Asked by: Andrew Griffith (Conservative - Arundel and South Downs)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what assumptions his Department uses regarding cost pass-through to consumers when assessing the impact of new trade-related regulatory requirements on businesses, and whether those assumptions have been revised since the publication of the Department’s 2024 Green Book-aligned appraisal guidance.
Answered by Blair McDougall - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
Addressing regulatory barriers to trade can help reduce costs for UK businesses trading internationally and support economic growth. Cost pass‑through to consumers is subject to uncertainty and may differ significantly depending on market conditions, products and supply chains in scope. Reflecting the Green Book’s principles‑based approach to appraisal, which emphasises judgement and proportionality where impacts are uncertain, cost pass-through impacts are considered on a case‑by‑case basis where evidence indicates that they can be assessed.
Asked by: Andrew Griffith (Conservative - Arundel and South Downs)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, if he will make an assessment of the potential impact of regulatory divergence from the EU on UK exporters since July 2024, broken down by sector and by firm size.
Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
No, we will not be making such a precise assessment, but the EU is our closest partner and biggest trading market and we are committed to making trade easier by removing unnecessary barriers to trade. To date, many UK regulations continue to align in the main with EU regulations. We are aware that EU divergence is an important issue for many UK exporters to the EU. We continue to monitor potential instances of divergence and undertake assessments on a case-by-case basis.
Asked by: Andrew Griffith (Conservative - Arundel and South Downs)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, how many secondary legislation (a) laid and (b) planned under the Employment Rights Act 2025 have been submitted to the Regulatory Policy Committee.
Answered by Kate Dearden - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Regulatory Policy Committee (RPC) does not review secondary legislation. Where applicable under Better Regulation guidance, the RPC produces opinions of Option Assessments and Impact Assessments to help Government ensure that the evidence and analysis in them is sufficiently robust. As is best practice, my department will adhere to the Better Regulation Framework on the implementation of the Employment Rights Act 2025.
Asked by: Andrew Griffith (Conservative - Arundel and South Downs)
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 potential impact on domestic British glass manufactures as a result of the decision by UK Export Finance to finance £100m for a new bottle plant in Belgium.
Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
In its role as the UK’s export credit agency, UK Export Finance (UKEF) provided a loan guarantee on commercial terms that will enable UK companies to supply goods and services to the Belgian bottle plant.
Through this guaranteed loan, UKEF is supporting Tecoglas Limited, a Sheffield based company, which will export two glass furnaces and is expected to back a further 15 UK SMEs in its supply chain, helping to secure and support UK jobs.
Asked by: Andrew Griffith (Conservative - Arundel and South Downs)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, pursuant to the Answer of 19 January 2026 to Question 105799 on Trade: Regulation, whether his Department plans to review the methodological approaches used to estimate the potential value associated with the (a) imposition and (b) removal of market access barriers.
Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The different methodologies used by the department are under constant review. We publish updates on changes if and when changes are made.
Asked by: Andrew Griffith (Conservative - Arundel and South Downs)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, pursuant to the answer of 5 January 2026 to Question 101037 on Furnaces: Scunthorpe, if he will publish that advice.
Answered by Chris McDonald - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Government does not intend to publish the findings of the independent advice as it is commercially sensitive.
Asked by: Andrew Griffith (Conservative - Arundel and South Downs)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether he has had discussions with the American ambassador on tariffs.
Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Prime Minister spoke to President Trump on 18 January. DBT Ministers and officials are in regular contact with all levels of the US Administration. Although I attended an event with the American Ambassador celebrating our shared trade, when we talked about a variety of subjects, including rugby, I have not specifically spoken to him about tariffs.
Asked by: Andrew Griffith (Conservative - Arundel and South Downs)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether he plans to carry out further consultations on section 68 of the Employment Rights Act 2025.
Answered by Kate Dearden - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
Before section 68 is brought into force, the Employment Rights Act 2025 requires the Government to consider the impact of non-postal balloting on participation in industrial action ballots and lay a statement before Parliament setting out how regard has been given to any impact. The Government will undertake this requirement once electronic balloting has been established.
Asked by: Andrew Griffith (Conservative - Arundel and South Downs)
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 potential impact of the 10% tariff announced by the USA and the 25% tariff proposed from June on British businesses.
Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
Having retained our cool-headed approach and robustly defended the rights of the people of Greenland and the kingdom of Denmark alone to determine their future, we are glad that the President has announced that these tariffs will not be proceeding.
Asked by: Andrew Griffith (Conservative - Arundel and South Downs)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, pursuant to the Answer of 13 January 2026 to Question 104310, on Trade Barriers: Regulation, whether he intends to publish the results of the most recent business questionnaire on domestic regulation.
Answered by Blair McDougall - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
On 21 October 2025, the Government launched a business questionnaire, ‘Unlocking Business: reform driven by you’, to gather feedback from UK businesses to identify outdated, duplicative, or disproportionate regulations and regulatory practices that hinder growth and innovation. The questionnaire concluded on 16 December 2025, and the responses are now being analysed by officials in the Department for Business and Trade. These will help to inform our Regulation for Growth programme going forward and we will publish our overall findings in due course