Asked by: Martin Wrigley (Liberal Democrat - Newton Abbot)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether he plans to bring forwards an alternative to the Audit Reform and Corporate Governance Bill.
Answered by Blair McDougall - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The UK is a world leader in audit quality and corporate governance. We will bolster this further by launching a consultation to modernise, simplify and streamline the UK's corporate reporting framework, with the ambition to make the UK's reporting regime the most proportionate in the world. We also intend to legislate to put the Financial Reporting Council on a proper statutory footing when parliamentary time allows.
Asked by: Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they plan to take to mitigate the risk of further avoidable corporate failures pending the introduction of strengthened audit and governance regulations.
Answered by Baroness Lloyd of Effra - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The quality of audit regulation and audit itself has seen considerable improvement in the last eight years following the collapse of Carillion; however, we will continue to work closely with the Financial Reporting Council to keep improving the audit market. The government is committed to good governance, and the UK is a world leader in corporate governance. We will take a further step in this direction by launching a consultation to modernise, simplify and streamline the UK’s corporate reporting framework, with the ambition to make the UK’s reporting regime the most proportionate in the world.
Asked by: Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact on jobs, growth and investment of major corporate collapses linked to audit and governance deficiencies over the past decade.
Answered by Baroness Lloyd of Effra - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The Government has not made such an assessment. At one level, almost all corporate collapses can be linked to governance deficiencies, since company directors have a duty to promote the success of the company. Audit deficiencies tend to exacerbate problems rather than being the cause of a company’s collapse. As an example of the impact of a major corporate collapse over the past decade, the failure of Carillion left approximately £4.5bn of debt, affecting around 7,000 first-tier suppliers and contractors, and displacing 19,000 UK jobs.
Asked by: Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask His Majesty's Government when they intend to publish their proposals for a modernised corporate reporting framework.
Answered by Baroness Lloyd of Effra - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
On 21 October 2025, the government announced its intention to launch a consultation to modernise, simplify and streamline the UK’s corporate reporting framework, delivering the most proportionate framework in the world. The consultation will be issued shortly.
Asked by: Sarah Edwards (Labour - Tamworth)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether Multi-Academy Trust boards are permitted to redact minutes of board meetings that relate to the use of public funds; what guidance her Department issues on transparency and redaction of trust governance documents; and what assessment she has made of the adequacy of current practices.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The Academy Trust Governance Guide outlines that the trust board is responsible for being open and transparent about its decisions and actions. This guide is accessible at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/academy-trust-governance-guide.
The Academy Trust Handbook and trust’s articles of association state that trusts must make available on request for inspection the agenda for board, local committees/governing bodies and committee meetings, approved minutes of each meeting, and any report, document or other paper considered at each meeting.
Trusts may exclude from its records material which, by reason of its nature, the trustees are satisfied should remain confidential, such as names of employees or pupils. The trust must comply with the Data Protection Act 2018 and UK General Data Protection Regulations.
To monitor financial oversight, trusts must submit an annual report and accounts in accordance with the Charity Commission’s Statement of Recommended Practice and the departments Accounts Direction to the department.
The requirements set out in the Academy Trust Handbook are reviewed annually.
Asked by: Sarah Olney (Liberal Democrat - Richmond Park)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what assessment his Department has made of the estimated costs saved to businesses following the cancellation of the Audit Reform and Corporate Governance bill.
Answered by Kate Dearden - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Department for Business and Trade has not made a full assessment of the costs to business of the policies previously intended to form part of the Audit Reform and Corporate Governance Bill. Most of those costs would have come from the expansion of the Public Interest Entity audit regime to private companies with 1000 or more employees and £1 billion or more in turnover.
Asked by: Callum Anderson (Labour - Buckingham and Bletchley)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what progress his Department has made on the draft Audit and Corporate Governance Reform Bill.
Answered by Blair McDougall - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Department does not now intend to publish a draft Audit and Corporate Governance Reform Bill in this session of Parliament. Both houses of Parliament were informed of this in July 2025. Priority is being given to measures that reduce administrative costs for business, including through the Department’s work on modernising corporate reporting.
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to page 66 of the Cabinet Office Annual report and accounts 2024-2025, HC1372, 23 October 2025, whether the Executive Committee affirmed and documented its understanding of the Department’s purpose and its own role and responsibilities in a board operating framework.
Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
There is no requirement in the Corporate Governance Code for Executive Committees to have a Board Operating Framework and so the Executive Committee does not have a board operating framework.
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the answer of 26 November 2025 to Question 92016 on Civil Service: Management, for what reason the Terms of Reference are not subject to external publication.
Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
The Corporate governance in central government departments: code of good practice (2017) does not require publication of board and committee Terms of Reference.
Asked by: Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask His Majesty's Government why the draft Audit Reform and Corporate Governance Bill has not yet been published; and when they plan to publish it.
Answered by Baroness Lloyd of Effra - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
Due to the current volume of legislation before Parliament, the draft Audit Reform and Corporate Governance Bill will not be published for pre-legislative scrutiny in this session. Both houses of Parliament were informed of this in July 2025. The Government’s plans for legislation in subsequent sessions will be set out in the usual way through the King’s Speech.