Alison Griffiths

The UK’s automotive manufacturing industry directly supports over 150,000 jobs and contributed £21.0 billion in gross value added to the economy in 2024.

It plays a crucial role in driving innovation, advancing net-zero goals, and fostering economic growth. In value added terms, the UK has the second-largest car manufacturing industry in Europe. While production dipped last year due to planned upgrades and weaker global demand compared to 2023, the government remains confident in and committed to the sector. The Autumn Budget included a £2 billion commitment for the sector. Recently a £50 million investment deal was secured with JATCO and Nissan to establish a new manufacturing site in Sunderland, JATCO’s first site in Europe.

I have engaged extensively with small businesses since my appointment, including visits to Ware, Coventry, Birmingham, Durham, Darlington, Gateshead, and various locations in London. I also regularly attend small business round tables alongside industry representatives such as the Federation of Small Business, Small Business Britain, and Enterprise Nation, as well as meeting small businesses one-to-one in the Department for Business and Trade.

I am looking forward to having further engagements.

Voluntary liquidations consist of creditors’ voluntary liquidations (CVLs) and members’ voluntary liquidations (MVLs).

Tables 1 to 3 show monthly numbers of CVLs, based on Insolvency Service official statistics at Company insolvencies, November 2024 - GOV.UK.

Table 4 shows numbers of MVLs, based on Companies House official statistics at Incorporated companies in the UK July to September 2024 - GOV.UK. MVL data is not published on a monthly basis.

Table 1: Creditors’ voluntary liquidations by month, England & Wales

Source: Companies House. [x] indicates not yet available

Table 2: Creditors’ voluntary liquidations by month, Scotland

Source: Companies House. [x] indicates not yet available

Table 3: Creditors’ voluntary liquidations by month, Northern Ireland

Table 4: Members’ voluntary liquidations by financial year, United Kingdom

The numbers of companies entering compulsory liquidation in each month since January 2019 are provided in monthly Official Statistics on company insolvency at Company insolvency statistics releases - GOV.UK and in the tables below.

England & Wales

Source: Insolvency Service. [x] indicates not yet available

Scotland

Source: Companies House. [x] indicates not yet available

Northern Ireland

Source: Department for the Economy, Northern Ireland

Official statistics on company voluntary dissolutions are published quarterly. These are made publicly available online by Companies House. We have extracted and produced the relevant yearly figures from this publication for your convenience below:

The statistics for October to December 2024 will be published in the next quarterly release on 30 January 2025 at 9:30am.

The most recent complete datasets can be found here:

Incorporated companies in the UK July to September 2024 - GOV.UK

Statistics for previous periods are available here.

Official statistics on company involuntary dissolutions are published quarterly. These are made publicly available online by Companies House. We have extracted and produced the relevant yearly figures for your convenience below:

The statistics for October to December 2024 will be published in the next quarterly release on 30 January 2025 at 9:30am.

The most recent complete datasets can be found here:

Incorporated companies in the UK July to September 2024 - GOV.UK

Statistics for previous periods are available here.

The Secretary of State and departmental Ministers have met with many trade union officials, representing millions of British workers since 1 November 2024. Information about Ministerial meetings can be found on Gov.uk.

The Department for Business and Trade figures for (a) lost and (b) stolen between start Jan 2024 and end Dec 2024 are:

(a) Lost = 31

(b) Stolen = 25

UK-India trade talks will relaunch early this year, and work is underway across government to prepare for negotiations.

The Business Impact Target BIT, which was repealed by the previous government through the Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Act, was the principal mechanism through which government made an estimate of the change in the total annual cost of regulation to business. The total impact of regulatory changes between 2011-2022 measured by equivalent annual net direct cost to business is estimated to be an increase of £6.2bn. This data is taken from annual BIT reports and for the period 2011-2015 the data also includes calculations by the National Audit Office of some regulatory changes outside the BIT’s remit.

To date I have not met with business representatives directly to discuss the subsidy control regime, however my department would welcome the views of businesses in response to the current public consultation on refinements to the UK’s subsidy control regime. The consultation closes on 21 January 2025 and can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/refining-the-uk-subsidy-control-regime.

The Department for Business and Trade contracts 3 Ministerial cars, each with a team of two drivers and six in total.

The Department for Business and Trade does not hold data on the number of trips by ministerial car and to provide this could only be done at disproportionate cost.

As of 17 December, the Secretary of State for Business and Trade and his ministerial team have not yet visited Northern Ireland, but plan to do so in the upcoming months.

Since 5^th July 2024, the Department for Business and Trade has sent 838 officials on foreign visits at a total cost of £1,632,898.02.

Ministers have met with many trade unions, representing millions of British workers, on numerous occasions since 5 July 2024. This is part of this government’s regular engagement with union leaders to support our growth mission, including on multiple industrial issues neglected by the previous government. Information about ministerial meetings can be found on Gov.uk.

The Department for Business and Trade (DBT) promotes and supports investment opportunities across all of the UK. We are scaling the Office for Investment to become the UK’s full investment promotion function providing support to our most important international and domestic investors and help turn the Industrial Strategy and regional growth plans into a clear and commercially credible pipeline of investment opportunities.

For the North of England specifically, we will continue to collaborate with Mayoral Combined Authorities and local partners to showcase investment opportunities across the region to potential investors and to work with them to deliver transformative investment.

On 21 October, the Government published a comprehensive impact assessment for the Employment Rights Bill, which included analysis on the impacts on the public sector.

Given the early stages of policy development, many reforms require further development and consultation before implementation. The Department will engage closely with the public sector and wider stakeholders as policy development continues to ensure the detail is right before changes are implemented.

Where measures require secondary legislation and codes of practice to implement, the Government will update and refine its analysis following the consultation based on additional evidence to inform policy options and impacts.

On Monday 21 October, the Government published a comprehensive package of analysis on the impact of the Employment Rights Bill. This is available at: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/employment-rights-bill-impact-assessments

The majority of employees will benefit from new protections in the Bill and our assessment finds that workers in low-paying sectors, including social care, hospitality, retail, transport, and some manufacturing sectors will benefit the most from the Bill. The assessment suggests that the construction, steel, materials, critical minerals and shipbuilding sectors are unlikely to be disproportionately impacted by the Bill.

The Bill will also deliver wider benefits for the business environment by improving wellbeing, incentivising higher productivity, and creating a more level playing field for good employers. This could have a positive knock-on impact on productivity and growth.

On Monday 21 October, the Government published a comprehensive package of analysis on the impact of the Employment Rights Bill. This is available at: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/employment-rights-bill-impact-assessments

The majority of employees will benefit from new protections in the Bill and our assessment finds that workers in low-paying sectors, including social care, hospitality, retail, transport, and some manufacturing sectors will benefit the most from the Bill. The assessment suggests that the construction, steel, materials, critical minerals and shipbuilding sectors are unlikely to be disproportionately impacted by the Bill.

The Bill will also deliver wider benefits for the business environment by improving wellbeing, incentivising higher productivity, and creating a more level playing field for good employers. This could have a positive knock-on impact on productivity and growth.

On Monday 21 October, the Government published a comprehensive package of analysis on the impact of the Employment Rights Bill. This is available at: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/employment-rights-bill-impact-assessments

The majority of employees will benefit from new protections in the Bill and our assessment finds that workers in low-paying sectors, including social care, hospitality, retail, transport, and some manufacturing sectors will benefit the most from the Bill. The assessment suggests that the construction, steel, materials, critical minerals and shipbuilding sectors are unlikely to be disproportionately impacted by the Bill.

The Bill will also deliver wider benefits for the business environment by improving wellbeing, incentivising higher productivity, and creating a more level playing field for good employers. This could have a positive knock-on impact on productivity and growth.

On Monday 21 October, the Government published a comprehensive package of analysis on the impact of the Employment Rights Bill. This is available at: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/employment-rights-bill-impact-assessments

The majority of employees will benefit from new protections in the Bill and our assessment finds that workers in low-paying sectors, including social care, hospitality, retail, transport, and some manufacturing sectors will benefit the most from the Bill. The assessment suggests that the construction, steel, materials, critical minerals and shipbuilding sectors are unlikely to be disproportionately impacted by the Bill.

The Bill will also deliver wider benefits for the business environment by improving wellbeing, incentivising higher productivity, and creating a more level playing field for good employers. This could have a positive knock-on impact on productivity and growth.

The Budget has made a positive impact on the steel sector by confirming the funding required for work to begin on the new Electric Arc Furnace at Port Talbot. This £500 million grant not only secures the future of steelmaking in south Wales and up to 5,000 jobs but also ensures workers have enhanced support during the transition period.

More widely, after the budget, the National Wealth Fund is now in a position to consider funding propositions for investments in steel.

At Autumn Budget 2024 HM Treasury announced the funding settlement agreed for my department for 2024-25 and 2025-26. By working with HM Treasury we have ensured that the settlement provides the funding required for the public bodies, for which my department is responsible, to successfully deliver against their objectives and priorities.

The Government is committed to supporting growth and investment in the construction sector. At the Budget, plans were announced to boost capital investment by over £100 billion over the next five years, including in transport and housing, to help unlock long-term growth.

We are providing over £5 billion of investment in housing next year, increasing the affordable homes programme to £3.1 billion and providing £3 billion of guarantees to boost the supply of homes and support small house builders. Alongside our planning reforms and our new Industrial Strategy, we are providing the stability needed to enable a thriving construction sector.

I can confirm that the Budget will support growth for our critical minerals industry. Already, following decisions made at the Autumn Budget, the National Wealth Fund has confirmed it can co-invest in domestic critical mineral projects to support our clean energy transition.

Furthermore, the Chancellor has expanded UK Export Finance’s mandate to enable it to finance overseas critical minerals projects that secure supply for the UK’s high-growth export industries. I will continue to engage with industry to develop a new, targeted Critical Minerals Strategy, matched to UK strengths, set for publication next year.

This Budget is focused on delivery of the government’s Growth Mission and the development and delivery of the government’s modern Industrial Strategy. The creation of the National Wealth Fund, catalysing over £70bn of private investment, will potentially benefit the maritime sector, where at least £5.8bn of NWF’s capital will focus on the five sectors announced in the manifesto, including ports. Shipbuilding supports 42,600 jobs nationwide and adds £2.4 billion to the economy every year and Government is committed to supporting vibrant and successful enterprises, and the skilled workforce who deliver them, in all parts of the UK.

There are currently no employees in DBT who are paid at the level of the National Living Wage or the National Minimum Wage.

There are currently no employees in DBT who are paid at the level of the National Living Wage or the National Minimum Wage.