Between 1 January and 30 June 2026, officials from the Department for Business Trade (DBT) and/or Companies House met the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) on three occasions to discuss the Companies House accounts reforms. One meeting took place with Companies House before the Government announced its updated accounts reforms position on 9 June 2026. Following the announcement, a further meeting was held with Companies House, and another meeting with both Companies House and DBT officials.

Prior to this period, officials engaged with several stakeholder groups, including the FSB, to gather views on the accounts reforms. These views informed the Government’s updated position.

The Secretary of State for Northern Ireland discussed the findings of the report at the East West Council in June, which was attended by representatives of Intertrade UK who are also considering the report as part of their work to promote trade across the UK. The Government has engaged extensively with Northern Ireland businesses and representative organisations like the Federation of Small Businesses on the implementation of the Windsor Framework. We will continue to do so, including in relation to the report in question.

Since announcement at Autumn Budget 2024, HMRC have undertaken a wide range of stakeholder engagement and employer communications through a variety of channels in advance of the significant increase to the Employment Allowance to £10,500 and removal of the threshold which prevented some larger employers from claiming. This includes webinars highlighting important changes for the new tax year for employers, and written articles in numerous editions of HMRC’s Employer Bulletin, Agent Update and Stakeholder Digest.

In addition, HMRC has a range of channels to raise awareness of changes in tax policy. These include communications issued directly to stakeholders or published on gov.uk, and engagement with stakeholders through established forums such as the Employment and Payroll Group, which the Federation of Small Businesses attend.

The Department for Business and Trade (DBT) engaged with the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) as part of a budget briefing call with retail, hospitality and small business representatives held on 4 November. Topics raised included measures to improve small businesses exports, and the close engagement between departments on Industrial Strategy and the recent late payments announcement.

FSB also attended a roundtable discussion with the Secretary of State and SMEs on Industrial Strategy on 6 November. DBT Ministers and officials continue to engage regularly with FSB on a range of issues.

We are committed to continuing engagement and working collaboratively with industry to deliver a cost effective, well-functioning scheme. My officials work closely with trade bodies representing small drinks producers and small retailers including the Society of Independent Brewers (SIBA) and the Association of Convenience Stores (ACS). This is targeted engagement with sectors most impacted by DRS. We are also committed to continuing to review the impact on small businesses and considering further mitigations or support they might need as we move into implementation.

The Government keeps energy efficiency support for businesses, including SMEs, under review. Existing initiatives include an exemption on business rates for green technology, providing small businesses grants under the Boiler Upgrade Scheme, and support under the £289million Industrial Energy Transformation Fund.

The Government is reviewing what additional levers can be introduced to help small businesses to be more energy efficient, including financial support such as those suggested by the Federation of Small Businesses. As part of this, in the Autumn Statement my Rt Hon. Friend Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer announced that Government will establish a new Energy Efficiency Taskforce to help achieve the Government's target to reduce energy consumption from buildings and industry by 15% by 2030.

The Insolvency Service engaged with personal and business debt advice organisations over proposals to restructure its estate for improved efficiencies.

The Insolvency Service engaged with a number of personal and business debt advice organisations over proposals to restructure its estate for improved efficiencies. It issued a news story on GOV.UK and a social media post to advise all stakeholders of the proposals.

The agency is engaging stakeholders as part of an on-going process.

Ministers and officials regularly meet with organisations that represent SMEs, such as the Federation of Small Businesses and British Chambers of Commerce, to discuss a wide range of issues including the readiness of their members for the introduction of border import processes.

We are aware that the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) has teamed up with Adecco Working Ventures to act as a Gateway organisation for the Kickstart Scheme, we look forward to receiving their bid.

This Department continues to work closely with the British Business Bank on the design and implementation of the CBILS loan schemes. This includes discussions on monitoring the take-up of the loans across the UK. My Rt. Hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy keeps in regular contact with each of the biggest CBILS lenders to monitor implementation to ensure that companies receive the full benefits of the support being provided.

The Department maintains close contact with UK Business Representative Organisations (BROs) to understand where support is needed most for businesses across the economy during the Coronavirus outbreak. This engagement includes, but is not limited to, the Federation for Small Businesses, the Confederation of British Industry, the British Chambers of Commerce, MAKE UK - the Manufacturers Organisation, UK Finance, and the Institute of Directors.

The Secretary of State and my Hon. Friend the Minister for Small Business conduct calls with a range of BROs to discuss feedback from businesses on government support measures; and additional calls have been initiated to announce developments to the suite of COVID19 business finance.

The Minister for Small Business has attended and answered questions at 4 public webinars in April and May including one hosted by Merton Chambers of Commerce. All were joined by a large number of SMEs.

This Department has hosted a series of free, live webinars for business and industry, week commencing 4 May, to help businesses understand the support available during the COVID19 outbreak. Over 4,000 attendees joined the 5 May webinar. Officials presented updates on the CBILS scheme and tax issues and answered questions online.

The webinars included:

• Tuesday 5 May – loans for small businesses, tax deferral
• Wednesday 6 May - COVID-19: Impacts and changes to International Trade
• Thursday 7 May - Managing your business during coronavirus: reporting, regulations, and tax.

The Confederation of British Industry (CBI) and Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) were consulted in the preparation of the Technical Notice on State Aid, published in August 2018 to help provide clarity and certainty on Government’s preparations for the unlikely event of the UK exiting the European Union without a deal.

The Technical Notice made clear that the Government was adopting a continuity approach through transposing into UK domestic law existing EU rules on State aid, and the CBI and FSB recognised that this approach was right and responsible. The Government’s continuity approach supports businesses through maintaining well-understood and supported rules to prevent anti-competitive State aid.

I refer you to my answer to Question 220806 which references the extensive stakeholder engagement exercise undertaken as part of the development of Making Tax Digital (MTD), and which involved the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB). The FSB have also shared their views about these important reforms with me directly.

The FSB is also a member of a number of fora where HMRC engages with stakeholders on issues relevant to the development of MTD, including the Joint VAT Consultative Committee, and the SME Digital Services Group.

Entries for ministerial meetings with external organisations are published quarterly on GOV.UK.

My rt. hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy meets with the National Policy Director and the National Chairman of the Federation of Small Businesses most weeks and they regularly discuss the issues that are affecting businesses in Northern Ireland.

Various officials from the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy have had meetings with the Federation of Small Businesses Northern Ireland and continue to do so.

The Minister for Small Business, Consumers and Corporate Responsibility has not received any requests to meet with the Federation of Small Businesses Northern Ireland.