To match an exact phrase, use quotation marks around the search term. eg. "Parliamentary Estate". Use "OR" or "AND" as link words to form more complex queries.


Keep yourself up-to-date with the latest developments by exploring our subscription options to receive notifications direct to your inbox

Written Question
Department for Business and Trade: Pay
Thursday 13th August 2026

Asked by: Richard Fuller (Conservative - North Bedfordshire)

Question to the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade, for each Arm's Length Body (ALB) their Department sponsors, (a) how many people are employed in the following bands of total earnings, or nearest equivalent, (i) under £25,000, (ii) £ 25,001 to £ 35,000, (iii) £35,001 to £50,270, (iv) £50,271 to £100,00, (v) £100,001 to £ 125,140 and (vi) over £125,140, and (b) what estimate they have made of the total unfunded public sector pension liability.

Answered by Chris McDonald - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

  • The information requested is not held centrally, the number of employees in each grade for ALB is published in the DBT: workforce management information. The latest information is May 2026. This publication provides headcount by grade and not by salary band as requested. Headcount and payroll data structure is recorded following the Cabinet Office guidance for all the Civil Service.
  • The Principal Civil Service Pension Scheme (PCSPS) and the Civil Servants and Others Pension Scheme (CSOPS) – known as “alpha” – are unfunded multi-employer defined benefit schemes but the Department is unable to identify its share of the underlying assets and liabilities. The Government Actuary’s Department’s report is contained within Civil Superannuation annual account 2024 to 2025 - GOV.UK

Written Question
Department for Business and Trade: Equality
Thursday 13th August 2026

Asked by: Richard Fuller (Conservative - North Bedfordshire)

Question to the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade, how many FTE equivalent staff in (a) their Department and (b) each Arm's Length Body it sponsors are dedicated to fulfilment of the Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED); what the (i) annual employment and (ii) total annual cost incurred is as a result of PSED and compliance with PSED for each of those bodies; what the outputs are from the work of PSED teams and personnel dedicated to PSED; and if they will publish an assessment of their Department's compliance with PSED.

Answered by Chris McDonald - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

  • The Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED) is a statutory obligation that applies across the public sector. As a procedural duty to have "due regard" to equality considerations, compliance is an on-going responsibility rather than a one-off task. It is integrated into the day-to-day development and delivery of all policies and services; as such, it is a core responsibility of all civil servants across government, rather than being restricted to dedicated personnel.
  • Because it is a continuous, procedural duty applicable to all civil servants, it is impossible to disaggregate the specific fraction of time or cost dedicated solely to Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED) compliance versus general policy and operational work. Attempting to calculate an FTE or cost figure would incur disproportionate cost and still be highly inaccurate.

Written Question
Living Wage and Minimum Wage: Publicity
Thursday 4th June 2026

Asked by: Richard Fuller (Conservative - North Bedfordshire)

Question to the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, with reference to the Government public awareness campaign entitled Millions got a pay rise, what is the total budget for the communications campaign, and over what period; what communications channels have been used; what external agencies have been contracted; and what was the process by which the communications campaign was signed off under communications spending controls.

Answered by Kate Dearden - Minister of State (Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade)

The 2025 National Minimum Wage and National Living Wage campaign ran from 1 April to 31 May 2025 with a total budget of £650,000. The objective was to ensure workers understood their new pay entitlement to prevent underpayment. The agencies Pablo Unlimited, Wavemaker and OMD were used to support the delivery of this campaign. This campaign was approved under Cabinet Office’s advertising, marketing and communications spending controls. Communication channels used were:

  • Online digital display advertising
  • Digital online video (YouTube)
  • Social media (Snapchat, Meta - Facebook/Instagram, Reddit)
  • Radio
  • Out of home advertising: Train card panels in national rail/bus interiors, beermats in 1000 pubs and digital screens in gyms
  • Paid search (Google)
  • Use of six digital influencers (Instagram/TikTok)

The Department for Business and Trade has not run any paid campaign on the national minimum wage and national living wage in 2026.


Written Question
Competition and Markets Authority: Costs
Friday 22nd May 2026

Asked by: Richard Fuller (Conservative - North Bedfordshire)

Question to the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, if she will provide (a) staff costs, (b) non-staff costs, (c) total costs and (d) Full-Time Equivalent for the Competition and Markets Authority's Sustainability Taskforce for the financial years (i) 2023-2024, (ii) 2024-2025 and (iii) 2025-2026.

Answered by Kate Dearden - Minister of State (Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade)

The information requested is as follows:

FY

Staff Costs

Non-Staff Costs

Total Cost

Full-Time Equivalent

2023-24

£418,715.01

£3,335.36

£422,050.37

5.4

2024-25

£342,306.01

£677.18

£342,983.19

3.9

The CMA is not able to provide figures for 2025/26 before its accounts for the financial year are finalised and published in July.


Written Question
Supply Chains: Finance and Staff
Monday 18th May 2026

Asked by: Richard Fuller (Conservative - North Bedfordshire)

Question to the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, with reference to the Answer of 21 April 2026 to Question 124883 on the Supply Chain Centre, how much has been allocated to the Centre in (a) 2025-2026, (b) 2026-2027 and (c) 2027-2028 financial years; and how many full-time equivalent staff it (i) currently has and (ii) will have at its formal launch.

Answered by Chris Bryant - Secretary of State for Northern Ireland

We expect to launch the Supply Chain Centre formally later this year. At present, the team has a headcount of 33, with an associated budget of £2,778,886. Budgets for future years will be set at a later date.