On Tuesday 20th October the Business, Innovation,
Science and Trade Committee will hold its first evidence hearing
with Secretary of State Rt Hon Jonathan Reynolds, who is
returning to the role at the head of a department with an
expanded remit, now taking in science and innovation.
In the lead up to the session the Committee has launched a
major new inquiry on AI
safety, a new inquiry on entrepreneurship in the UK, and is
publishing a series of Government responses that will form part
of questioning to the Secretary of State, including around the
effectiveness of the UK's
Competition and Markets Authority and Ofcom's regulation of Royal
Mail.
Other areas of priority questioning for the Secretary of State
and interim Permanent Secretary Amanda Brooks are likely to
include:
- The department's demands for the Budget 2026
- Small business, the high cost of doing business, and the slow
death of our high streets
- Tariffs on Chinese EVs and the prospects of a deeper UK-EU
trade deal
- The government's strategy for AI safety laws
- Buying British and how to square the circle with the EU's
Industrial Accelerator Act and Made in Europe agenda
- The ongoing failures in Royal Mail services
- Justice for the Post Office Horizon victims
- Delivering on the promises of devolution and "growth in every
postcode"
- What does "reindustrialisation" really mean and how is being
delivered?
- Outlook for the UK steel strategy and impact of steel
tarfifs
- When will UK workers start to see and feel the benefits of
the Employment Rights Act?
On Tuesday 20
October at 230pm:
- Amanda Brooks CBE, Interim Permanent Secretary at Department
for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade
