Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade, what assessment his Department has made of the level of electricity costs faced by eligible manufacturing businesses after the British Industrial Competitiveness Scheme is implemented compared with those faced by comparable businesses in European countries.
Answered by Blair McDougall - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade) (Jointly with the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The British Industrial Competitiveness Scheme will reduce electricity costs for eligible manufacturing businesses by exempting them from the indirect costs of the Renewables Obligation (RO), Feed-In Tariffs (FIT), and Capacity Market (CM).
This support is expected to reduce electricity costs by up to £40 per megawatt-hour, equivalent to up to 25% of a business’s electricity bill, helping to bring electricity costs faced by eligible manufacturers more in line with those in other European economies.
Asked by: Alex Mayer (Labour - Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard)
Question to the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade, what plans he has to introduce environmental protections and animal welfare provisions as part of (a) future; and (b) existing Free Trade Agreements.
Answered by Blair McDougall - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade) (Jointly with the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Government continues to seek fair and balanced trade deals that protect the environment; uphold high animal welfare standards; and provide new export opportunities to grow the UK’s world class agri-food and drinks sector.
We continue to advance ambitious environmental and climate objectives, including net zero, through our FTAs, and the UK has secured precedent-setting provisions on animal welfare in several of its deals. We remain committed to maintaining high levels of environmental protection and upholding high animal welfare standards in new trade agreements.
Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of the British Industrial Competitiveness Scheme in helping to tackle the underlying causes of high electricity costs for manufacturing businesses.
Answered by Blair McDougall - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade) (Jointly with the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The British Industrial Competitiveness Scheme will reduce electricity costs for eligible manufacturing businesses by exempting them from the indirect costs of the Renewables Obligation (RO), Feed-In Tariffs (FIT), and Capacity Market (CM).
This support is expected to reduce electricity costs by up to £40 per megawatt-hour, equivalent to up to 25% of a business’s electricity bill, helping to bring electricity costs faced by eligible manufacturers more in line with those in other European economies.
Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade, what estimate he has made of the cost to the public purse of administering the British Industrial Competitiveness Scheme during the 2026-27 financial year and each subsequent financial year for which an estimate has been made.
Answered by Blair McDougall - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade) (Jointly with the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Department has established a dedicated operational team to process applications for the British Industrial Competitiveness Scheme and has built flexibility into its resourcing model to respond to application volumes. Staffing requirements and administration costs will continue to be kept under review as the Scheme is implemented.
Detailed information on staffing levels and estimated administration costs is internal management information and has not been published.
Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade, how many staff in his Department are responsible for administering the British Industrial Competitiveness Scheme.
Answered by Blair McDougall - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade) (Jointly with the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Department has established a dedicated operational team to process applications for the British Industrial Competitiveness Scheme and has built flexibility into its resourcing model to respond to application volumes. Staffing requirements and administration costs will continue to be kept under review as the Scheme is implemented.
Detailed information on staffing levels and estimated administration costs is internal management information and has not been published.
Asked by: Martin Wrigley (Liberal Democrat - Newton Abbot)
Question to the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade, whether his Department operates a software asset management system to maintain a central record of its software licences; and when his Department last completed a review of its software estate to identify dependencies and redundancies.
Answered by Kate Dearden - Minister of State (Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade)
The Department does not currently operate a dedicated Software Asset Management (SAM) system that maintains a single, central record of all software licences across its estate.
The Department most recently conducted a review of its software estate in 2025 through an application portfolio exercise, which consolidated data from multiple sources to improve understanding of software and applications in use across the Department. As part of a broader technology improvement programme, the department aims to have all software assets catalogued, mapped and proactively managed by the end of 2027.
Asked by: Lord McCobb (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to secure the restart of the three INEOS acetyls plants at Saltend Chemicals Park, Hull, which were mothballed in September; and whether they plan to convene a meeting in Hull between Ministers, INEOS, the Leaders of Hull and East Riding Councils, local MPs and trade unions for that purpose.
Answered by Lord Leong - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade)
The Department is in regular contact with Ineos about the idling of its assets at Saltend, Hull. This includes how we can work together to help support the business to remain competitive in the longer term. It would be inappropriate to say anything further publicly at this stage, given it is a private enterprise and a live commercial matter. We will continue to work closely with industry to support the chemical sector, this includes via the Critical Chemicals Resilience Fund which we expect to be available later this year.
Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade, what feedback his Department has received from businesses on the British Industrial Competitiveness Scheme eligibility checker since its launch.
Answered by Blair McDougall - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade) (Jointly with the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Department monitors use of the British Industrial Competitiveness Scheme eligibility checker, including usage, completion rates, indicative outcomes and user feedback. Detailed information on the use of the checker is management information and has not been published. The Department has not yet made a formal assessment of the reasons individual users may choose not to complete a check.
Performance metrics for departmental digital services are published monthly – some of the datapoints requested will be available at BIST digital service performance indicators - GOV.UK once reporting on the service commences.
Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade, what assessment his Department has made of the reasons users of the British Industrial Competitiveness Scheme eligibility checker do not complete the check.
Answered by Blair McDougall - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade) (Jointly with the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Department monitors use of the British Industrial Competitiveness Scheme eligibility checker, including usage, completion rates, indicative outcomes and user feedback. Detailed information on the use of the checker is management information and has not been published. The Department has not yet made a formal assessment of the reasons individual users may choose not to complete a check.
Performance metrics for departmental digital services are published monthly – some of the datapoints requested will be available at BIST digital service performance indicators - GOV.UK once reporting on the service commences.
Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade, how many businesses have used the British Industrial Competitiveness Scheme eligibility checker since its launch.
Answered by Blair McDougall - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade) (Jointly with the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Department monitors use of the British Industrial Competitiveness Scheme eligibility checker, including usage, completion rates, indicative outcomes and user feedback. Detailed information on the use of the checker is management information and has not been published. The Department has not yet made a formal assessment of the reasons individual users may choose not to complete a check.
Performance metrics for departmental digital services are published monthly – some of the datapoints requested will be available at BIST digital service performance indicators - GOV.UK once reporting on the service commences.