Minister for the Cabinet Office and Deputy Prime Minister (): I am today laying before
Parliament the Annual Report covering the operation of the
National Security and Investment Act 2021 (NSI Act) for the
period 1 April 2022 to 31 March 2023. A copy of the report is
attached. My actions today fulfil the requirements under section
61 of the NSI Act for this year.
We promised to deliver a regime that is as business-friendly as
possible while protecting our national security. This annual
report demonstrates that we are succeeding in that mission. The
vast majority of businesses in the UK had zero interaction with
this screening process during the last financial year, nor any
need to. Of those who did, we have made the system as fast,
predictable, and transparent as possible.
Of the notifications that I and previous decision makers
reviewed, we cleared the vast majority - 92.8% - within a rapid
30 working days. We met statutory deadlines for all notifications
that were reviewed in this period, called in 65 acquisitions for
scrutiny, and ultimately made proportionate interventions through
15 final orders to protect national security.
These statistics show that notifications, call-ins, final orders
and final notifications were distributed across a wide range of
different origins of investment, across a wide variety of sectors
and from many different countries. Defence-related acquisitions
featured prominently at call-in and final orders but acquisitions
across communications, energy, advanced materials and computing
hardware sectors were also subject to final orders.
This demonstrates that risks can arise from a variety of sources
and are judged case-by-case in accordance with the statement made
under section 3 of the NSI Act.
I am personally committed to ensuring this process is as smooth
and transparent as possible. So, in addition to fulfilling my
section 61 obligations, this year’s report includes further
information not required by the NSI Act itself. For the first
time, I include information on the geographic origins of
investment. I hope this will help stakeholders’ engagement with
the NSI Act.
I am pleased to lay this NSI Annual Report in Parliament today
and I look forward to continuing to update the House as
appropriate over the coming years.
