Gregory Campbell

My officials have been engaging regularly with businesses from across the UK on the updated General Product Safety Regulation in Northern Ireland. Since the guidance for businesses was published, officials have hosted numerous drop-in sessions for businesses, both before and after the Regulation took effect in Northern Ireland. The Department for Business and Trade will be publishing updates to the guidance to provide additional clarity to businesses, reflecting the queries and feedback we have received.

At end February 2025 DBT had 76 FTE from across the organisation based in our Belfast Hub. There are 10 people working in the trade and investment team, who all work collaboratively with Invest Northern Ireland on a range of events and initiatives throughout the year.

UK Export Finance (UKEF) has a dedicated Export Finance Manager (EFM) based in, and visiting businesses all around, Northern Ireland since 2012, along with Regional Heads who oversee the work of clusters of EFMs.

UKEF does not provide information about individual officials who are not senior civil servants.

The British Business Bank periodically publishes updated milestone figures on the Nations and Regions Investment Funds. Updated figures for the Investment Fund for Northern Ireland will be published by the end of Q2, which will include private sector investment.

The £10 million already deployed is solely from the fund, private sector investment is in addition to that. The fund expects to deploy the £70m over 5 years, until November 2028.

We are confident that we will attract sufficient supplies of Liquified Natural Gas between January and April 2025. In their 2024/25 Winter Outlook, National Gas, the Gas System Operator, noted that they expect the market to deliver LNG supplies to the UK when needed, evidenced in previous years, as prices shift to attract necessary cargoes. We have seen this occur over the first half of winter 2024/25 and expect this to continue over the second half.

The Advanced Nuclear Fund (ANF) concludes at the end of the current Spending Review Period in March 2025.

All future plans for nuclear innovation will be considered as part of multi-year Spending Review.

The Government remains committed to nuclear power as a key part of our clean power plans and research and development are a critical part of this commitment.

Clean Industry Bonuses are to be awarded through a competitive process, with an initial budget of £27m per gigawatt of offshore and floating offshore capacity that applies for the bonus in the Contracts for Difference Allocation Round 7. Given the competitive process, we cannot guarantee or predict who will win funding, though of course offshore wind developers may invest in firms in Northern Ireland as part of the scheme.

Energy policy in Northern Ireland is devolved. However, Ministers meet regularly with energy suppliers and we expect them to do everything they can to support their consumers, especially the most vulnerable.

The Smart Metering Implementation Programme collects data from energy suppliers on an annual basis pertaining to the costs and benefits of the smart meter rollout. This includes device and installation costs for smart metering equipment, as well as a range of metrics capturing the cost savings of smart meters compared to traditional meters. We do not provide average supplier costs due to commercial sensitivity.

Compliance, productivity and familiarisation costs savings of Artificial Intelligence and machine learning reforms in the Data (Use and Access) Bill have been considered and can be found in the indirect benefits and costs sections of the impact assessment (IA). The ethical assessment can also be found in the impact on individuals section. The assessment of the effect on different organisations by size and sector can be found in the small and micro business assessment section of the IA here (particularly, Table 14, 24, 25, 26 & 34).

The Life and Health Sciences Launchpad in Northern Ireland has so far funded 32 business-led projects. These were in the following local authorities:

• Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon (1 project)
• Antrim and Newtownabbey (1 project)
• Ards and North Down (1 project)
• Belfast (18 projects)
• Causeway Coast and Glens (1 project)
• Derry City and Strabane (2 project)
• Lisburn and Castlereagh (3 projects)
• Mid Ulster (2 projects)
• Mid and East Antrim (3 projects)

Innovate UK has allocated up to £7.5 million for the Life and Health Sciences Launchpad in Northern Ireland. An initial allocation of funding was made to 14 business-led projects in April 2024. 18 additional projects targeting early-stage businesses in this cluster were funded in summer 2024. Competitions are currently in planning to allocate the remaining Launchpad funds.

Innovate UK is evaluating the impact of all the Launchpads, including the one in Northern Ireland. It will publish interim findings from early 2027 via UKRI’s public website. A full impact evaluation will subsequently report from late 2028.

Innovate UK Launchpads is an £80 million programme that builds on local innovation strengths to support emerging clusters of SMEs to deliver jobs, growth, and high productivity. For each Launchpad, Innovate UK invests up to £7.5 million for business-led innovation projects.

The Northern Ireland Launchpad is dedicated to the advancement of healthcare solutions and medical breakthroughs. Innovate UK has appointed independent consultants to evaluate the impact of this and the other Launchpads and will publish interim findings from early 2027 via UKRI’s public website. A full impact evaluation will report from late 2028.

The government recognises that semiconductors are a UK wide strength, with clusters spread across the country, including in Northern Ireland. It is critical that the Semiconductor Advisory Panel can speak to all geographies of the semiconductor community.

The Panel was recently renewed for another 18-month term and will meet quarterly. It will meet primarily in London but may hold meetings in regions and nations of the UK that have strengths in the sector where possible.

It is essential that the BBC maintains the highest standards of reporting and governance that the public rightly expects. As set out her response to a recent Urgent Parliamentary Question, the Culture Secretary has spoken to the BBC Director General and expressed deep concern about the issues around their recent documentary on Gaza, and pressed for answers on the checks and due diligence that the BBC carried out. The Culture Secretary also subsequently discussed this matter with the BBC Chair where she sought assurances that no stone will be left unturned by the fact-finding review.

While she appreciates that the BBC apologised for its failings, and the BBC Board acknowledged that the mistakes were “significant and damaging”, it is vital that the BBC now takes action so that trust is restored and a serious error of this magnitude is not repeated.

Following requests, the BBC has provided the Secretary of State with further information on their approach to enhanced compliance procedures, and the Secretary of State will update Parliament in due course.

The BBC Media Action charity has not received funding from the Department for Culture, Media and Sport in any of the last five years. Sources of funding for BBC Media Action can be found in their annual reports.

This government recognises the importance of access to cultural activities for children and young people. In summer, we will publish an ambitious new National Youth Strategy, co-produced with young people and the sector.

In 2025/26, DCMS Programmes will create thousands of opportunities for young people to access enriching activities, including in the culture sector. In addition, 79% of Arts Council England’s National Portfolio Organisations are delivering activity for children and young people

DCMS also supports the Department for Education’s expert-led, independent Curriculum and Assessment Review, launched in July last year, which seeks to deliver a broader curriculum so that children and young people do not miss out on subjects such as music, the arts and drama.

The Department for Culture, Media and Sport remains committed to drawing upon the wealth of talent and experience across the whole of the United Kingdom when making appointments to the Boards of its Public Bodies. The Department is taking forward a number of new approaches to increase the awareness of Public Appointment opportunities and supporting candidates throughout the process.

All DCMS Public Appointments are advertised on the HM Government Public Appointments Website. We welcome applications from people across the country, including those based in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales.

The BBC has a duty to reflect, represent and serve the diverse communities of all of the United Kingdom’s nations and regions. We want it to reflect the full diversity of people, communities and experiences across the UK so that more people can see and hear themselves reflected as part of our national story.

Ofcom, the BBC’s independent regulator, is required to prepare and publish an Operating Framework for the BBC, which must contain provisions to secure the effective regulation of the activities of the BBC as set out by the Charter and Framework Agreement. It is for Ofcom to hold the BBC to account in meeting these obligations.

The Government welcomes Ofcom’s reports into the BBC’s performance in 2023/24, and notes its findings.

Ministers regularly meet with the BBC’s leadership, and as part of the next Charter Review, the Government will engage with the BBC and others to consider how to ensure the BBC thrives well into the next decade and beyond and in doing so, how it best delivers for the whole country.