Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, if he will publish the target response time between (a) notification being made to the Investment Security Unit and (b) response from that Unit; and what his Department's latest assessment is of that Unit's performance against that target.

The National Security and Investment Act 2021 requires the Secretary of State to prepare an annual report, including information on the numbers of notifications accepted and rejected, the average number of working days taken to accept or reject them, and the sectors in which they fall.

The first annual report covering 4 January 2022 – 31 March 2022 is currently being prepared and will be laid before both Houses and published in due course.

The Government does not publish individual notifications in recognition of the fact that most acquisitions raise no national security risks and are primarily a matter for the parties.