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The Business and Trade Select Committee is a select committee of the House of Commons in the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The remit of the committee is to examine the expenditure, administration and policy of the Department for Business and Trade, and any departmental bodies.

The committee came into existence as the Business, Innovation and Skills Committee on 1 October 2009, replacing the Business and Enterprise Select Committee, which was dissolved on 30 September 2009. The House of Commons agreed to the committee's establishment on 25 June 2009, following Prime Minister Gordon Brown's replacement of the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform with the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills on 5 June 2009. Following the merger of the Department of Energy and Climate Change and the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills in July 2016, the name of the committee was changed to the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee in October 2016 to reflect the name of the new department.

Membership

Members are as follows:

2019–2024 Parliament

The chair was elected on 6 May 2020, with the members of the committee being announced on 2 March 2020.

Changes 2019–2024

2017–2019

The chair was elected on 12 July 2017, with the members of the committee being announced on 11 September 2017.

Changes 2017–2019

Previous changes

Occasionally, the House of Commons ordered changes to be made in terms of membership of the select committee, as proposed by the Committee of Selection. Such changes are shown below.

Notable reports

In July 2022, the committee published its report "Energy pricing and the future of the energy market" which examined the turmoil in retail energy arising from unusually high wholesale gas prices, leading to the collapse of several suppliers and the need for government support of Bulb Energy. The committee found that the industry regulator Ofgem had been incompetent in its supervision of the finances of supplier companies, and that the government overlooked this lack of supervision because it prioritised competition over market regulation. The report also criticised Ofgem's design of the energy price cap, recommending that the government consider introducing a social tariff; stated that the government's May 2022 support package for customers was no longer sufficient; and criticised the absence of a home insulation programme.

In response, Ofgem accepted that its previous financial resilience regime was not sufficiently robust, and had contributed to some of the supplier failures since August 2021.

References

1. Hansard – 25 June 2009: Standing Orders etc. (Machinery of Government Changes)
2. "Membership – Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee". UK Parliament. Retrieved 8 July 2017.
3. "Business and Trade Committee Membership". committees.parliament.uk. Business and Trade Committee. 31 October 2024. Retrieved 31 October 2024.
4. "Deputy Speaker's Statement". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). Vol. 675. Parliament of the United Kingdom: House of Commons. 6 May 2020.
5. "Committees". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). Vol. 672. Parliament of the United Kingdom: House of Commons. 2 March 2020.
6. "Speaker's Statement: Select Committee Chairs". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). Vol. 627. Parliament of the United Kingdom: House of Commons. 12 July 2017.
7. "Business without Debate". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). Vol. 628. Parliament of the United Kingdom: House of Commons. 11 September 2017.
8. "Energy pricing and the future of the energy market – Report Summary". UK Parliament. 26 July 2022. Retrieved 10 August 2022.
9. "Cost-of-living payments branded insufficient as energy bills soar". BBC News. 26 July 2022. Retrieved 10 August 2022.
10. "Ofgem statement on the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee's report on energy pricing and the future of the energy market". Ofgem. 26 July 2022. Retrieved 10 August 2022.

External links

• Records for the Business, Innovation and Skills Committee (2009–2016) are held at the Parliamentary Archives
• Official website

v t e Department for Business and Trade
Ministers	Secretary of State for Business and Trade: Jonathan Reynolds Minister of State for Trade Policy and Economic Security: Douglas Alexander Minister for Industry: Sarah Jones Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Employment Rights, Competition and Markets: Justin Madders Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Services, Small Business and Exports: Gareth Thomas Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Legislation: The Baroness Jones of Whitchurch
Civil Servants	Permanent Secretaries Gareth Davies Crawford Falconer Directors General David Bickerton Amanda Brooks Joanna Crellin Caleb Deeks Beatrice Kilroy-Nolan Gavin Lambert Andrew Mitchell Bidesh Sarkar (interim) Ceri Smith Departmental Chief Scientific Adviser Julia Sutcliffe
Non-ministerial departments	Competition and Markets Authority
Executive agencies	Companies House Insolvency Service
Non-departmental public bodies	Executive Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service British Hallmarking Council Competition Service Financial Reporting Council Small Business Commissioner Trade Remedies Authority Advisory Low Pay Commission Regulatory Policy Committee Tribunal Central Arbitration Committee Competition Appeal Tribunal
Public corporations	Post Office Limited
Other	British Business Bank Certification Officer Groceries Code Adjudicator Office of Manpower Economics Office of the Regulator of Community Interest Companies Pubs Code Adjudicator
Scrutiny	Business and Trade Select Committee
Preceding departments	Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Department for International Trade
Category

• British economic policy
• Department for Business, Innovation and Skills
• Department for Business and Trade
• Select Committees of the British House of Commons
• United Kingdom industrial planning policy