UK Inquiry Tracker

Work of the Department for Business and Trade

Public Accounts Committee Closed Inquiry

Opened: 26 Mar 2025 Closed: 21 Aug 2025 Parliament page

The Department for Business and Trade (DBT) was created in February 2023, bringing together relevant parts of the former Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) and the former Department for International Trade (DIT). 2023-24 is the new Department’s first year of accounts. Notable values for investments and liabilities … Read more The Department for Business and Trade (DBT) was created in February 2023, bringing together relevant parts of the former Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) and the former Department for International Trade (DIT). 2023-24 is the new Department’s first year of accounts. Notable values for investments and liabilities in the accounts include £6.4bn in mostly closed schemes for COVID-related financial guarantees, and £1.7bn for redress schemes related to the Post Office Horizon scandal. DBT exceeded its expenditure limit for 2023-24 of c.£950m by c.£219m, due to the need to fund payments made by the Post Office under its Horizon Shortfall Scheme. The PAC raised concerns in 2023 around reports that indicating some Post Office Horizon victims were receiving only partial payments and were still being owed huge sums. The National Audit Office highlighted a lack of data and the Post Office Horizon-related breach in spending limits in its opinion on the Department’s annual report and accounts 2023-24 . Its report on DBT’s support for priority industry sectors also found that weaknesses in how UK industries are supported by Government must be addressed if the full potential of its Industrial Strategy is to be unlocked. Based on the NAO’s two reports, the PAC will hear from senior officials on topics including the Post Office Horizon Redress Scheme, COVID financial guarantees, and how DBT is working to secure impact from its support for priority industry sectors. If you have evidence on these issues, please submit it here by 23:59 on Monday 31 March 2025. Please look at the requirements for written evidence submissions and note that the Committee cannot accept material as evidence that is published elsewhere. Please note that the Committee’s inquiry cannot assist with individual cases. If you need help with an individual problem you are having, you may wish to read the information on Parliament’s website about who you can contact with different issues . Show less

12 Recommendations

63 Conclusions

2 Reports

1 Oral session

3 Letters

1 Event

Activity timeline 9 events

18 Sep
2025

Report published

Treasury minutes: Government response to the Committee of Public Accounts on the Thirty-third report from Session 2024-26

18 Sep
2025

Report published

Treasury minutes: Government response to the Committee of Public Accounts on the Thirty-fourth report from Session 2024-26

25 Jun
2025

Report published

34th Report - Department for Business and Trade Annual Report and Accounts 2023-24

25 Jun
2025

Report published

33rd Report - Supporting the UK’s priority industry sectors

8 May
2025

Correspondence

Letter from the Permanent Secretary of the Department for Business and Trade relating to the follow up on the Work of the Department for Bu…

28 Apr
2025

Correspondence

Letter from the Permanent Secretary of the Department for Business and Trade relating to the correction to the transcript of the session on…

24 Apr
2025

Correspondence

Letter to the Permanent Secretary of the Department for Business and Trade relating to the oral evidence session held on 07 April 2025 on t…

7 Apr
2025

Oral evidence

Oral evidence session

7 Apr
2025

Formal meeting (oral evidence session) · The Thatcher Room, Portcullis House

Committee event

Oral evidence sessions 1 session

7 Apr 2025

View on parliament.uk

Carl Creswell · Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy David Bickerton · Department for Business and Trade Gareth Davies · Department for Business and Trade Gareth Davies · Department for Transport Jaee Samant CBE · Department for Business and Trade Sean Jones · HM Treasury Tara Smith · Department for Business and Trade

Reports 2 reports · click to expand

Title	HC No.	Published	Items	Response
34th Report - Department for Business and Trade Annual Report an…	HC 818	25 Jun 2025	47	Responded
33rd Report - Supporting the UK’s priority industry sectors	HC 1070	25 Jun 2025	28	Responded

Recommendations & Conclusions

15 results

7 Conclusion

34th Report - Department for Busin…

Horizon scheme settlement payments fall short of expectations in 2023-24 Annual Report and Accounts.

In the Department’s 2023–24 Annual Report and Accounts, it estimated that £866 million of the combined Horizon Schemes provisions would be settled within 1 year.8 In a letter provided after our oral evidence session, the Department confirmed that it paid … Read more

HM Treasury

Work of the Department for Business and Trade

Activity timeline 9 events

Oral evidence sessions 1 session

Reports 2 reports · click to expand

Recommendations & Conclusions

Horizon scheme settlement payments fall short of expectations in 2023-24 Annual Report and Accounts.

Reduced BBLS lender checks for 1.5 million loans increased taxpayer fraud risk

Most Covid loan scheme defaults attributed to company failure, not fraud

Department employing in-house teams and BBB audit for diverse counter-fraud activities

BBLS 100% guarantee reduces lender incentive for fraud recovery efforts

Department withdrew £376 million BBLS loans from guarantee, shifting risk to lenders

BBLS saved businesses, but its design hinders effective fraud and error tackling

DBT's financial statements became complex, encompassing eighteen new arm's length bodies.

Department published 2023-24 accounts ten months late, missing HM Treasury deadline.

Account publication delayed by merging predecessor data, complex balances, and Post Office provisions.

Merging predecessor departments' financial information for three years proved a huge endeavour.

Industrial Strategy prioritisation of growth sectors may disappoint other industries

Department unable to detail Industrial Strategy's future funding and scope currently.

Inconsistent monitoring and evaluation evident across Department's industry support programmes.

Department lacks specific objectives for Industrial Strategy despite setting a growth target.

Government Response AI assessment · 61 of 12 classified

Correspondence 3 letters