Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, pursuant to the Answer of 17 December to Question 99540 on British Steel, when he last received advice on the cost of decommissioning the blast furnaces at the British Steel Limited Scunthorpe Steelworks.

Answered by Chris McDonald - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)

The Department received advice on decommissioning and land remediation costs ahead of making a generous offer of support in March 2025 to British Steel's current owner. The Government continues to consider all options in relation to the site at Scunthorpe.

Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, when he last received advice on the cost of decontaminating the site of the British Steel Limited Scunthorpe Steelworks in the event of decomissioning.

Answered by Chris McDonald - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)

The Department received advice on decommissioning and land remediation costs ahead of making a generous offer of support in March 2025 to British Steel's current owner. The Government continues to consider all options in relation to the site at Scunthorpe.

Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, how many Independent Trade Advisers were employed by his Department on 30 September in each of the last 5 years.

Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)

Assuming that the Member has asked about ‘Independent Trade Advisers’ in error when he means ‘International Trade Advisers’, as of September 2025, the Department for Business and Trade employs 140 International Trade Advisers (ITAs). The table below presents the corresponding figures for the preceding three years. Prior to this period, ITAs were engaged through delivery partners and were therefore not employed by the Department.

Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, how many Independent Trade Advisers his Department plans to employ on 30 September 2026.

Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)

As in PQ16188, the Member seems to be confusing his terminology as we do not employ any ‘Independent Trade Advisers’ but do employ 140 International Trade Advisers. We are undergoing a strategic organisational redesign to ensure we are best positioned to support UK businesses to grow and export and attract investment. This process is ongoing so it is not possible to determine numbers of staff in particular types of roles in September 2026.

Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what estimate he has made of the gross exports facilitated by the work of his Department's Independent Trade Advisers in the last period for which data is available.

Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)

In 2024/25, the Department for Business and Trade supported businesses to deliver over 2,700 Export Wins with a combined value of almost £24 billion. These successes were achieved through close collaboration across government and within the Department, including the work of International (not 'Independent') Trade Advisors.

Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, if he will provide a list of the embassies and high commissions in which staff funded by his Department are based.

Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)

As set out in our Trade and Industrial Strategies, following the Spending Review, we are reshaping the DBT overseas network led by our HM Trade Commissioners so that it is as focused as possible on the markets, sectors and opportunities that will drive economic growth for the UK. We are also restructuring the network to maximise our impact globally while becoming a smaller, more agile, and more tech enabled Department. We are working closely with the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office on implementing these changes. By March 2027 we expect to have DBT funded staff in approximately 80 global markets with a regional support offer for all other markets.

Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, whether she has plans to introduce a mandatory battery back up requirements for mobile network operators.

Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)

Residents in rural areas, as well as other areas of the country, rightly expect to have reliable mobile connectivity to participate in the modern digital economy. The Government recognises that events like storms and power outages can have a particular impact on rural communities.

Mobile network operators have legal obligations to put in place appropriate and proportionate measures to ensure the resilience of their networks and services. This is overseen by the independent regulator Ofcom, who have powers to monitor compliance, conduct investigations, issue penalties and enforce remedial actions.

Ofcom have completed a public consultation on power back-up for mobile services across the UK, which identified a particular impact on rural communities. They published an update on their work in February and announced they are completing further analysis to determine the appropriate and proportionate measures required to ensure adequate resilience for consumers. The Government will consider this analysis carefully. The Government is also supporting collaboration between the electricity and telecommunications sectors to deliver measures so that when power cuts occur the likelihood of disruption to telecommunications services is as low as possible, and where disruption does occur it should affect as few people for the shortest possible time.

Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps she is taking to improve the resilience of mobile networks in rural areas.

Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)

Residents in rural areas, as well as other areas of the country, rightly expect to have reliable mobile connectivity to participate in the modern digital economy. The Government recognises that events like storms and power outages can have a particular impact on rural communities.

Mobile network operators have legal obligations to put in place appropriate and proportionate measures to ensure the resilience of their networks and services. This is overseen by the independent regulator Ofcom, who have powers to monitor compliance, conduct investigations, issue penalties and enforce remedial actions.

Ofcom have completed a public consultation on power back-up for mobile services across the UK, which identified a particular impact on rural communities. They published an update on their work in February and announced they are completing further analysis to determine the appropriate and proportionate measures required to ensure adequate resilience for consumers. The Government will consider this analysis carefully. The Government is also supporting collaboration between the electricity and telecommunications sectors to deliver measures so that when power cuts occur the likelihood of disruption to telecommunications services is as low as possible, and where disruption does occur it should affect as few people for the shortest possible time.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of (a) per-consignment fees and (b) inspection charges on the retail price of sanitary and phytosanitary goods imported from the European Union.

Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

Under the Border Target Operating Model (BTOM), imported consignments of products of animal origin (POAO), and plant and plant products (P&PP), are subject to per-consignment requirements including health certification, pre-notification and inspection fees.

We estimate the measures introduced through the BTOM would have a minimal impact on consumer food price inflation of less than 0.2 percentage points in total over a 3-year period.

We do not hold sufficiently robust data at a commodity level to disaggregate this figure further.

Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, how many formal market access barriers impacting UK exporters were recorded by his Department in each of the last three years.

Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)

The Department for Business and Trade (DBT) has been publishing the number of reported market access barriers as official statistics since 2021. These annual statistics are also regularly published in the DBT annual report and accounts as indicators on departmental performance. These barriers are recorded on DBT’s internal database called Digital Market Access Service (DMAS). During the last three financial years, 394 market access barriers were reported in the financial year ending (FYE) 2025, 287 were reported in the FYE 2024 and 311 market access barriers were reported in the FYE 2023. These statistics could be found here.

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 101496 on Trade Promotion, whether he plans to retain the role of International Trade Adviser as part of the strategic organisational redesign.

Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)

We are changing how we deliver export support in line with the Trade Strategy, and in response to the asks of businesses and our stakeholders. We aim to make this more accessible and easier to navigate and to use technology to deliver more cost-effective and impactful support.

This change process is ongoing, so we are unable to confirm final job roles at this stage.

Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, if his Department will hold an African Investment Summit.

Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)

As set out in the Trade and Industrial strategies, this Government remains committed to strengthening UK-African trade and investment ties. According to the latest UNCTAD data, the UK had the second highest level of FDI stock in Africa at the end of 2023, after the Netherlands, and this strong position reflects our determination to deepen partnerships that deliver sustainable growth and create opportunities for UK and African businesses.

We have no such specific plans, but will continue to work closely with business leaders to unlock investment potential and will announce details of future engagements once decisions have been finalised.

Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what evaluation he has made of the effectiveness of reverse mentoring programmes in his department.

Answered by Kate Dearden - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)

DBT and its staff networks support a range of learning and development opportunities including a mentoring / reverse mentoring offer which is taken up on a voluntary basis. Feedback is encouraged from matched mentor/mentee pairs. Due to small numbers taking up reverse mentoring, there is no robust evaluation of effectiveness.

Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether his Department has identified any data gaps that limit its ability to quantify the cost of trade-related regulation.

Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)

No.

Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what mechanisms his Department uses to collect feedback from businesses on trade barriers arising from domestic regulation.

Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)

The Department for Business and Trade has collected business feedback on domestic regulation through a business questionnaire and will continue to run the Business Perceptions Survey to gather quantitative data.

Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what performance indicators his Department uses to measure progress in reducing regulatory and administrative trade barriers.

Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)

Performance indicators the Department for Business and Trade (DBT) uses for market access are barriers reported, barriers resolved, and the potential value of opportunities associated with barriers resolved. During the financial year 2024-25, 394 barriers were reported and 129 barriers were fully resolved. The aggregate valuation of these fully resolved barriers is estimated to be worth around £10 billion to UK businesses over five years. These statistics exclude partially resolved barriers and barriers that were resolved as part of UK Free Trade Agreements with other countries. Performance indicators can be found in official statistics here and annually in the DBT Annual Report and Accounts.

Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether his Department has assessed the cumulative impact of multiple regulatory charges and fees applied to a single import consignment.

Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)

No cumulative impact has been conducted, but Article VIII of the WTO General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade limits fees and charges in connection with importation to the approximate cost of services rendered. The UK has also consistently sought through its FTAs to limit the fees and charges that can be applied to imports. For example, the UK-India FTA commits both Parties to not require consular transactions in connection with the import of a good

The UK’s Trade Strategy set out the government’s plans to reduce costs and administrative burdens for traders, making clear our commitment to not only meet but where possible exceed our international commitments.

Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, when the Hospitality Sector Council last met and when he plans to publish the minutes of the meeting.

Answered by Kate Dearden - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)

I last met with the Hospitality Sector Council on 4 November 2025.

The minutes of that meeting will be published on the Government’s website Hospitality Sector Council - GOV.UK in due course.

Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, how many full-time equivalent staff within his Department were assigned to trade facilitation and market access barrier resolution in (a) 2026 and (b) 2021.

Answered by Kate Dearden - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)

The Department for Business and Trade (DBT) operates a flexible resourcing model to support trade facilitation and market access barrier resolution. The majority of this work falls within three areas: Economic Security and Trade Relations, Trade Group and DBTs Overseas Network. The total Civil Servant on-payroll FTE for these areas was 1,565 in November 2025, which is the latest data available (for DBT), and 1,006 in December 2021 (for DIT only).

Not all the Civil Servants identified are assigned exclusively to trade facilitation and market access barrier resolution and carry out additional duties that are unrelated to those topics.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate her Department has made of the proportion of import consignments that require remedial action due to documentation or compliance errors.

Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)

To address the dynamic nature of import risk, HMRC continually enhances its capabilities to identify errors and address non-compliance, ensuring that interventions are proportionate and targeted—rather than creating and relying on static estimates.

HMRC’s policies, processes, and systems are designed to facilitate legitimate access to the customs regime, promote strong compliance, and make it difficult to circumvent the rules. As a result, the vast majority of consignments move seamlessly in and out of the UK with minimal disruption.

Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what assessment he has made with Cabinet colleagues of the potential impact of trade regulation on port congestion and throughput, broken down by port.

Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)

The Department for Business and Trade has not undertaken an assessment of the impact of trade regulation on port congestion or throughput at individual ports. The Department has not received representation from industry indicating that current trade regulation is having a material impact on port congestion, noting that for many DBT-led goods regulations, compliance is monitored behind the border rather than at ports.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will take steps with HM Courts and Tribunals Service to ensure that courts can accept attachments of more than 20 megabytes in size from plaintiffs and defendants.

Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)

New digital systems developed by HM Courts & Tribunals Service during the Reform Programme, are already of sufficient size to cater for most documents that need to be uploaded during proceedings. Limits are currently 1GB for documents and 500MB for multimedia. These are in place to protect systems from malicious attack. A 1GB limit allows for a standard text document of around 26,000 pages, and around 7,000 pages if images are included. These standards will be the baseline for future digital development.

A review is being completed on the current limit relating to email submissions which is set at a lower level, and we recognise is particularly restrictive for users.

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

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 104305, on Trade: Regulation, what analysis he undertook in order to come to his conclusion.

Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)

In order to assess regulations as they affect business, the department employs a number of methodologies and draws on data from a wide variety of internal and external sources. We have not identified any data gaps that limit the Department’s ability to assess regulations. For example, in order to estimate the benefits of removing trade-related barriers facing UK exporters, the Department uses a methodology which is published on Gov.UK and continuously reviewed to ensure that it remains effective and proportionate, including consideration of any data challenges.

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.

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.

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.