Department for Business and Trade

Department overview
Formed	7 February 2023
Preceding agencies	Department for International Trade Department for Business, Energy, and Industrial Strategy
Type	UK Government Department
Jurisdiction	United Kingdom
Headquarters	Old Admiralty Building, Admiralty Place, London, SW1A 2DY
Secretary of State responsible	Kemi Badenoch, Secretary of State for Business and Trade President of the Board of Trade Minister for Women and Equalities
Department executives	Gareth Davies, Permanent Secretary Crawford Falconer, Second Permanent Secretary David Bickerton Amanda Brooks Joanna Crellin Caleb Deeks Beatrice Kilroy-Nolan Gavin Lambert Andrew Mitchell Bidesh Sarkar (interim) Ceri Smith , (Directors General)
Child agencies	Competition and Markets Authority HM Land Registry Trade Remedies Authority Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service British Hallmarking Council Competition Service Small Business Commissioner Industrial Development Advisory Board Low Pay Commission Regulatory Policy Committee Companies House The Insolvency Service Central Arbitration Committee Competition Appeal Tribunal Copyright Tribunal Trade and Agriculture Commission British Business Bank Certification Officer Financial Reporting Council Groceries Code Adjudicator and the Pubs Code Adjudicator Independent Complaints Reviewer Land Registration Rule Committee Office of Manpower Economics Office of the Regulator of Community Interest Companies UK Export Finance
Website	Department for Business and Trade

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The Department for Business and Trade (DBT)^[1] is a department of His Majesty's Government established on 7 February 2023 after a government reshuffle, the first by prime minister Rishi Sunak. The new department absorbed the functions of the former Department for International Trade (DIT) and some of the functions of the former Department for Business, Energy, and Industrial Strategy (BEIS).

The department is headed by the Secretary of State for Business and Trade assisted by a number of junior ministers. The present incumbent, and the first to hold the role, is Kemi Badenoch; she is also President of the Board of Trade and Minister for Women and Equalities. Badenoch was previously the final Secretary of State at DIT.

History

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 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".^[2]

Responsibilities

The department's focus was outlined by Downing St 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. ^[2]

Ministers

Ministers in the department in March 2023: