. We aim to conclude this over the coming months.

The Secretary of State keeps his travel plans under regular review and the Ministerial team at the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade work closely with their Canadian counterparts.

The government does not ringfence funding for cancer research. The overall Research & Development (R&D) budget is set at Government Spending Reviews.

The Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade invests approximately £200 million annually in cancer research via UK Research and Innovation. The Department of Health and Social Care spent £141.6 million in 2024/25 via the National Institute for Health and Care Research.

The Life Sciences Sector Plan sets out measures to strengthen the UK's life sciences ecosystem and enable world-class R&D. This includes £42.8 million for the Office for Life Sciences' Cancer Healthcare Goals Programme to support development of cancer diagnostics and therapies.

The CMA was clear that the market for cloud services is not working well and the Government welcomes the package of measures on cloud the CMA announced earlier this year to address the lessons from its investigation.

Customs, tariff and rules of origin information for over 140 export markets is available to businesses through the Check duties and customs procedures for exporting goods - GOV.UK digital service. This is provided through a commercial licence from a third-party supplier who provides and maintains the database. Sub-licencing via a publicly available API for integration is not permitted within the conditions of the department's license. A suitable service offering is provided to the market by the supplier.

The government is committed to making it easier for small businesses to export. Businesses can use the GOV.UK ‘Check duties and customs procedures for exporting goods’ tool, which provides information on customs procedures, origin requirements, and tariffs for overseas markets. Exporters can identify the requirements that apply to their destination country based on the HS code of the good that is being exported.

More widely, the Business Growth Service is helping UK businesses start, scale and succeed through tailored market advice, free Business Academy training, UK Export Finance support and our overseas network, making it easier for businesses to navigate global markets and seize opportunities.

The Department has not made such an assessment. This is because such analysis would not be proportionate or credible at such an early stage following an FTA’s entry-into-force. Instead, the Department’s monitoring activities track early-stage implementation and utilisation and is not designed to assess FTA impacts over the very short-term. Impacts of trade changes following an FTA’s entry into force are robustly assessed using specialist evaluation techniques over the medium- to longer-term as more data becomes available.

The Department has not made such estimates or assessments. This is because such analysis would not be proportionate, credible or robust at such an early stage following the UK-India CETA’s entry into force in July 2026. Instead, the Department’s CETA monitoring activities track early-stage implementation and utilisation and are not designed to assess CETA’s impacts over the very short-term. Impacts of trade changes following an FTA’s entry into force can be robustly assessed using specialist evaluation techniques over the medium- to longer-term once sufficient data has become available.

The Regulating for Growth Bill is set to be introduced in the current parliamentary session when parliamentary time allows.

The British Industrial Competitiveness Scheme is a targeted scheme designed to support a defined group of businesses within the Industrial Strategy sectors, where it can have the biggest impact on growth. Final eligibility was determined after a multi-stage economic and strategic analysis , alongside formal consultation with business and stakeholders. Our focus now must turn to implementing the scheme as effectively as possible.

The British Industry Supercharger cuts electricity costs for around 600 of the most electricity-intensive businesses, including Goodfish, a plastics manufacturer in Cannock. Last April, the Government uplifted relief from network charges for Supercharger recipients from 60% to 90%, raising the average electricity discount to around £65 to £87 per megawatt hour.

Around 120 of the most electricity-intensive and trade-exposed businesses also benefit from the EII Compensation Scheme, which provided a discount of around £24 per megawatt hour in 2025.

From 2027, the British Industrial Competitiveness Scheme will reduce electricity costs for over 10,000 manufacturers by up to £40 per megawatt hour.

UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) and the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) undertook a structured assessment of different funding options across STFC's portfolio. This considered scientific excellence, long-term research impact, strategic importance to the UK, international leadership, value for money and the preservation of capabilities that would be difficult or impossible to recreate if lost. The prioritisation process considered a range of funding scenarios and the implications of increasing operational costs, including inflation and foreign exchange pressures. Major international subscriptions continue to be protected, while decisions across the wider portfolio were taken following extensive engagement with the research community.

The Department works with UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) to manage cost pressures on international research facilities and resources through rigorous scrutiny of costs, risks, and value for money. The UK uses its role in international governing bodies to press for cost containment and operational efficiencies, helping to control growth in set fees. UKRI manages foreign exchange risks through hedging, in line with HM Treasury policy, reducing short-term volatility, but not eliminating longer-term currency and economic pressures.