Asked by: Joshua Reynolds (Liberal Democrat - Maidenhead)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what digital resources his Department provides to support small and medium-sized enterprises with exporting.
Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Department for Business and Trade has integrated its support for SMEs in a single, accessible place – the Business Growth Service – making it easier and quicker for businesses to access the right support at the right time.
Business.gov.uk hosts our online export offer and is the route into DBT’s wider network of export support. Businesses can access a wealth of information on exporting, including advice on paperwork, rules of origin, customs duties, and regulations.
The support available also includes the Business Academy, which offers free online training through webinars to help businesses build market knowledge and export capability.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Reform UK - Romford)
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 cumulative impact of increases in (a) business rates, (b) wages, (c) energy costs and (d) animal feed costs on zoological collections.
Answered by Kate Dearden - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Department for Business and Trade has not made an assessment on the cumulative impact of these costs on zoological collections.
The Government is committed to supporting businesses and charities. To do so, the Government is introducing new permanently lower tax rates for eligible retail, hospitality and leisure (RHL) properties. This includes zoos and aquariums with rateable values below £500,000 that are open to members of the public. These new tax rates are worth nearly £900 million per year, and will benefit over 750,000 properties.
The Government published their full Impact Assessment for the 2026 rates, outlining the potential effects that increases to the National Minimum Wage and National Living Wage may have on businesses.
As well, Ofgem has launched a Cost Allocation Recovery Review to consider how energy system costs can be recovered from consumers, including businesses, in a fairer and more efficient way in the future energy system.
Asked by: Tessa Munt (Liberal Democrat - Wells and Mendip Hills)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what is his Department's policy on the recycling of aluminium in the UK.
Answered by Chris McDonald - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The UK 2024 Criticality Assessment, commissioned by the Department for Business and Trade, recognises aluminium as a critical mineral essential to the UK’s green energy transition.
The Government recognises the importance of scrap metals, including aluminium. As we develop the Circular Economy Growth Plan, we will consider the evidence for action right across the economy and evaluate what interventions may be needed.
Asked by: Lord Bird (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what action they are taking to reduce regional differences in life expectancy; and what steps they are taking to account for housing, employment and environmental factors in health policy.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is committed to increasing the amount of time people spend in good health and to preventing premature deaths, with an ambitious commitment to halve the healthy life expectancy gap between the richest and poorest regions.
Our 10-Year Health Plan for England sets out a reimagined service designed to tackle inequalities in both access and outcomes, as well as to give everyone, no matter who they are or where they come from, the means to engage with the health service on their own terms.
The 10-Year Health Plan and the Environmental Improvement Plan set out how the Government will take action to reduce exposure to harmful emissions of air pollutants. This includes action on domestic burning, on which the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs have recently launched a consultation.
The 10-Year Health Plan also sets out actions to address poor quality housing and improve the standard of rented homes, alongside £15 billion of investment announced in the Warm Homes Plan. £5 billion of this will be targeted at low-income and fuel poor households. This will help to make homes warmer, more comfortable, and more energy-efficient, which in turn will improve health and reduce health inequalities.
Further to this, the Government recognises that good-quality employment is an important determinant of good health. Sir Charlie Mayfield has submitted the Keep Britain Working review, which highlights how crucial it is to support people to stay healthy and in work.
In partnership with the Department for Business and Trade and the Department for Work and Pensions, we are rapidly translating Sir Charlie’s key recommendations into action.
Asked by: Harriett Baldwin (Conservative - West Worcestershire)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, on how many occasions have Ministers in his Department have met with representatives of Royal Mail since September 2025.
Answered by Blair McDougall - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
Ministers from the Department for Business and Trade have met three times with representatives from Royal Mail since September 2025.
Earlier this month, I met Royal Mail’s CEO, Alistair Cochrane. The Secretary of State subsequently met Daniel Křetínský, the CEO of EP Group, which owns Royal Mail’s parent company, International Distribution Services (IDS).
In November 2025, I met Mr Cochrane and Martin Seidenberg, the CEO of IDS.
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough, Oadby and Wigston)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, with reference to (a) SOPS 1.1. in the Department's 2024/5 Annual Report, a breakdown of the £209,590,000 spent in gross administration costs on capability and (b) Table 1, Annex A: Common Core Tables in the Department's 2020/21 Annual Report, a breakdown of the £118,965,000 spent on Capability in 2019/20, on what basis there is a difference between the two figures.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The 2024-25 outturn for Capability gross administration costs is broken down as below:
Staff costs* | £84.078m |
Other operating costs | £43.484m |
Purchase of goods and services* | £40.218m |
Matrix programme* | £28.295m |
Depreciation and other non-cash expenditure | £11.455m |
Other costs, including finance costs and grants | £2.059m |
Total | £209.590m |
*As one of DSIT’s major projects, Matrix programme costs have been presented separately i.e. deducted from other totals above.
2019-20 outturn for the Capability line as shown within the 2020-21 Annual Report and Account was prepared for the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, DSIT’s predecessor department. Since then, multiple Machinery of Government (MoG) changes have taken place, resulting in significant movements of policy responsibilities across government departments, including DSIT, DESNZ, DBT, DCMS and the Cabinet Office.
It should be highlighted that the Matrix programme - representing a material element of 2024-25 expenditure has only come into operation in more recent years. For these reasons, the two financial years are therefore not readily comparable.
Asked by: Lord Teverson (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many complaints they have received about the operation of the systems and apps used to obtain a unique personal code for returns to Companies House.
Answered by Baroness Lloyd of Effra - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
Since 26 January 2025, 2.86 million people have obtained a personal code for Companies House. We have received 522 complaints relating to identity verification systems and apps, 93% of which were responded to in a timely manner, within the complaints response timescale agreed with the Department for Business and Trade.
Asked by: Mark Garnier (Conservative - Wyre Forest)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps he is taking to help ensure that the UK can attract private sector investment in nationally signification infrastructure projects.
Answered by Chris McDonald - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Department for Business and Trade is taking active steps to attract private sector investment into nationally significant infrastructure projects. Through the expanded Office for Investment, we provide enhanced relationship management for major and sovereign investors, supported by strengthened business development teams that work closely with delivery partners to originate and progress high-quality projects.
Under the Government’s 10-Year Infrastructure Strategy, the Strategic Investment Opportunities Unit within the OfI identifies and develops demand-led opportunities, aligning them with investor priorities. In partnership with NISTA, we promote priority infrastructure projects with strong commercial potential to suitable institutional investors, helping to unlock long-term capital at scale.
Asked by: Iqbal Mohamed (Independent - Dewsbury and Batley)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, how many items of protective body armour his Department has supplied for use by journalists operating in Gaza since October 2023.
Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Department for Business and Trade does not supply body armour, and the export of body armour for personal protection when accompanying its user (for their own use) is not subject to export control.
Nonetheless the Department has approved 12 licences for the export of protective body armour for use by news organisations in Israel or Palestine since October 2023. Of these, 9 relate to Media Open Individual Licences which allow export to a wide range of countries. Similar equipment has also been licensed for export for use by NGOs in the region.
The UK is appalled by the extremely high number of fatalities, arrests and detentions of media workers in the State of Palestine. We have called on all parties to fully uphold International Humanitarian Law and ensure protection of civilians including journalists.
Asked by: Suella Braverman (Reform UK - Fareham and Waterlooville)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, whether his Department has met with representatives of the eco‑homes and retrofit sector to discuss the risk of redundancies arising from the time period between Energy Company Obligation and its successor scheme.
Answered by Martin McCluskey - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The government recognises that ending ECO presents challenges for the supply chain. We will support the transition to opportunities provided by the Warm Homes Plan, in particular the additional £1.5 billion for upgrading low-income households.
For this additional funding, we will use the procurement regime for all new funding to support the retrofit workforce affected by the closure of ECO, working closely with the retrofit supply chain, housing associations and local authorities.
Officials are also working with the Department for Business and Trade on support that can be provided to employees and companies in the construction sector during this time.