Asked by: Andrew Griffith (Conservative - Arundel and South Downs)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, how many full-time equivalent staff within his Department were assigned to trade facilitation and market access barrier resolution in (a) 2026 and (b) 2021.
Answered by Kate Dearden - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Department for Business and Trade (DBT) operates a flexible resourcing model to support trade facilitation and market access barrier resolution. The majority of this work falls within three areas: Economic Security and Trade Relations, Trade Group and DBTs Overseas Network. The total Civil Servant on-payroll FTE for these areas was 1,565 in November 2025, which is the latest data available (for DBT), and 1,006 in December 2021 (for DIT only).
Not all the Civil Servants identified are assigned exclusively to trade facilitation and market access barrier resolution and carry out additional duties that are unrelated to those topics.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, how many trading standards inspections of high street shops took place in South Holland and the Deepings constituency in each of the last three years.
Answered by Kate Dearden - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The department does not hold this information.
Local authorities across England, Scotland and Wales operate independently from central government. Local authorities are responsible for determining their enforcement activity across a wide range of enforcement responsibilities in accordance with the needs of the local electorate and local resourcing priorities.
Asked by: Andrew Griffith (Conservative - Arundel and South Downs)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what assessment he has made with Cabinet colleagues of the potential impact of trade regulation on port congestion and throughput, broken down by port.
Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Department for Business and Trade has not undertaken an assessment of the impact of trade regulation on port congestion or throughput at individual ports. The Department has not received representation from industry indicating that current trade regulation is having a material impact on port congestion, noting that for many DBT-led goods regulations, compliance is monitored behind the border rather than at ports.
Asked by: John Milne (Liberal Democrat - Horsham)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether his Department holds UK customs export data identifying shipments of live munitions, including bullets, exported from the United Kingdom to Israel in August 2025; and whether he plans to publish disaggregated data distinguishing live munitions from training, sporting, and other non-combat ammunition.
Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
DBT does not hold detailed shipment-level customs export data. For goods export data, you should refer to HMRC, who publish UK trade in goods statistics by partner country and product which can be found on www.uktradeinfo.com.
Since September 2024, this Government has suspended licences for exports for the IDF that might be used in military operations in Gaza and refused new licence applications on the same basis. We categorically do not licence the export of any bombs or ammunition for use in military operations in Gaza or the West Bank.
DBT publishes extensive data on export licences on a quarterly basis which includes summaries of the items licensed, with classifications which typically differentiate between types of ammunition. The Department has also published specific information on licences for export to Israel: Export control licensing management information for Israel - GOV.UK.
Asked by: Melanie Onn (Labour - Great Grimsby and Cleethorpes)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what discussions he has had with Evri and other delivery companies on the potential impact of unreliable parcel delivery on small businesses.
Answered by Blair McDougall - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The proper functioning of postal services is vital for small businesses. Delivery companies must provide a good service to their customers and reduce the number of lost, delayed or improperly delivered parcels. However, Evri and other delivery companies are independent businesses, the government has no role in their operational decisions.
Ofcom is the independent regulator of postal services. Ofcom publishes an annual report summarising its monitoring programme on its website: www.ofcom.org.uk/postal-services/information-for-the-postal-industry/monitoring_reports.
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what discussions he is having with his European counterparts on the recognition of (a) legal qualifications and (b) other professional qualifications.
Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
HMG remains committed to making it easier for UK and EU professionals to have their qualifications recognised across regulated professions.
In the 2025 Common Understanding, the UK and EU committed to setting up dedicated dialogues on the Trade and Cooperation Agreement provisions which enable regulator-led, sector-specific recognition agreements to be negotiated.
The annual Trade Specialised Committee on Services, Investment and Digital Trade also provides a forum for the UK and EU to discuss the recognition of professional qualifications.
HMG encourages and supports UK regulators, including legal regulators, to work with their EU counterparts to improve recognition of professional qualifications, including through guidance and funding.
Asked by: Andrew Griffith (Conservative - Arundel and South Downs)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether his Department has identified any data gaps that limit its ability to quantify the cost of trade-related regulation.
Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
No.
Asked by: Andrew Griffith (Conservative - Arundel and South Downs)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what mechanisms his Department uses to collect feedback from businesses on trade barriers arising from domestic regulation.
Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Department for Business and Trade has collected business feedback on domestic regulation through a business questionnaire and will continue to run the Business Perceptions Survey to gather quantitative data.
Asked by: Bob Blackman (Conservative - Harrow East)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what assessment he has made of the potential implications for his policies of the use of non-disclosure agreements during corporate restructuring in safety-critical sectors; and he plans to ensure that non-disclosure agreements cannot prevent employees and union representatives from participating in statutory consultation processes.
Answered by Kate Dearden - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Government is unable to assess sector-specific trends regarding the use of non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) because they are private contractual arrangements, and data on their use is not collected.
While NDAs can legally require one or more parties to maintain the confidentiality of certain information, such as trade secrets, there are a range of legal limitations on their use. For instance, NDAs cannot stop someone from making a whistleblowing disclosure, known as making a ‘protected disclosure’ or making a disclosure required by law.
Asked by: Max Wilkinson (Liberal Democrat - Cheltenham)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, how the Fair Work Agency will assist migrant domestic workers experiencing abuse in private households.
Answered by Kate Dearden - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Fair Work Agency will enhance the UK's ability to respond to exploitation of migrant domestic workers. It will bring together labour market enforcement functions and include new powers to investigate and take action against offences under the Fraud Act 2006. These powers, when operational, will allow the FWA to pursue certain cases of deception, abuse of position or withholding pay, where conduct does not meet the higher modern slavery threshold.