Speeches made during Parliamentary debates are recorded in Hansard. For ease of browsing we have grouped debates into individual, departmental and legislative categories.
e-Petitions are administered by Parliament and allow members of the public to express support for a particular issue.
If an e-petition reaches 10,000 signatures the Government will issue a written response.
If an e-petition reaches 100,000 signatures the petition becomes eligible for a Parliamentary debate (usually Monday 4.30pm in Westminster Hall).
Remain neutral in Israel-Palestine conflict and withdraw support for Israel
Sign this petition Gov Responded - 6 Nov 2023 Debated on - 11 Dec 2023 View Liam Byrne's petition debate contributionsWe want the UK to be neutral in the conflict between Israel and Palestine, and withdraw offers of support for Israel.
Seek a ceasefire and to end Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip
Sign this petition Gov Responded - 13 Nov 2023 Debated on - 11 Dec 2023 View Liam Byrne's petition debate contributionsWe want the Government to seek a ceasefire and also seek to address the root cause of the current conflict by promoting dialogue and advocating for the end of Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
Urge the Israel Government to allow fuel, electricity and food into Gaza
Sign this petition Gov Responded - 10 Nov 2023 Debated on - 11 Dec 2023 View Liam Byrne's petition debate contributionsThe UK Government should urge the Israeli Government to stop the blockade of Food, Fuel and Electricity to the already impoverished city of Gaza
These initiatives were driven by Liam Byrne, and are more likely to reflect personal policy preferences.
MPs who are act as Ministers or Shadow Ministers are generally restricted from performing Commons initiatives other than Urgent Questions.
Liam Byrne has not been granted any Urgent Questions
A Bill to require the Secretary of State to publish proposals for increasing the on-lending of UK Special Drawing Rights via the IMF, for transferring the capital returned to the UK by the European Investment Bank to the World Bank, and for increasing the UK’s support for the African Development Bank, for the purpose of reducing debt burdens and the cost of capital and contributing to the implementation of the Paris Agreement on climate change.
Supply of Drugs to Children Under 16 (Aggravated Offence) Bill 2022-23
Sponsor - Kevin Hollinrake (Con)
Food Insecurity Bill 2017-19
Sponsor - Emma Lewell-Buck (Lab)
The Attorney General’s Office does not have individual spending programmes which are devolved to local government or other local spending bodies.
The Government is committed to ensuring that the UK’s National Security and Investment (NSI) regime stays up to date with the evolving global security context. We have recently launched a Call for Evidence, seeking views on how the NSI system can be even more business friendly while maintaining and refining essential national security protections.
The UK works closely with a range of international partners in this area, including members of the G7. However, decisions made under the NSI Act are based on UK national security considerations, and the scope of the Act itself is carefully tailored to the needs of the UK.
The Cabinet Office did not devolve any spending programmes for administration to local government in England and other local spending bodies in financial year 2021/22.
I refer the Rt. Hon. Member to the written statement issued today by my Rt Hon Friend, The Minister of State for Security and Borders.
As the most prominent grouping of democratic countries, the G7 has long been the catalyst for decisive international action to tackle the greatest challenges we face.
June's G7 Summit in Cornwall will mark the first face to face meeting of world leaders in almost two years and offers us a unique opportunity to agree concrete action to improve global health, tackle climate change and make the world fairer and more prosperous.
I look forward to meeting with my fellow leaders to discuss these issues as we all act to fight and defeat Covid and revive the global economy from its devastating impact.
The UK Strategic Export Controls Annual Report 2023, which is due to be published later this year, will include an update on the creation of the Office of Trade Sanctions Implementation (OTSI) and plans to transition certain functions from the Export Control Joint Unit to OTSI. Once OTSI has been established, we expect it to produce an annual report covering the breadth of OTSI’s activity.
The Government continues to monitor closely the situation in Israel and Gaza.
The Government can and does respond quickly and flexibly to changing international circumstances. All export licences, including Open General Export Licences, are kept under careful and continual review as standard. We are able to amend, suspend or revoke extant licences and refuse new licence applications as circumstances require.
Any changes to Open General Export Licences would be communicated through a Notice to Exporters which would be published on GOV.UK.
The Government continues to monitor closely the situation in Israel and Gaza.
The Government can and does respond quickly and flexibly to changing international circumstances. All export licences, including Open General Export Licences, are kept under careful and continual review as standard. We are able to amend, suspend or revoke extant licences and refuse new licence applications as circumstances require.
Any changes to Open General Export Licences would be communicated through a Notice to Exporters which would be published on GOV.UK.
HM Government publishes data on export licensing decisions on a quarterly basis in the Official Statistics, including data on outcome, end user destination, overall value, type (e.g. military, other) and a summary of the items covered by these licences. This data is available at: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/strategic-export-controls-licensing-data.
The most recent Official Statistics cover the period 1 April - 30 June 2023.
Information regarding export licensing decisions made between 1 October – 31 December 2023 will be published after April 2024 and information regarding export licensing decisions made between 1 January – 31 March 2024 will be published later this year.
The Department for Business and Trade works alongside other government departments to regularly assess UK export licences. This includes working with the Ministry of Defence on risks of diversion of exported goods and national security risks arising from hostile state activity.
The Export Control Joint Unit will not issue an export licence to any destination where to do so would be inconsistent with the UK’s Strategic Export Licensing Criteria, including where there is a clear risk that the items might be used to commit or facilitate a serious violation of International Humanitarian Law. HMG can and does refuse applications where there is a planned re-export that is inconsistent with the Criteria, or where we assess that the goods may be diverted to an undesirable destination.
There is no fixed allocation of funding for Horizon scandal redress payments. Each redress claim is considered on its merits and the Government is committed to ensuring all necessary funding is available to pay all claims as soon as they are agreed.
Yes, the Secretary of State for Business and Trade will publish an explanatory memorandum in relation to the Department’s Supplementary Estimates for 2023-24.
The £1.09 billion requested by the Department for Post Office related matters as part of Supplementary Estimates for 23/24 is split by £338.4 million Resource Departmental Expenditure Limit (RDEL), and £752.4 million non-cash Annually Managed Expenditure (AME).
The £338.4 million RDEL includes funding for redress to postmasters, investment costs to replace the Horizon IT system, delivery of the Horizon IT Inquiry and compensation schemes, Post Office’s corporation tax liabilities and the Group Litigation Order redress scheme.
The increase of £752.4 million AME budget is due to the expected increase in the provision for likely future costs relating to Post Office redress schemes. The forecast for the outstanding estimated liability is updated and agreed with HM Treasury on an annual basis.
This detail is shortly to be published in the Explanatory Memorandum for the Department.
Funding drawn down by the Department at the Supplementary Estimate relates only to value of expected redress settlements within this Financial Year, as well as other payments outlined above, and not to total amounts paid out to postmasters to date.
We will introduce primary legislation within a few weeks to quash convictions arising from the Horizon scandal.
The final cost of Horizon compensation will depend on the circumstances set out in individual claims. We are promising fair and equal treatment of postmasters, not a set amount of money. The amount we spend will depend on how many people come forward and the claims which are submitted.
The Government has to date committed a maximum of just over £1bn to ensure postmasters are compensated fairly. That is not a forecast: it is an estimate of the maximum Government funding which could be needed for compensation, which we have made in response to our obligation to make subsidies transparent.
The Department for Business and Trade’s resource allocation budget following the Supplementary Estimate for 2023/24 is:
Control Total |
| Full Yr Budget (£m) |
Resource DEL Admin |
| 513.1 |
Resource DEL Programme |
| 1,454.1 |
i. The Import of Goods (Control) Order 1954, together with licences made under it, do not make Chinese-origin firms the subject of any restrictions on trade and investment.
ii. Export controls apply to anyone exporting controlled items from the UK, regardless of country of origin. The Government assesses all export licence applications against the Strategic Export Licensing Criteria. We will not licence the export of equipment where to do so would be inconsistent with these Criteria.
iii. None. The Procurement Act is not due for commencement until Autumn 2024.
iv. Huawei
v. Eight final orders (which imposed conditions on, or blocked or unwound deals) issued involved acquirers linked to China. All notices of final orders are available on gov.uk.
We do not have this information as the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) has not yet entered into force.
The Accession Protocol for the UK’s entry into the CPTPP was signed on 16 July 2023. Entry into force will take place once the UK and the requisite number of CPTPP Parties have finished their legal procedures. We expect this to happen in the second half of 2024.
Joining CPTPP means that over 99% of current UK goods exports to CPTPP will be eligible for tariff-free trade.
This Government is currently in negotiations with eight partners – India, the Gulf Cooperation Council, Canada, Mexico, Israel, Switzerland, Greenland and the Republic of Korea. We also have plans to start negotiations with Turkey and the Maldives.
With the Machine of Government, Trade Negotiation Group increased its responsibility to cover wider trade policy and FTA implementation. In October 2023, DBT had 722 staff in the Trade Policy, Implementation and Negotiations Group.
HM Government does not publish data based on products or services, but individual refusals and the items that may have been refused under each one can be reviewed at https://www.gov.uk/guidance/strategic-export-controls-licensing-data via the Annual Reports, or via the Strategic Export Controls: Reports and Statistics website at https://www.exportcontroldb.trade.gov.uk/sdb2/fox/sdb/.
The following number of export licences with China listed as the end user destination were refused in each of the last five years:
Description of refused goods | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 |
Goods rated for Military use only | 2 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 13 |
Goods rated for non-Military use only | 71 | 67 | 89 | 112 | 238 |
Total | 73 | 69 | 92 | 113 | 251 |
As per the Atlantic Declaration, the UK and US have a shared objective in preventing our companies’ capital and expertise from fuelling technological advances that will enhance the military and intelligence capabilities of countries of concern. DBT, alongside other relevant departments, is assessing the potential national security risks to the UK posed by Outward Direct Investment, including within subsets of emerging technology. We have engaged with industry and posted guidance on GOV.UK
The Integrated Review 2023 is clear that the UK government supports a positive trade and investment relationship with China, where it is consistent with our interests, values, and national security.
We are reviewing the Presidential Executive Order to consider the impact on the UK and UK businesses and consulting with industry during this time. We understand the US policy remains in a consultative phase following the issuance of the Executive Order. As such, it is still under development.
The Department publishes its support to local government and other bodies as part of the annual report of the application of the Industrial Development Act 1982. This includes details of support to Local Enterprise Partnerships (and relevant Mayoral Combined Authorities) for the delivery of Growth Hubs under sections 11 and 12 of the Act. The budget for 2023/24 is £11.9 million. Future years’ budgets are subject to confirmation under the Department’s normal business planning processes.
As of June 2023, the National Security Strategic Investment Fund (NSSIF) has committed £220m to British Business Bank backed funds, of which £92m has been invested in 217 companies across twelve areas of interest. Private sector investors have invested £718m alongside NSSIF. The sectoral breakdown across the twelve areas of interest is as follows: Audio and Visual Processing £1.1m, Biorisk and Medtech £10.8m, Commercial Space, Platforms and Robotics £1.6m, Computational Behavioural Analysis £1.3m, Cyber Security £14.0m, Data Analytics and AI £28.6m, Financial Technologies £21.7m, Identity Technologies £6.8m, IOT and the Evolving Environment £1.0m, Novel Data Transport £0.1m, Quantum Technologies £2.1m, Sensors, Novel Materials and Power Sources £2.9m
a) The Department for Business and Trade (DBT) and other departments have assessed the high-level strategy published by the EU, which broadly aligns with UK interests. DBT is engaging closely with the EU and Member States across this agenda at ministerial and senior official level, as well as in technical discussions on specific policy areas.
b) Executive Order 14017 instructs heads of US agencies to complete reviews of supply chain resilience. It does not directly impact UK policies. This Government has been proactively working with allies including the US on resilience, including reducing vulnerabilities in critical technologies and on clean energy supply chains through our Atlantic Declaration.
(a) The Import of Goods (Control) Order 1954, together with licences made under it, do not make Chinese-origin firms the subject of any restrictions on trade and investment.
(b) Export controls apply to anyone exporting controlled items from the UK, regardless of country of origin. The Government assesses all export licence applications against the Strategic Export Licensing Criteria. We will not licence the export of equipment where to do so would be inconsistent with these Criteria.
(c) None. The Procurement Act is not due for commencement until Autumn 2024.
(d) Huawei
(e) Eight final orders (which imposed conditions on, or blocked or unwound deals) issued involved acquirers linked to China. All notices of final orders are available on gov.uk.
All ministerial meetings with external organisations are published in the quarterly transparency returns.
Steps are being taken by the UK government to protect national security through public procurement including the creation of a permanent National Security Unit for Procurement within the Cabinet Office. As part of the Procurement Act, the Government will introduce new, mandatory debarments for specific types of contracts where the supplier poses an unacceptable risk to national security. The Cabinet Office have committed to publish guidance to assist contracting authorities in assessing national security risk and using their exclusion powers.
Ministers for the Department for Business and Trade (DBT) can control imports into the UK through various means, notably the Open General Import Licence. This permits the importation of all goods into the United Kingdom, subject to various exceptions which include goods such as firearms and nuclear materials. These exceptions are granted under the Import of Goods (Control) Order 1954.
DBT does not have policy responsibility for all import controls — The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office is responsible for Government policy on sanctions, although relevant departments work closely together on this.
The UK’s import controls regime is consistent with its domestic and international obligations. Controls can be used for numerous reasons including national security.
The government defines a critical supply chain as one that is vital to the UK’s economy, national security, or essential services. This covers a range of supply chains from critical minerals to essential medicines.
The government does not publish details on which supply chains are critical due to the sensitive nature of this information. My department will shortly be publishing a Critical Imports and Supply Chains Strategy, which will outline the steps that the UK has taken and will be taking to enhance critical imports and supply chain resilience.
The Export Control Act 2002 provides broad powers to control and licence exports, trade, transfers of technology and technical assistance for military goods and technology.
All export licence applications are assessed on a case-by-case basis against the Strategic Export Licensing Criteria (SELC). These Criteria provide a thorough risk assessment framework, which requires ECJU to think hard about the possible impact of providing equipment, and the capabilities it could support.
HM Government will not grant an export licence if to do so would be inconsistent with these Criteria, including if there is a risk of diversion to a weapon of mass destruction or military programme of concern, or if the export could present a risk to the UK’s national security.
The Procurement Act will enable Cabinet Office Ministers to mandate that a supplier is debarred from specific types of contracts where the supplier poses an unacceptable risk to national security. The Telecommunications (Security) Act 2021 enables Department of Science, Innovation & Technology Ministers to impose, monitor and enforce controls on public communications providers’ use of designated vendors’ goods, services and facilities within UK public telecommunications networks.
The National Cyber Security Centre and the newly formed National Protective Security Authority provide expert advice and guidance to both public and private organisations to identify risks and vulnerabilities to the UK’s national infrastructure.
The Department for Business and Trade does not hold data regarding the value of accumulated (a) grants (b) loans and (c) equity investments made to firms operating in each of the sensitive areas of the economy set out under the National Security and Investment Act 2021.
The Annual Report of the National Security and Investment Act, published by the Cabinet Office, provides details of notifications received from firms operating by sector of the economy and country of origin.
Details of major funding programmes, including those administered by local government or other local bodies, are available on Gov.uk.
A reliable supply of semiconductors is essential to the UK economy, enabling everything from the energy network to our communications infrastructure. The Government supports foreign direct investment into the sector, but where necessary will not hesitate to take action to prevent national security risks using the full range of levers available, including the National Security and Investment Act.
The government has set itself a mission that, by 2030, every part of England that wants one will have a devolution deal, with powers at or approaching the highest level of devolution, with a simplified, long-term funding settlement. At Spring Budget, the government announced the trailblazer devolution deals with the Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) and West Midlands Combined Authorities (WMCA), which included a commitment to introduce single funding settlements at the next Spending Review for these MCAs. At Autumn Statement, the government published a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with GMCA and WMCA, setting out how the single settlements will work. The government also announced an ambitious new ‘level 4’ of the devolution framework, including a single transport funding settlement for eligible institutions, and a ‘consolidated’ pot at the next multi-year SR covering two DLUHC investment themes – local growth and place, and housing and regeneration. Following successful delivery of the ‘consolidated’ pot, and learning from the trailblazers, Level 4 institutions will then become eligible to receive a single settlement from the subsequent multi-year Spending Review.
Details of major funding programmes, including those administered by local government or other local bodies, are available on gov.uk.
DSIT’s £100 million Innovation Accelerators programme is accelerating the growth of three high-potential innovation clusters in Glasgow, Greater Manchester and the West Midlands.
The programme is pioneering a new model of R&D decision-making that empowers local leaders to harness innovation in support of regional economic growth. Partnerships of local government, business and R&D institutions in the three city regions led on selecting 26 projects for funding, working closely with Innovate UK.
DSIT also provides grant funding to local authorities for telecoms R&D projects through its Future Networks Programme.
The National Semiconductor Strategy sets out the government’s approach to growing our domestic semiconductor sector, safeguarding the UK against supply chain disruption and protecting our national security.
The government recognises that the issues facing the global semiconductor sector cannot be solved by any one country alone. We have committed to work closely with our international partners, both multilaterally and bilaterally, to encourage greater transparency in the global semiconductor supply chain, improve supply chain resilience, and establish areas of collaboration for mutual advantage.
In delivering this vision, the government has already announced ambitious international partnership agreements with the US and Japan in 2023. These agreements enhance our collaboration on supply chain resilience, as well as enabling our world class researchers to collaborate on cutting edge semiconductor technologies and supporting our companies to develop new business relationships. We are also working with other governments and industry in the OECD “Informal Exchange Network on semiconductors”, to multilateralise efforts to understand and improve semiconductor supply chain resilience.
BEIS does not set spending budgets for specific geographical regions. Where spend is ODA eligible then details are published at:
Specific spending details including departmental and geographic breakdowns are in this published file:
HM Land Registry holds information on the legal owner of registered estates. This may be a corporate or an individual proprietor.
HM Land Registry notes the country of incorporation for overseas companies in its Land Register. It does not hold information on the nationality of individuals. While some individuals have provided non-UK correspondence addresses, this does not necessarily indicate nationality.
HM Land Registry is unable to provide a breakdown of the many interests and estates in registered land.
Published information on overseas companies that own property in England and Wales is accessible here: https://use-land-property-data.service.gov.uk/datasets/ocod.
HM Land Registry Price Paid Data available at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/price-paid-data-downloads contains information on property sales, broken down by local authority. The last three years’ data is provided with this answer in a separate spreadsheet. In summary, the breakdown is as set out in the table below.
Year | Residential | Residential classified as new build |
2022 | 337,540 | 3,198 |
2021 | 964,359 | 54,607 |
2020 | 729,743 | 85,167 |
2019 | 839,999 | 112,303 |
We will place a detailed breakdown between UK and overseas companies, and individuals providing UK and non-UK correspondence addresses as soon as possible in the Libraries of the House.
Business activities including listing and trading in shares, investment and acquisitions, imports and exports, and data processing are subject to a range of legal and regulatory requirements. Some of these are the responsibility of the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy and others are the responsibility of other ministers. Where these requirements are not met, the Government stands ready to use appropriate compliance measures and enforcement powers.
The table below shows the Department’s 21-22 spending programmes, which it devolves for administration to local government in England and other local spending bodies. Budgets for future years have not yet been agreed.
PROGRAMME (£m) | BUDGET | 21-22 |
|
|
|
Growth Hubs | RDEL | 12.0 |
Local Enterprise Partnerships | RDEL | 10.0 |
Made Smarter | RDEL | 8.0 |
Manchester Earnback | RDEL | 10.0 |
Peer Networks | RDEL | 9.0 |
Business Basics | RDEL | 3.0 |
Local Net Zero Hubs | RDEL | 7.2 |
Green Homes Grant - Local Authority Delivery | CDEL | 280.4 |
Homes Upgrade Grant (HUG) | CDEL | 152.2 |
HNDU pipeline and related expenditure | RDEL | 6.1 |
Heat Networks Transformation Programme | CDEL | 117.7 |
Heat Networks Efficiency Scheme (HNES) | RDEL | 1.6 |
Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund (SHDF) | CDEL | 178.5 |
As of 1 April 2021, the proportion of all registered companies in the UK, having not listed an ultimate beneficial owner (Person of Significant Control) are 0.25% of the effective company register.
The Government has provided an unprecedented support package totalling over £280 billion for individuals, businesses and organisations. This includes billions in loans, grants, and business rates relief. We have also published Safer Workplaces guidance for a number of sectors, supporting businesses and employees to operate in a Covid-secure way. Businesses can also access tailored advice through the Business Support Helpline, the Business Support website or through local Growth Hubs in England.
The Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme, Coronavirus Large Business Interruption Loan Scheme and the Bounce Back Loan Scheme are all delegated schemes introduced by BEIS and overseen in conjunction with the British Business Bank.
As of 24 January 2021:
Between March and September last year, over £11.68 billion was paid out to over a million business premises under the Small Business Grants Fund (SBGF), the Retail, Hospitality and Leisure Grants Fund (RHLGF) and the Local Authority Discretionary Grants Fund (LADGF). Grant funding has also been made available via Local Authorities to help businesses forced to close due to national and localised restrictions, and for businesses severely impacted by restrictions even if not required to close. This includes the Closed Businesses Lockdown Payment (CBLP), the Additional Restrictions Grant (ARG), and the different Local Restrictions Support Grant (LRSG) schemes.
We understand from our engagement with installers that many companies have taken on additional staff to deliver work under the scheme, which may include apprentices. There will be an independent evaluation of the processes and effectiveness of the scheme, including a comprehensive analysis of scheme outcomes and evidence collected from scheme applicants and other stakeholders.
As of 9th February, there were 927 installers registered and able to undertake work on the Green Homes Grant Voucher scheme.
Official scheme statistics will be published in due course.
As of 8th February, 71,953 applications have been received for the Green Homes Grant Voucher Scheme, with 22,165 vouchers having been approved and issued to customers.
Official scheme statistics will be published in due course. These will be developed over releases to reflect more scheme information.