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.