Department for Business and Trade

A) The table shows the average number of working days lost (AWDL) to sickness absence per staff in DBT and its executive agencies in the last year (between 1 April 2024 and 31 March 2025)

B) In the previous year (1 April 2024 to 31 March 2025) there were the following in relation to formal warnings issued to staff whose absence exceeded departmental triggers:

DBT: 11 formal warnings.

Insolvency Service: 12 formal warnings.

Companies House: 6 formal warnings.

The number of cases concluded against civil servants within the Department for Business and Trade in the previous year 1 April 2024 to 31 March 2025 are as below.

Core DBT:

Performance

Conduct

Insolvency Service

Performance

Conduct

Companies House:

Performance

Conduct

The information provided below relates to the recorded ratings on the Department’s HR information system for the period of 1^st April 2024 to 31^st March 2025, in line with the Department’s performance cycle.

Delegated grades within the Department have two performance ratings - Met and Not Met.

Delegated Grades Performance Ratings Distribution for 2024/25

Senior Civil Servants (SCS) have four box ratings ‘Exceeding’, High Performing’ ‘Achieving’ and ‘Partially Met’. Exceeding is the top box rating.

As of 31 March 2025, a total of 576 civil servants, representing approximately 9.7% of those on the payroll, were promoted to higher grades during the previous year. The table below provides a breakdown of these promotions by performance marking (as of 31 March 2024) and grade.

Delegated grades within the Department have two performance ratings - Met and Not Met.

Senior Civil Servants (SCS) have four box ratings ‘Exceeding’, High Performing’ ‘Achieving’ and ‘Partially Met’. Exceeding is the top box rating.

We do not have information about in-grade promotions because lateral moves are not considered promotions and are not tracked currently.

The Director of the Labour Market Enforcement’s (DLME) Annual Report for 2023 to 2025 (published in November 2025) provides information on enforcement activity across sectors and areas of heightened risk, including in relation to seasonal workers.

The Government is establishing the Fair Work Agency (FWA) in April 2026 which will deliver a much-needed upgrade to employment rights enforcement. Once established, the FWA will publish annual reports on its work and lay them before Parliament and the Northern Ireland Assembly.

The Director of the Labour Market Enforcement’s (DLME) Annual Report for 2023 to 2025 (published in November 2025) provides information on enforcement activity across sectors and areas of heightened risk, including in relation to seasonal workers.

The Government is establishing the Fair Work Agency (FWA) in April 2026 which will deliver a much-needed upgrade to employment rights enforcement. Once established, the FWA will publish annual reports on its work and lay them before Parliament and the Northern Ireland Assembly.

As a Government we are clear: everyone must get the pay they are entitled to.

In 2024/25, HMRC identified £5.8 million owed to 25,000 workers and issued 750 penalties worth £4.2 million to employers.

We are going further- setting up the Fair Work Agency to improve join up with other enforcement and will ensure that every complaint a worker makes will be followed up. We will also publish names of employers breaching the minimum wage more regularly, helping to level the playing field for the vast majority of businesses who do play by the rules.

These reforms will benefit constituents in my honourable friend's area and across the country.

The whole of government is focused on delivering the Industrial Strategy to make the UK the best country to invest and grow. We are making progress, including:

· Opening our consultation for the British Industrial Competitiveness Scheme to reduce electricity costs for IS-8 and foundational sectors.

· Agreeing a landmark UK-US pharmaceuticals deal, safeguarding medicines access and driving vital investment for UK patients and businesses.

· Supporting Industrial Strategy Zones, including the Forth Green Freeport, where advanced manufacturing and clean energy industries will thrive.

This government is putting high streets at the heart of economic renewal through our Small and Medium Sized Business Plan and MHCLG's £5 billion Pride in Place programme which will support areas in both of my Honourable Friends' constituencies.

At Budget, we confirmed permanently lower business rates for retail, hospitality and leisure and a £4.3 billion package to protect ratepayer bill increases because of property revaluation.

We also announced £15 million per year to support stronger enforcement on illegal high street activity, alongside other measures covering, retail crime and pro-growth regulatory changes for the retail and hospitality sectors.

This government is putting high streets at the heart of economic renewal through our Small and Medium Sized Business Plan and MHCLG's £5 billion Pride in Place programme which will support areas in both of my Honourable Friends' constituencies.

At Budget, we confirmed permanently lower business rates for retail, hospitality and leisure and a £4.3 billion package to protect ratepayer bill increases because of property revaluation.

We also announced £15 million per year to support stronger enforcement on illegal high street activity, alongside other measures covering, retail crime and pro-growth regulatory changes for the retail and hospitality sectors.

The Government recognises the importance of the Hospitality in providing employment for young people. At Budget, we announced more than £1.5 billion of investment over the next three years, funding £820m for the Youth Guarantee to support young people to earn or learn, and an additional £725 million for the Growth and Skills Levy. Through the expanded Youth Guarantee, young people aged 16-24 across Great Britain are set to benefit from further support into employment and learning.

We are supporting more than 50,000 young people into apprenticeships in England by fully funding apprenticeship training costs for all eligible 16-24-year-olds, removing the need for non-levy paying employers to co-fund these learners. We are also expanding foundation apprenticeships into sectors such as hospitality and retail, where young people are traditionally recruited.

The Government recognises the importance of the Hospitality in providing employment for young people. At Budget, we announced more than £1.5 billion of investment over the next three years, funding £820m for the Youth Guarantee to support young people to earn or learn, and an additional £725 million for the Growth and Skills Levy. Through the expanded Youth Guarantee, young people aged 16-24 across Great Britain are set to benefit from further support into employment and learning.

We are supporting more than 50,000 young people into apprenticeships in England by fully funding apprenticeship training costs for all eligible 16-24-year-olds, removing the need for non-levy paying employers to co-fund these learners. We are also expanding foundation apprenticeships into sectors such as hospitality and retail, where young people are traditionally recruited.

The Government recognises the importance of the Hospitality in providing employment for young people. At Budget, we announced more than £1.5 billion of investment over the next three years, funding £820m for the Youth Guarantee to support young people to earn or learn, and an additional £725 million for the Growth and Skills Levy. Through the expanded Youth Guarantee, young people aged 16-24 across Great Britain are set to benefit from further support into employment and learning.

We are supporting more than 50,000 young people into apprenticeships in England by fully funding apprenticeship training costs for all eligible 16-24-year-olds, removing the need for non-levy paying employers to co-fund these learners. We are also expanding foundation apprenticeships into sectors such as hospitality and retail, where young people are traditionally recruited.

There currently has been no assessment to the effectiveness of firework regulations in protecting animals and vulnerable people. The Government's intention is to minimise negative impacts of fireworks and to support their considerate use, reducing the risks and disturbances to individuals, animals, and property.

To inform future decisions about the regulation of fireworks, I am engaging with businesses, consumer groups and charities to gather evidence on the issues and impacts of fireworks. The safety of the public and the impact on people, animals and property will be central in how the Government proceeds in relation to the regulation of fireworks.

The Government has not carried out an assessment of the risks of over-reliance on dominant cloud service providers in the market. The Competition and Markets Authority’s (CMA) cloud services market investigation examined the state of competition in the market. The CMA is independent of Government and any decisions on initiating strategic market status investigations are for the CMA Board.

In July 2025, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) published its final report on the UK cloud market. The key recommendation was for the CMA Board to prioritise commencing investigations under the digital markets regime and to consider designating the two largest providers —Microsoft and AWS — with strategic market status in relation to cloud services. The CMA is independent of Government and any decisions on initiating strategic market status investigations are for the CMA Board.

I congratulate Small Business Britain on another excellent Small Business Saturday, during which the Government launched the new ‘Backing your Business’ campaign to drive uptake of the Business Growth Service and boost awareness of the Small Business Plan. We have been delivering on our promise to back SMEs across Britain.

This includes work to tackle late payments and cut the administrative costs of regulation saving SME owners time and money so they can focus on running successful businesses and continue to participate in important campaigns such as Small Business Saturday.

The Department has not done, and does not plan to do an assessment of the economic impact of Small Business Saturday on high streets and local economies.

The Small Business Saturday campaign has done its own analysis; they suggest that Small Business Saturday could deliver a £5 billion boost for the sector. The Department has also launched its Backing Your Business campaign, designed to raise awareness of the support being provided to SMEs within the Small Business Plan, including on high streets and local economies.

The Government is fully committed to implementing the Grenfell Inquiry recommendation that principal contractors working on higher-risk buildings should be licenced through a scheme managed by the Building Safety Regulator. We have accepted this recommendation as an important step in enhancing building safety standards.

We continue to engage with stakeholders as to whether a wider licencing scheme would improve standards of consumer protection. This work is progressing alongside our broader initiatives to enhance competency across the construction sector through the Industry Competence Committee, ensuring a comprehensive approach to raising standards throughout the industry.

The Government is fully committed to implementing the Grenfell Inquiry recommendation that principal contractors working on higher-risk buildings should be licenced through a scheme managed by the Building Safety Regulator. We have accepted this recommendation as an important step in enhancing building safety standards.

We continue to engage with stakeholders as to whether a wider licencing scheme would improve standards of consumer protection. This work is progressing alongside our broader initiatives to enhance competency across the construction sector through the Industry Competence Committee, ensuring a comprehensive approach to raising standards throughout the industry.

The battery sector currently employs 10,500 people across the UK and is one of the frontier industries highlighted in our Advanced Manufacturing Sector Plan.

The Government recently made the UK's largest single commitment to battery R&D and commercialisation of £452 million to 2030 in the new Battery Innovation Programme (BIP).

BIP targets technical skills gaps to develop engineers and scientists of the future, connects academic researchers with UK industry, and funds investor partnerships that improve access to investment for innovative battery companies ready to commercialise and scale in the UK.

This sits alongside DRIVE35, our long-term £2.5 billion commitment to zero emission vehicle manufacturing which provides capital support and additional R&D funding for strategic vehicle technologies, like batteries, accelerating their commercial scale-up.

We have secured the first and only deal with the US that delivers zero percent tariffs on pharmaceutical products – the lowest rate offered to any country.

It delivers mitigations on the US’ ‘Most Favoured Nation’ policy and preferential terms for UK medtech exports – helping expand access to innovative treatments for patients and driving crucial investment in the UK.

The UK and the US have confirmed the headline terms of this deal. Further work to finalise underpinning details is ongoing.

We are unable to provide details on the total spend on LinkedIn membership fees and other subscriptions by the Department for Business and Trade in the last financial year. The information requested is not held centrally and to obtain it would incur disproportionate costs.

The Government recognises the challenges of enforcing financial penalties on overseas entities but remains committed to ensuring compliance with the Register of Overseas Entities (ROE) requirements. Companies House has strengthened its enforcement strategy, introducing robust procedures to address non-compliance with penalties, and will continue to monitor the effectiveness of enforcement. Non-compliant entities are also prohibited from selling, leasing, or raising finance on their property until they meet the ROE requirements. The Government will also carry out a Post-Implementation Review in 2027 to assess the effectiveness of the ROE.

As stated in the Modern Industrial Strategy, the Government intends to fund the British Industrial Competitiveness Scheme by bearing down on costs across the energy system to ensure that the scheme is delivered in line with our wider priorities to deliver affordable power for businesses and households. For example, the proposals in the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero's recent consultations on changes to inflation indexation of the Renewables Obligation and Feed-In Tariffs schemes, if implemented, could contribute to that goal.

Regional growth is a core objective of the Industrial Strategy. We will bring forward more investible sites and support city regions and clusters to attract private investment.

The Strategy reiterates our support for existing Freeports and Investment Zones. These "Industrial Strategy Zones" have huge potential, especially in key sectors including advanced manufacturing, clean energy industries, life sciences, digitally enabled creative industries and defence.

Alongside the Industrial Strategy, we published an Action Plan setting out how we will enhance all our Industrial Strategy Zones with better-targeted investment promotion, support for accessing concessionary finance, and coordinated support on skills.

The UK has one of the most robust data protection regimes in the world, with all organisations required to comply with our legislation to safeguard UK personal data when transferring it overseas. Our data regulator, the Information Commissioner's Office, has powers to take enforcement action and issue hefty fines. Individuals who consider that their data has been misused can also take legal action.

The UK Government is committed to harnessing the power of genomics as part of the 10 Year Health Plan, while mitigating potential risks.

As set out by the Secretary of State in his written statement to Parliament on 2 December, we have secured a zero percent tariff on all pharmaceuticals exported to the US - the lowest rate offered to any country. The UK has also secured preferential terms for the UK’s medical technology exports for three years, meaning no additional new tariffs on medical technologies.

This agreement was supported by the government’s commitment to investing 25% more in new innovative medicines – the first major increase in over two decades – which will support improved access to new medicines for NHS patients.

We are taking decisive steps to remove barriers to investment, strengthening the UK’s competitiveness. To address high energy costs, the British Industrial Competitiveness Scheme will reduce industrial electricity prices by up to 25%, supporting thousands of manufacturers. The new Strategic Sites Accelerator, backed by over £600 million, will unlock an initial wave of sites for investment from the growth-driving sectors of the Industrial Strategy from next financial year, with the aim of scaling up the programme over time. These measures form part of a wider strategy to create a pro-investment environment that drives growth and innovation.

Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) provides an independent means to resolve disputes with states where investors believe they have experienced arbitrary, discriminatory or unfair treatment or expropriation without compensation. ISDS does not remove governments’ right to regulate in the public interest, including with respect to implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals.

The Government is aware of the interest in this important policy area and, in line with HMG’s Trade Strategy, the UK will continue to work with trading partners multilaterally, such as the OECD and the UN, to pursue opportunities to improve ISDS practice.

The government recognises that the proper functioning of postal services is vital for businesses, particularly small businesses engaged in international trade. However, parcel delivery times are an operational matter for postal operators to address as private businesses operating in a competitive market.

In July, the SME Digital Adoption Taskforce published ten recommendations to help the UK’s SMEs become the most digitally capable and AI confident in the G7 by 2035. We are now working to deliver these recommendations.

We have already partnered with Google on a series of events to help SME leaders around the UK explore how AI can help them.

DSIT has published AI Management Essentials to help SMEs implement responsible AI governance practices.

Also, we are prioritising SMEs in our new system to give them a fair chance at public contracts, with departmental targets and a new SME Procurement Education programme.

The Government is unable to assess the prevalence of the use of non-disclosure agreements across the economy, including in specific sectors, as they are private contractual agreements and data on their use is not collected.

While NDAs can lawfully be used to require one or more parties to keep certain information confidential (for example, trade secrets), there are a range of legal limitations on their use. For example, NDAs cannot prevent someone from making a whistleblowing disclosure (known formally as a “protected disclosure”) or a disclosure required by law.

There will be several phases of delivery following Royal Assent of the Employment Rights Bill. For many measures, Government will consult on the detail of policy and implementation. As set out in the Implementation Roadmap, we will provide more detail on these policies and our timelines for implementation following consultation, with a clear commitment that we aim to work at pace to deliver these tangible benefits to millions of working people.

At the recent Budget, the Government announced its intention to appoint a Retail and Hospitality Envoy to champion the sector across Government. The detail of the role is being finalised, the Envoy will be expected to work collaboratively with Government departments, existing councils, trade bodies and businesses.

Retail and Hospitality policy in Scotland is still devolved and any matters relating specifically to Scottish Retail or Hospitality policy should be directed to the Scottish Government.

The US has committed to ensuring that access to medicines and launches of new innovative medicines in the UK are not inadvertently impacted by the US’s ‘Most Favoured Nation’ policy, thereby reducing the risk to the UK where the NHS has managed to secure lower prices for medicines.

Further work to finalise underpinning details is ongoing.

The UK’s International Investment Agreements (IIAs) aim to enhance opportunities for UK businesses to expand overseas, with commitments that seek to limit the barriers they face, make it easier to navigate local rules, and ensure investments are treated lawfully, and protected against unfair or arbitrary action. There is no specific review process within this Agreement.

We have secured the first and only deal with the US that delivers zero percent tariffs on pharmaceutical products – the lowest rate offered to any country.

It delivers mitigations on the US’ ‘Most Favoured Nation’ policy and preferential terms for UK medtech exports – helping expand access to innovative treatments for patients and driving crucial investment in the UK.

The UK and the US have confirmed the headline terms of this deal. Further work to finalise underpinning details is ongoing.

My Department regularly engages with Colombia to discuss trade and investment matters, primarily through the UK-Andean countries trade agreement committees which have been meeting annually since 2022 and the UK-Colombia Trade Dialogue. My Department has not received a formal approach by its Colombian counterparts to discuss the UK-Colombia Bilateral Investment Treaty.

DBT Secretary of State made a written statement to Parliament on 2 December.

This deal is the first and only agreement with the US that secures zero percent tariffs on pharmaceutical products – the lowest rate offered to any country. It delivers mitigations on the US’ ‘Most Favoured Nation’ policy and preferential terms for UK medtech exports – helping expand access to innovative treatments for patients and driving crucial investment in the UK.

The Department for Business and Trade remains the lead department for EPD negotiations.

There will be further work to finalise underpinning details.

The Department for Business and Trade has spent £4.8m on software licences from Microsoft in the last 12 months, December 2024 to November 2025. This represents 5% of the Department's total Digital, Data & Technology spend.

The Government recognises the significant pressures facing pubs and we are providing support through various measures to help ease these pressures.

We've introduced permanently lower tax rates for retail, hospitality and leisure properties with a ratable value under £500,000, worth nearly £900 million annually, benefitting over 750,000 properties. The new relief rates are permanent, giving businesses certainty and stability, and there will be no cap so all qualifying properties will benefit.

The Chancellor announced a new National Licensing Policy Framework as part of her budget. This sets out a vision for a proportionate licensing system that supports good businesses while continuing to tackle bad operators.

We're also investing £440,000 with Pub is The Hub to help rural pubs diversify, aiming to support rural communities, create new jobs and services.

The Government recognises the significant pressures facing hospitality businesses, including those in North East Somerset and Hanham, and the Government is providing support through various measures to help ease these pressures.

We’ve introduced permanently lower tax rates for retail, hospitality and leisure properties with a ratable value under £500,000, worth nearly £900 million annually, benefitting over 750,000 properties. The new relief rates are permanent, giving businesses certainty and stability, and there will be no cap so all qualifying properties will benefit.

The Chancellor announced a new National Licensing Policy Framework as part of her budget. This sets out a vision for a proportionate licensing system that supports good businesses while continuing to tackle bad operators.

We’re also investing £440,000 with Pub is The Hub to help rural pubs diversify, aiming to support rural communities, create new jobs and services.

The requested data is not held centrally in a reportable format.