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Department for Business and Trade

The Department for Business and Trade (DBT) is a ministerial department of the Government of the United Kingdom. It was established on 7 February 2023 by a cabinet reshuffle under the Rishi Sunak premiership. The new department absorbed the functions of the former Department for International Trade and some of the functions of the former Department for Business, Energy, and Industrial Strategy.

The department is headed by the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, assisted by a number of junior ministers. The incumbent is Peter Kyle.

Background

Foundation

The department was established on 7 February 2023. It combines the business-focused responsibilities of the former Department for Business, Energy, and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) with the former Department for International Trade (DIT). The ministers and senior civil servants from DIT were carried over to continue leading the new department.

The creation of the new department was described by Downing Street as an opportunity to provide "a single, coherent voice for business inside government, focused on growing the economy with better regulation, new trade deals abroad, and a renewed culture of enterprise at home".

Responsibilities

The department's focus was outlined by Downing Street as follows:

  • Delivering economic growth opportunities across the economy.
  • Backing business by improving access to finance and delivering a pro-enterprise regulatory system;
  • Promoting British businesses on the global stage and attracting high-value investment, including through high-quality Free Trade Agreements with India and other priority partners.
  • Promoting competitive markets and addressing market distorting practises to support growth whilst protecting consumers;
  • Championing free trade;
  • Ensuring economic security and supply chain resilience;
  • Supporting economic growth and innovation by making the most of Brexit freedoms and removing unnecessary regulatory burdens;
  • Delivering legislation on setting minimum service levels for priority public service sectors and to review, reform, retain, and/or repeal retained EU law by December 2023.

Scrutiny

Since 26 April 2023, the work of the department has been scrutinised by the Business and Trade Select Committee of the House of Commons. This is a renaming of the Business Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee, which absorbs the responsibilities of the dissolved International Trade Committee.

History

The department was responsible for finalising negotiations for the UK's to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership in April 2023, a free-trade agreement (FTA) between 11 countries around the Pacific Rim: Canada, Mexico, Peru, Chile, New Zealand, Australia, Brunei, Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam and Japan. It successfully concluded an agreement after two years of negotiations.

In April 2021, The Lord Grimstone of Boscobel established the UK Investment Council under the DBT to enhance UK inward investment and inform the trade policy of the UK by providing a forum for global investors to offer high-level advice to the government.

In May 2023, the Minister for Investment, The Lord Johnson of Lainston, became the first UK government minister to visit Hong Kong since 2018, and the first since the imposition of a new national security law by Beijing in the Special Administration Region.

In May 2023, the department announced that it had commenced negotiations for a bilateral trade agreement with Switzerland.

Ministers

The DBT ministers are as follows, with cabinet members in bold:

See also

References

External links