Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade

Foundation

The department was established as the Department for Business and Trade (DBT) 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 were 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]

Under the Burnham ministry, it absorbed the science and innovation portfolios of the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology and was renamed to the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade (BIST).^[1]

Responsibilities

The department's focus was outlined by Downing Street 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]

Export Control Joint Unit

The Export Control Joint Unit (ECJU) is a cross-government organisation responsible for administering the United Kingdom's system of strategic export controls. It is based within the Department for Business and Trade and works jointly with the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office and the Ministry of Defence.^[3]

The ECJU processes applications for licences covering military goods, dual-use items and other strategically controlled exports. It is responsible for implementing the Export Control Act 2002, maintaining the UK's export licensing framework and publishing guidance to exporters.

The unit administers several categories of licences, including Standard Individual Export Licences (SIELs), Open Individual Export Licences (OIELs) and Open General Export Licences (OGELs). It also administers the Open General Transhipment Licence (OGTL), which permits certain controlled goods to transit the United Kingdom under specified conditions.

Although located within the Department for Business and Trade, export licensing decisions are made following input from the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office and the Ministry of Defence, with applications assessed against the Strategic Export Licensing Criteria.

While responsibility for licensing decisions sits with the ECJU, enforcement is the responsibility of HM Revenue and Customs.

Scrutiny

Since 26 April 2023, the work of the department has been scrutinised by the Business and Trade Select Committee of the House of Commons. This is a renaming of the Business Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee, which absorbs the responsibilities of the dissolved International Trade Committee.^[4][5]