Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, Pursuant to the Answer of 26 June 2025 to Question 61117 on Business: Northern Ireland, what his planned timetable is for allocating the remaining funding to businesses in Northern Ireland.
Answered by Gareth Thomas - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The £70 million Investment Fund for Northern Ireland launched in November 2023. The Fund has an investment period of five years, so the approximately £52 million remaining should be fully invested by November 2028.
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, with reference to his Department's publication entitled The UK’s modern industrial strategy, published on 23 June 2025, whether the strategy will provide additional funding to the Plan for Neighbourhoods.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Industrial Strategy is a 10-year plan to back our strengths and realise Britain’s potential. Through the Industrial Strategy we are targeting investment towards our eight-growth driving sectors, creating new opportunities so British workers can upskill and fill vacancies and supporting businesses to scale up. The industrial Strategy identifies and accelerates the highest-potential opportunities in these sectors, tackling investment barriers and unleashing the potential of clusters across the country.
The £1.5bn Plan for Neighbourhoods will deliver up to £20million of funding and support over the next decade into 75 communities across the UK, laying the foundations to kickstart local growth and drive-up living standards. The Industrial Strategy does not provide direct funding to the Plan for Neighbourhoods but complements it with a package of measures to boost regional growth.
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, how much and what proportion of the funding provided to the Investment Fund for Northern Ireland has been allocated to businesses in Northern Ireland.
Answered by Gareth Thomas - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The £70 million Investment Fund for Northern Ireland offers loans ranging from £25,000 to £2 million and equity investments up to £5 million. The fund covers the whole of Northern Ireland, including rural, coastal and urban areas. 100% of the fund is allocated to businesses in Northern Ireland. Of the £70 million total, around £18 million has been deployed to 35 businesses to date, leveraging around £12 million of additional private capital.
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, if he will have discussions with representatives of the PXN Group on supporting private sector venture funding opportunities in Northern Ireland.
Answered by Gareth Thomas - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
Ministers have regular discussions with private sector partners who can help deliver the Government's priority of economic growth across the UK, including in Northern Ireland. Private sector venture funding opportunities would not normally form part of such discussions as they are commercially sensitive and an investor's ability to identify such opportunities is part of their competitive advantage. Any investment partnerships with government are based on fair and open procurement by the British Business Bank, undertaken independently of ministers.
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, pursuant to the Answer of 18 June 2025 to Question 59711 on UK Internal Trade, what progress his Department has made on removing additional obligations placed on GB based businesses supplying Northern Ireland.
Answered by Justin Madders - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
I understand that some GB based businesses have faced changes as a result of the updated General Product Safety Regulation (GPSR). The Department has issued guidance for those who are selling to Northern Ireland, which we will continue to keep under review. We have engaged with businesses directly to ensure they understand their obligations arising from the GPSR, and to support them in trading freely across the entirety of the UK.
The Government is committed to upholding its obligations under the Windsor Framework, and to protecting the UK internal market.
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, pursuant to the Answer of 12 December 2024 to Question 18502 on Consumer Goods: Safety specifically that his Department is supporting businesses to trade freely across the UK, if he will make it his policy that free movement of goods without bureaucratic requirements is applied across the UK.
Answered by Justin Madders - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Government is committed to implementing the Windsor Framework and protecting the UK internal market.
With respect to the updated General Product Safety Regulation, as referenced in Question [18502], I understand that, for some businesses, the regulation has required changes. The Department has issued guidance for businesses selling to Northern Ireland and has continued to engage businesses directly to ensure that they understand the obligations.
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, if he will hold discussions with representatives of businesses with government contracts on ensuring that UK residents who are entitled to a UK passport following the passing of the British Nationality (Irish Citizens) Act 2024 are not excluded from employment because they hold dual nationality.
Answered by Justin Madders - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
None planned, as there is no DBT policy in relation to Govt contracts which differentiates treatment of UK residents who are entitled to a UK passport following the passing of the British Nationality Act 2024 from other UK residents.
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
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 impact of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership on Northern Ireland in its first year of operation.
Answered by Douglas Alexander - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
The UK acceded to the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) on 15 December 2024.
This comprehensive agreement will support businesses by making it easier for them to trade with CPTPP, and all nations of the UK are expected to benefit.
It will reduce tariffs on some of Northern Ireland’s most-exported products to CPTPP countries, with tariffs of up to 30% eliminated on UK exports of machinery to Malaysia within five years.
Government analysis estimates that the UK’s accession could boost Northern Ireland’s economy by around £70 million annually when compared to 2019 levels, in the long run.
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps he is taking to support high street retailers to help tackle cyber attacks.
Answered by Gareth Thomas - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Government offers free guidance, tools and training to help businesses improve their cyber resilience. This includes a new Cyber Governance Code of Practice to help boards and directors manage digital risks, and the Cyber Essentials scheme which helps in protecting businesses against cyber-attacks.
The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) is working in close coordination with law enforcement, the Department for Business and Trade and other relevant government departments to support each of the affected retailers. This includes providing technical expertise and strategic guidance which assist with incident response and recovery. The NCSC is maintaining active engagement with the wider retail sector to share threat information and offer mitigative guidance aimed at reducing the risk from further incidents.
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, with reference to the British Business Bank's press release entitled British Business Bank launches £70million investment fund for Northern Ireland, published on 16 November 2023, if he will publish the criteria to determine whether the Investment Fund for Northern Ireland is successful.
Answered by Gareth Thomas - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Investment Fund for Northern Ireland aims to tackle an identified funding gap by increasing the supply and diversity of early-stage finance for smaller businesses in Northern Ireland. The criteria for success includes number of investments, overall deployment of capital, amount of private sector capital leveraged, geographical spread of investments, ensuring distribution across the whole of Northern Ireland, and providing funds to firms that might not otherwise receive investment.
In addition, an interim evaluation of the fund will be commissioned during the first five years of the Fund’s operation, and we expect it to assess the gross value added, turnover growth rates, and finance additionality.