Written questions by Baldwin.

How long she plans to exempt steel production from the UK Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism.

The government is introducing a Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) from 1 January 2027. It will apply to imported goods from the aluminium, cement, fertiliser, hydrogen, and iron and steel sectorsCBAM will apply to specific imported goods from the steel sector, as listed in Schedule 16 of the Finance Act 2026. There are no plans for exemptions from this list.The UK CBAM is designed to address the risk of carbon leakage and to ensure that CBAM goods which are imported from overseas face a comparable carbon price to what is paid by manufacturers producing the same goods in the UK, under the UK Emissions Trading Scheme. As CBAM will only apply to imported products, it will not apply to domestic steel production.

Which organisations his Department has Non Disclosure Agreements with.

Confidentiality Agreements (CAs) enable engagement with businesses on sensitive areas of live trade negotiations and broader policy development. The department does not require CAs for all external engagements; sensitivities and risks are assessed on a case-by-case basis. The department holds CAs with a range of businesses, civil society organisations and academia, supporting engagement across all sectors. These CAs last up to seven years and at the date of termination, stakeholders can decide whether to re-sign. The department's view is that CAs serve a clear purpose in supporting stakeholder engagement and protecting UK interests.

What his policy is on reviewing Non Disclosure Agreements with external business groups.

Confidentiality Agreements (CAs) enable engagement with businesses on sensitive areas of live trade negotiations and broader policy development. The department does not require CAs for all external engagements; sensitivities and risks are assessed on a case-by-case basis. The department holds CAs with a range of businesses, civil society organisations and academia, supporting engagement across all sectors. These CAs last up to seven years and at the date of termination, stakeholders can decide whether to re-sign. The department's view is that CAs serve a clear purpose in supporting stakeholder engagement and protecting UK interests.

How many Non Disclosure Agreements his Department has in place with external business groups.

Confidentiality Agreements (CAs) enable engagement with businesses on sensitive areas of live trade negotiations and broader policy development. The department does not require CAs for all external engagements; sensitivities and risks are assessed on a case-by-case basis. The department holds CAs with a range of businesses, civil society organisations and academia, supporting engagement across all sectors. These CAs last up to seven years and at the date of termination, stakeholders can decide whether to re-sign. The department's view is that CAs serve a clear purpose in supporting stakeholder engagement and protecting UK interests.

With reference to the Companies House news story entitled Update on Companies House WebFiling security issue, published on 16 March 2026, whether his Department is aware of any other security breaches in relation to Companies House.

As an executive agency of the Department, Companies House manages its security risks against emerging threats and uses government compliant approaches for security and data protection. Companies House adopts a rigorous, risk management process aligned with government functional standards and its ISO 27001 certification. Based on information provided to the Department at this time, we are not aware of any other current security breaches.

Whether her Department considered including self-employed people within the scope of the Double Contributions Convention signed with the Government of the Republic of India on 10 February 2026.

Double Contributions Conventions are designed to prevent double payment of social security contributions. The agreement does not include self-employed workers as they are not covered by India’s Employees' Provident Fund Scheme.

What criteria will be used to determine if a worker has met the six-month waiting period requirement under Article 8(4) of the Convention to prevent the use of back-to-back detachment periods.

A new certificate of coverage can only be issued under Article 8(4) of the Convention if six months has elapsed from the end date of a worker’s previous detachment, as shown on the worker’s previous certificate. Where the period of validity of the previous certificate is less than six months, a new certificate may be issued once an equivalent period of time has elapsed. For example, if a worker's previous certificate was issued for a period of four months, they will need to wait for four months from the end date of that certificate until they may be issued with another certificate.

What estimate her Department has made of the annual change in National Insurance contribution receipts as a result of the 36-month exemption for detached workers under Article 8 of the UK–India Double Contributions Convention.

The Office for Budget Responsibility will certify the impact of the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA), including the Double Contributions Convention (DCC), in the usual way at a fiscal event, once the deal is finalised and ratified. The cost of the DCC agreement is likely to be a small fraction of the overall deal’s economic benefit.

What assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of the 36-month National Insurance exemption under the UK–India Double Contributions Convention on the competitiveness of UK-based recruitment of domestic staff in the technology sector.

The Convention will prevent the double payment of social security contributions and will not make it cheaper to hire Indian workers over British workers. While working in the UK, Article 8(7) requires Indian detached workers to pay contributions into India’s social security scheme (the Employees’ Provident Fund Scheme). The rates applying are broadly the same as those applied in the UK National Insurance system, meaning contributions will be similar. Indian detached workers would additionally be subject to visa application fees and may also be subject to the Immigration Health Surcharge.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps she is taking to help ensure the 2027 Nigerian election is free, fair and fully competitive.

I refer the Hon Member to the answer provided on 10 March 2026 in response to Question 117243.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what support she is providing for credible election observation and rule-of-law monitoring in Nigeria.

I refer the Hon Member to the answer provided on 10 March 2026 in response to Question 117243.

When he plans to publish the Government’s response to the Future of the Post Office green paper consultation.

On 25 February, the Government published its response to the Future of the Post Office green paper consultation, which is available on GOV.UK.

Pursuant to the Answer of 23 February 2026 to Question 112609 on Employees' Contributions: India, what plans she has with the Leader of the House to ensure the provision of adequate parliamentary time for the consideration of the Agreement on Social Security relating to Social Security Contributions between the United Kingdom and India.

The Double Contributions Convention with the Republic of India and the related Explanatory Memorandum were laid before both Houses of Parliament for scrutiny on 11 February 2026, and both documents have been shared with the relevant Parliamentary Committees of both Houses.The Government will ensure that the scrutiny requirements of the Constitutional Reform and Governance Act 2010 have been fulfilled before the Double Contributions Convention can be ratified and enter into force.

How many staff in his Department are working on trade with Germany; and how many he plans to have working on trade with that country in each of the next five years.

The Department for Business and Trade (DBT) is reshaping its overseas footprint to maximise UK economic growth in line with the Trade, Industrial and Small Business Strategies. Our future network will focus on priority markets and growth driving sectors across DBT objectives in trade policy, inward investment, tackling market access barriers, and supporting UK exporters.DBT staff overseas work flexibly across trade (trade policy, market access barriers and export promotion), inward investment, economic security and wider HMG objectives. As a result, we do not hold export promotion specific resources allocated separately by country or market. The total DBT overseas resource for the markets in questions will be roughly 470 FTE at the end of March 2026 reducing to a forecast roughly 420 FTE by March 2029. There are no forecasts beyond this point.We deploy our domestic trade resources flexibly, with delivery aligned to His Majesty’s Trade Commissioner (HMTC) geographic regions. As of January 2026, DBT has 1,396 FTE working on trade domestically (Trade Group and Economic Security and Trade Relations resource) reducing to 1,140 by March 2029.Planned headcount reductions in domestic staff over the Spending Review period will be managed through rigorous prioritisation; they do not translate into fixed, market-specific staffing levels.

How many staff in his Department are working on trade with Italy; and how many he plans to have working on trade with that country in each of the next five years.

The Department for Business and Trade (DBT) is reshaping its overseas footprint to maximise UK economic growth in line with the Trade, Industrial and Small Business Strategies. Our future network will focus on priority markets and growth driving sectors across DBT objectives in trade policy, inward investment, tackling market access barriers, and supporting UK exporters.DBT staff overseas work flexibly across trade (trade policy, market access barriers and export promotion), inward investment, economic security and wider HMG objectives. As a result, we do not hold export promotion specific resources allocated separately by country or market. The total DBT overseas resource for the markets in questions will be roughly 470 FTE at the end of March 2026 reducing to a forecast roughly 420 FTE by March 2029. There are no forecasts beyond this point.We deploy our domestic trade resources flexibly, with delivery aligned to His Majesty’s Trade Commissioner (HMTC) geographic regions. As of January 2026, DBT has 1,396 FTE working on trade domestically (Trade Group and Economic Security and Trade Relations resource) reducing to 1,140 by March 2029.Planned headcount reductions in domestic staff over the Spending Review period will be managed through rigorous prioritisation; they do not translate into fixed, market-specific staffing levels.

How many staff in his Department are working on trade with France; and how many he plans to have working on trade with that country in each of the next five years.

The Department for Business and Trade (DBT) is reshaping its overseas footprint to maximise UK economic growth in line with the Trade, Industrial and Small Business Strategies. Our future network will focus on priority markets and growth driving sectors across DBT objectives in trade policy, inward investment, tackling market access barriers, and supporting UK exporters.DBT staff overseas work flexibly across trade (trade policy, market access barriers and export promotion), inward investment, economic security and wider HMG objectives. As a result, we do not hold export promotion specific resources allocated separately by country or market. The total DBT overseas resource for the markets in questions will be roughly 470 FTE at the end of March 2026 reducing to a forecast roughly 420 FTE by March 2029. There are no forecasts beyond this point.We deploy our domestic trade resources flexibly, with delivery aligned to His Majesty’s Trade Commissioner (HMTC) geographic regions. As of January 2026, DBT has 1,396 FTE working on trade domestically (Trade Group and Economic Security and Trade Relations resource) reducing to 1,140 by March 2029.Planned headcount reductions in domestic staff over the Spending Review period will be managed through rigorous prioritisation; they do not translate into fixed, market-specific staffing levels.

How many staff in his Department are working on trade with Canada; and how many he plans to have working on trade with that country in each of the next five years.

The Department for Business and Trade (DBT) is reshaping its overseas footprint to maximise UK economic growth in line with the Trade, Industrial and Small Business Strategies. Our future network will focus on priority markets and growth driving sectors across DBT objectives in trade policy, inward investment, tackling market access barriers, and supporting UK exporters.DBT staff overseas work flexibly across trade (trade policy, market access barriers and export promotion), inward investment, economic security and wider HMG objectives. As a result, we do not hold export promotion specific resources allocated separately by country or market. The total DBT overseas resource for the markets in questions will be roughly 470 FTE at the end of March 2026 reducing to a forecast roughly 420 FTE by March 2029. There are no forecasts beyond this point.We deploy our domestic trade resources flexibly, with delivery aligned to His Majesty’s Trade Commissioner (HMTC) geographic regions. As of January 2026, DBT has 1,396 FTE working on trade domestically (Trade Group and Economic Security and Trade Relations resource) reducing to 1,140 by March 2029.Planned headcount reductions in domestic staff over the Spending Review period will be managed through rigorous prioritisation; they do not translate into fixed, market-specific staffing levels.

How many staff in his Department are working on trade with Australia; and how many he plans to have working on trade with that country in each of the next five years.

The Department for Business and Trade (DBT) is reshaping its overseas footprint to maximise UK economic growth in line with the Trade, Industrial and Small Business Strategies. Our future network will focus on priority markets and growth driving sectors across DBT objectives in trade policy, inward investment, tackling market access barriers, and supporting UK exporters.DBT staff overseas work flexibly across trade (trade policy, market access barriers and export promotion), inward investment, economic security and wider HMG objectives. As a result, we do not hold export promotion specific resources allocated separately by country or market. The total DBT overseas resource for the markets in questions will be roughly 470 FTE at the end of March 2026 reducing to a forecast roughly 420 FTE by March 2029. There are no forecasts beyond this point.We deploy our domestic trade resources flexibly, with delivery aligned to His Majesty’s Trade Commissioner (HMTC) geographic regions. As of January 2026, DBT has 1,396 FTE working on trade domestically (Trade Group and Economic Security and Trade Relations resource) reducing to 1,140 by March 2029.Planned headcount reductions in domestic staff over the Spending Review period will be managed through rigorous prioritisation; they do not translate into fixed, market-specific staffing levels.

How many staff in his Department are working on trade with Spain; and how many he plans to have working on trade with that country in each of the next five years.

The Department for Business and Trade (DBT) is reshaping its overseas footprint to maximise UK economic growth in line with the Trade, Industrial and Small Business Strategies. Our future network will focus on priority markets and growth driving sectors across DBT objectives in trade policy, inward investment, tackling market access barriers, and supporting UK exporters.DBT staff overseas work flexibly across trade (trade policy, market access barriers and export promotion), inward investment, economic security and wider HMG objectives. As a result, we do not hold export promotion specific resources allocated separately by country or market. The total DBT overseas resource for the markets in questions will be roughly 470 FTE at the end of March 2026 reducing to a forecast roughly 420 FTE by March 2029. There are no forecasts beyond this point.We deploy our domestic trade resources flexibly, with delivery aligned to His Majesty’s Trade Commissioner (HMTC) geographic regions. As of January 2026, DBT has 1,396 FTE working on trade domestically (Trade Group and Economic Security and Trade Relations resource) reducing to 1,140 by March 2029.Planned headcount reductions in domestic staff over the Spending Review period will be managed through rigorous prioritisation; they do not translate into fixed, market-specific staffing levels.

How many staff in his Department are working on trade with Ireland; and how many he plans to have working on trade with that country in each of the next five years.

The Department for Business and Trade (DBT) is reshaping its overseas footprint to maximise UK economic growth in line with the Trade, Industrial and Small Business Strategies. Our future network will focus on priority markets and growth driving sectors across DBT objectives in trade policy, inward investment, tackling market access barriers, and supporting UK exporters.DBT staff overseas work flexibly across trade (trade policy, market access barriers and export promotion), inward investment, economic security and wider HMG objectives. As a result, we do not hold export promotion specific resources allocated separately by country or market. The total DBT overseas resource for the markets in questions will be roughly 470 FTE at the end of March 2026 reducing to a forecast roughly 420 FTE by March 2029. There are no forecasts beyond this point.We deploy our domestic trade resources flexibly, with delivery aligned to His Majesty’s Trade Commissioner (HMTC) geographic regions. As of January 2026, DBT has 1,396 FTE working on trade domestically (Trade Group and Economic Security and Trade Relations resource) reducing to 1,140 by March 2029.Planned headcount reductions in domestic staff over the Spending Review period will be managed through rigorous prioritisation; they do not translate into fixed, market-specific staffing levels.