The Minister of State for Trade, Anas Sarwar, leads the Government's policy on responsible business conduct (RBC). The RBC Review assessed the effectiveness of the UK's current framework in addressing harms in global supply chains, including forced labour. The Review considered a range of evidence, including the Joint Committee on Human Rights' recommendations in its July 2025 report, Forced Labour in UK Supply Chains.

The Review has been completed and the Government is considering its findings. We will publish the Review and set out our plans soon.

The Government has not made a specific assessment of late payments being caused by third parties or a bank, but it does recognise late payments are often accidental and can arise due to issues with systems.

The Commercial Payments Bill preserves and strengthens the existing statutory interest regime, under which statutory interest arises where a qualifying payment is made late. Where a qualifying debt remains unpaid after the relevant date, statutory interest will generally accrue even if the purchaser attributes the delay to its bank, payment provider or another third party begins to run and strengthens enforcement of payment obligations.

Delivering good growth across the UK is the government’s top priority. Bilateral trade with Turkey was worth over £28 billion last year, roughly doubling in the past decade in current prices. Negotiations to enhance the UK’s current free trade agreement with Turkey, which came into force in 2021, aim to build on this important trading relationship.

The fifth round of negotiations took place in Ankara between 15 and 23 June 2026, during which negotiators held constructive discussions across a wide range of areas. The sixth round of negotiations is expected to take place in London in the early autumn and will seek to build on the strong record of the negotiation’s 11 closed chapters to date.

Since the Government's response to HL1217 on 30 June, further information on Northern Ireland arrangements has been published on GOV.UK. These arrangements include certain dedicated Tariff Rate Quotas that allow eligible steel products to move into Northern Ireland, and serve to protect UK-origin steel moving within the UK from tariffs. Further detail on moving steel to Northern Ireland is contained in the Steel Notice and Government has communicated these arrangements to industry, with support continuing to be available to traders through the Trader Support Service and HMRC.

Investment from Turkey makes an important contribution to economic growth, innovation and employment across the UK. In 2025–26, there were 25 foreign direct investment (FDI) projects from Turkey into the UK, creating 564 new jobs.

His Majesty's Government does not provide proactive support to British companies seeking investment opportunities in Turkey but generally backs the Turkish government’s ambition to attract FDI across a range of sectors.

In May 2025, the UK and US announced the General Terms for the Economic Prosperity Deal (EPD), which will protect thousands of jobs, support key British industries and help drive economic growth.

We have implemented reciprocal duty-free quotas for beef, and the US has implemented a 100,000-unit annual quota for automobiles, reducing tariffs to 10%. On 24 July 2026, the US implemented the removal of tariffs on UK whisky and medical technology.

Discussions on the EPD continue.

The Government has reviewed recent US Food and Drug Administration initiatives to reduce animal testing in preclinical safety studies and is engaging with the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency on accelerating the science-led adoption of alternative methods for drug development and testing. Through the Replacing Animals in Science strategy, the Government is investing in development, validation and regulatory uptake, including UK validation infrastructure and measures to build regulatory confidence. We will continue to monitor international developments, including in the US, and adopt approaches where supported by evidence and compatible with maintaining human, animal and environmental safety.

The Commercial Payments Bill provides the Small Business Commissioner with the power to investigate a larger business where there are reasonable grounds to suspect that it has persistently engaged in poor payment practices. The Commissioner must consider the extent and impact of the suspected conduct, the resources required for an investigation, and whether an investigation would be proportionate in all the circumstances. Further detail will be set out in secondary legislation.

The Government will work with the Commissioner to ensure businesses understand their obligations and to consider what operational guidance should be published before the new legislation comes into force.

For the purpose of exemptions to maximum payment terms under the Commercial Payments Bill, the Government will consider aligning with business size definitions in existing legislation. Definitions of business sizes will be set out in secondary legislation, following consultation with stakeholders. Any departure from an established definition will therefore require a clear and evidenced justification.

For the purposes of the Commercial Payments Bill there is no general requirement for businesses to establish their size or that of their partners. Certain categories of business, will be able to benefit from exemptions from maximum payment terms – on the basis of size. Therefore, businesses wanting to rely on these exemptions will need to ensure they fall within the relevant category. This should be simple and pose minimal burden for those businesses seeking exemptions. Business size thresholds will be confirmed through regulations following a consultation with stakeholders.

The Small Business Commissioner will be able to examine whether the relevant size conditions have been met and take appropriate action where an exemption has been claimed improperly.

Large businesses are required to publish payment data through the Payment Practices and Performance Reporting Regulations 2017. The effects and impact of the Commercial Payments Bill will be monitored following its implementation. Sixty days is a maximum, not a target. The Government will continue to encourage businesses to agree and meet shorter payment terms. We will continue our work to encourage businesses to pay even faster with the Small Business Commissioner who administers the Fair Payment Code, encouraging businesses to pay in 30 days.

The capping of bus fares announced on 22 July 2026 will have no impact on financing or insurance support provided by UK Export Finance, including for its loan guarantee supporting Dints International’s contract to supply renewable energy and infrastructure work in Angola.

The Government is reprioritising £454 million from the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero’s budget, including by switching £400 million of grant funding set aside for future international climate finance projects into loans. The remaining £54 million savings are expected from underspends in the Department’s budget.

This will provide more flexible ways to meet the Government’s international climate objectives.

The Government remains committed to spending 0.3% of Gross National Income on Official Development Assistance.

The capping of bus fares announced on 22 July 2026 will have no impact on financing or insurance support provided by UK Export Finance, including for its loan guarantee supporting Dints International’s contract to supply renewable energy and infrastructure work in Angola.

The Government is reprioritising £454 million from the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero’s budget, including by switching £400 million of grant funding set aside for future international climate finance projects into loans. The remaining £54 million savings are expected from underspends in the Department’s budget.

This will provide more flexible ways to meet the Government’s international climate objectives.

The Government remains committed to spending 0.3% of Gross National Income on Official Development Assistance.

The Government has confirmed that the Small Business Commissioner will have the resources needed to carry out its expanded functions. Detailed future funding arrangements will be determined through the usual departmental business planning and spending review processes. The Government does not currently intend to publish a separate funding plan, but will provide further information on the Commissioner's resourcing as the new functions are implemented.

As set out in the Written Ministerial Statement on 16 July 2026, the Government is putting in place a new Board of Directors for British Steel Limited, who will bring extensive commercial and industrial expertise to support the company and management in stabilising operations and moving the firm on from its current poor commercial position. The Board will be responsible for developing a plan to transform British Steel into a commercially and environmentally sustainable steelmaking enterprise. It will be the responsibility of the Board to determine if and when any strategic plans should be published.

We have been in discussions since 2023 with Jingye about how to deliver a sustainable future for British Steel and since April 2025 regarding Jingye’s proposal to sell British Steel to HMG. Since we tabled our proposal earlier this year we met a number of times to discuss a pathway to resolution. We agreed with Jingye that our discussions should remain confidential.

The Government has assessed section 2E(2) as part of the wider impact assessment for the Commercial Payments Bill as a whole, where the measures are aimed at addressing the estimated £11 billion cost of late payments to cost the UK economy each year.

Section 2E(2) provides a targeted exemption from the statutory payment term restrictions, where the purchaser is the smaller party, preserving flexibility for smaller purchasers when contracting with larger suppliers. The impact assessment looks at the costs of businesses identifying and implementing exemptions. Exemptions introduce additional administrative burdens for businesses, with larger estimated costs for large businesses compared to smaller ones. The full assessment can be found in the costs and benefits analysis annex of the published impact assessment: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/69c054b11263ce46c3690c7c/prompt-payments-primary-legislation-impact-assessment.pdf

Following the 2023 consultation ‘Smarter Regulation: Fire safety of domestic upholstered furniture’, the Government engaged extensively with a wide range of stakeholders, including manufacturers and upholsterers to build our evidence base, including on the costs associated with chemical flame retardant use.

This engagement led to the consultation ‘Product regulation: fire safety of domestic upholstered furniture’ with amended proposals, including ending mandatory open-flame testing and moving to a smoulder-based test consistent with the approaches adopted internationally, and removing re-upholstery and repair from the scope of the regulations so that it is more proportionately regulated under the General Product Safety Regulations.

Following the 2023 consultation ‘Smarter Regulation: Fire safety of domestic upholstered furniture’, the Government engaged extensively with a wide range of stakeholders, including manufacturers and upholsterers to build our evidence base, including on the costs associated with chemical flame retardant use.

This engagement led to the consultation ‘Product regulation: fire safety of domestic upholstered furniture’ with amended proposals, including ending mandatory open-flame testing and moving to a smoulder-based test consistent with the approaches adopted internationally, and removing re-upholstery and repair from the scope of the regulations so that it is more proportionately regulated under the General Product Safety Regulations.

Following the 2023 consultation ‘Smarter Regulation: Fire safety of domestic upholstered furniture’, the Government engaged extensively with a wide range of stakeholders, including manufacturers and upholsterers to build our evidence base, including on the costs associated with chemical flame retardant use.

This engagement led to the consultation ‘Product regulation: fire safety of domestic upholstered furniture’ with amended proposals, including ending mandatory open-flame testing and moving to a smoulder-based test consistent with the approaches adopted internationally, and removing re-upholstery and repair from the scope of the regulations so that it is more proportionately regulated under the General Product Safety Regulations.