Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the decline in business confidence reported by the IoD Directors’ Economic Confidence Index and the Business Confidence Monitor of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales; and to what extent this decline has been influenced by (1) the Employment Rights Bill, (2) rises in employer National Insurance contributions, and (3) rises in business rates.

The Government monitors a wide range of indicators to assess the UK’s economic performance. Multiple surveys and indicators are released by different data providers every month. Many of these are volatile and can move materially from month to month.

Official economic forecasts and assessments of policy impacts are set out in the Office for Budget Responsibility’s Economic and Fiscal Outlook documents, the most recent of which was published in March 2025.