Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, pursuant to the Answer of 12 February 2026 to Question 111867, whether he will make an assessment of the level of compliance by the Insolvency Service with Net Zero, sustainability and climate related disclosure requirements, including adherence to the Taskforce on Climate related Financial Disclosures guidance and the Greening Government Commitments.
Answered by Blair McDougall - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Insolvency Service’s Annual Report and Accounts have included Greening Government Commitments disclosures since 2012 and, more recently the Taskforce on Climate related Financial Disclosures (TCFD). These are requirements are set out in HMT’s Financial Reporting Manual.
The Annual Report and Accounts are also subject to external audit by National Audit Office, whose work includes an assessment of compliance with TCFD and Greening disclosures.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, pursuant to the Answer of 2 February 2026 to Question 108797, what the estimated costs were of proposals, programmes or initiatives aimed at reducing official travel emissions in a) 2024–25 and b) 2025-26.
Answered by Kate Dearden - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Department has no programmes aimed specifically at reducing official travel emissions and therefore has incurred no costs of proposals, programmes or initiatives aimed at reducing official travel emissions.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether any arm’s-length bodies sponsored by his Department incurred additional costs as a result of Net Zero or sustainability requirements applied to procurement contracts over £10,000 in 2024-25.
Answered by Kate Dearden - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
Arm's-length bodies sponsored by the Department have not incurred additional costs as a result of Net Zero or sustainability requirements applied to procurement contracts over £10,000 in 2024-25.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, Pursuant to the Answer of 2 February 2026 to Question 108798, whether any British Business Bank programmes or business lines have been discussed, designated or promoted as relating to net zero, decarbonisation, sustainability or the green economy; and what the budgets for those programmes or business lines were in a) 2024–25, and b) 2025-26.
Answered by Blair McDougall - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The only British Business Bank programme that relates specifically to the green economy is the green variant of the Growth Guarantee Scheme. This was announced on 11 February 2025 with an initial £30 million portfolio. This pilot programme is funded from the Growth Guarantee Scheme budget and does not represent additional expenditure.
The Bank does not operate any standalone programmes or business lines designated or promoted as relating to net zero, decarbonisation, sustainability or the green economy. The Bank considers sustainability and decarbonisation as cross-cutting themes across its activities and there were no separate budgets allocated to such themes in either of the years mentioned.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, how many Memorandums of Understanding the UK has signed since 5 July 2025, broken down by (a) the countries with which countries they were signed and (b) the policy areas covered by each agreement.
Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
This Department has signed a range of Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) since 5 July 2025 to help drive economic growth. However, these are not routinely published or notified to Parliament in line with HMG policy on non-legally binding instruments and in some cases to respect the confidentiality requirements of partner countries. It is, therefore, not possible to provide a full list of MoUs by country and subject area as requested.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what staffing or system costs are associated with monitoring, reporting and compliance activity relating to official travel emissions in his Department.
Answered by Kate Dearden - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
We can confirm that the Department for Business and Trade does not hold any information associated with monitoring, reporting and compliance activity relating to official travel emissions in his Department.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what the Competition and Markets Authority’s total expenditure was in 2024–25, broken down by project and function.
Answered by Kate Dearden - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Competition and Markets Authority’s published Annual Report and Accounts contains details of its expenditure, including a breakdown of total gross expenditure by operating segment. It can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/cma-annual-report-and-accounts-2024-to-2025.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether his Department issues guidance to teams on the proportion of staff time or budget that should be allocated to net zero strategy or corporate sustainability activity.
Answered by Kate Dearden - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The department does not issue guidance to teams on the proportion of staff time or budget that should be allocated to net zero strategy or corporate sustainability activity.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, pursuant to the Answer of 2 February 2026 to Question 108800, what projects undertaken by the Competition and Markets Authority in 2024–25 related to net zero, sustainability and climate policy.
Answered by Kate Dearden - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The following projects undertaken by the Competition and Markets Authority (“CMA”) in 2024 to 2025 related to net zero, sustainability and climate policy, carried out consistently with its statutory duty and functions:
Sustainability Taskforce – supporting businesses to comply with competition law when engaging in collaboration to achieve outcomes related to sustainability.
An investigation into anti-competitive conduct in the advertising of recycling-related features of new cars, and in the recycling of old or written-off (or ‘end-of-life’) cars and vans.
Guidance to help fashion businesses comply with consumer protection law when making environmental claims.
An investigation into environmental claims made about products in the consumer goods sector.
An investigation into Worcester Bosch over concerns it may have been misleading consumers in its marketing of boilers as ‘hydrogen-blend ready’.
Other work has included a review and report on the impact of restrictions on the sale of single use plastics on the UK Internal Market, and 13 reports on referrals of subsidies under the UK Subsidy Control Regime.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what the cost to UK Export Finance was in 2024–25 of expanding its climate stress testing models and scenarios using Network for Greening the Financial System scenarios; what the estimated cost of this work was to the public purse; and whether an estimate has been made of the resulting compliance or financing costs on UK exporters and suppliers.
Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The work to update UKEF’s climate stress testing models in 2024-25 is in line with industry good practice on financial risk management and uses tools at no extra cost. This work is part of our ongoing responsibilities to meet government risk management requirements and was carried out by UKEF staff within existing resources. As this is an internal risk management exercise, it does not create compliance obligations or financing costs for UK exporters or suppliers.