Corporate report

Performance report

Published 20 October 2022

This was published under the 2022 Truss Conservative government

Performance overview

Purpose of the performance overview

The performance overview provides a short summary of the annual report.

Performance overview	Sections of the annual report and accounts
– Our purpose – Performance summary – Principal risks	Performance analysis
– Our business model – Our organisational structure – Our group – Where we spent our money	Accountability report

Our purpose

BEIS is committed to building a stronger, fairer and greener future across the UK, fostering shared prosperity, growth and levelling up across our Union.

Our collective mission is leading Britain’s recovery, which underpins all our work as we move forward to tackle the challenges that lie ahead.

What we set out to achieve

This is set out in the 2021-22 BEIS Outcome Delivery Plan (ODP).

1. Fight coronavirus by helping businesses to bounce back from the impacts of COVID-19, supporting a safe return to the workplace and accelerating the development and manufacture of a vaccine.

2. Tackle climate change: reduce UK greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2050. (Cross-cutting outcome also supported by DEFRA, DFT, DLUHC and HMT).

3. Unleash innovation and accelerate science and technology throughout the country to increase productivity and UK global influence.

4. Back long-term growth: boost enterprise by making the UK the best place in the world to start and grow a business.

Performance summary

1. Fight coronavirus by helping businesses to bounce back from the impacts of COVID-19, supporting a safe return to the workplace and accelerating the development and manufacture of a vaccine.

Enabling businesses to reopen and work safely

BEIS published the government’s ‘Working safely guidance’. It provides public health advice to thousands of businesses on how to keep their workers and customers safe during the pandemic. The department regularly refreshed this guidance.

COVID-19 commercial rent debts

The Commercial Rent (Coronavirus) Act 2022 and the new Code of Practice was announced in November 2021. It will guide landlords and tenants to negotiate a workable situation for both parties. The changes will help market return to normality post-pandemic.

Delivery of business support grants

The department continued to deliver business support grants. This includes an extra £737 million for businesses affected by the omicron wave.

2. Tackle climate change: reduce UK greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2050. (Cross-cutting outcome also supported by DEFRA, DFT, DLUHC and HMT)

Net zero strategy; heat and buildings strategy

We published the Net Zero Strategy. It outlines policies and proposals to decarbonise all sectors of the UK economy to achieve net zero by 2050. We also published the Heat and Buildings Strategy. It provides further detail on decarbonising our homes, commercial, industrial and public sector buildings.

COP 26

The UK hosted the 26th UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP 26). The resulting Glasgow Climate Pact included a pledge to ‘phase down’ coal. Countries also reached agreement on the remaining issues relating to the Paris agreement and net emissions targets.

Renewables and low carbon technologies

We invested in clean, domestic energy production. This includes a £60 million boost for floating offshore wind and £20 million a year in Tidal Stream electricity. We published the ‘UK hydrogen strategy’ to ensure the UK is a world leader in the hydrogen economy.

3. Unleash innovation and accelerate science and technology throughout the country to increase productivity and UK global influence.

R&D budget - largest ever

£39.8 billion of R&D investment was allocated across BEIS partner organisations for 2022-2025. This is the largest ever UK R&D budget. It will support our commitment to ensure total R&D spending reaches 2.4% of GDP by 2027.

Innovation strategy

The Innovation Strategy was published in July 2021. It set out our vision for the UK to be a global hub for innovation by 2035. It supports private sector innovation by making the most of the UK’s Research, Development and Innovation (RD&I) system.

Healthcare research and manufacturing

BEIS and DHSC committed up to £200 million to support health research into diagnostics and treatment, led by the NHS. A further £60 million of new government funding will help expand life sciences manufacturing in the UK.

4. Back long-term growth: boost enterprise by making the UK the best place in the world to start and grow a business.

Raising the National Minimum Wage & National Living Wage

From April 1 2021, the National Minimum Wage (NMW) and National Living Wage (NLW) rates rose. NLW increased by 2.2% from £8.72 to £8.91. We also announced further increases from April 1 2022.

New laws to tackle dirty money

The new Economic Crime (Transparency and Enforcement) Act was passed into law on 15 March 2022. Introduced following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, it means the government can move quicker to impose sanctions against oligarchs already designated by our allies and intensify enforcement of sanctions.

Help to Grow programmes

We launched the Help to Grow programmes. They are practical, intensive 12-week programmes designed by some of our top academics. They provide small businesses across all sectors with the skills required to improve the performance and productivity.

Principal risks

The key risks faced by the department in 2021-22 are provided below.

• COVID-19: risk that policies and programmes would be inadequate to effectively support economic recovery and drive productivity growth during the COVID-19 pandemic
• Net zero: risk of failure to secure buy-in from consumers, businesses and international partners to start delivering on our net zero ambitions and meet carbon budgets
• Energy market: risk of the negative impact of rising energy prices and the inflationary pressures affecting consumers and businesses
• People: risk that workforce capacity and capability (including specialist resource) will not be effectively prioritised which can impact the workforce’s wellbeing
• EU transition: risk of failing to implement responsibilities within the Trade Cooperation Agreement (TCA), Rest of the World trade agreements and balancing with post-transition relations with the EU

Our business model

Our work - government policy

We design, deliver and evaluate policy relating to our top priorities.

We build strong and collaborative relationships with a wide range of stakeholders. This includes businesses, business representative organisations, workers and unions, and research and academic institutions.

We also work closely with other government departments, regulators, and wider public bodies.

Finally, we consult the public on critical policy decisions.

Our people

Our Core Department is made up of 5,625 people with regional offices across the UK. We are organised in 8 groups, each led by a director general. Groups are in turn divided into directorates.

Our funding

Our annual funding is agreed with HM Treasury and Parliament. In 2021-22, we were responsible for the efficient stewardship of £29.7 billion of departmental funds.

Our partner organisations

BEIS has a large number of public bodies collectively referred to as our partner organisations (POs). In 2021-22, BEIS worked with 43 POs.

Our POs are diverse. They span numerous sectors, policy responsibilities and operations. Examples include:

• large organisations – for example, UK Research and Innovation, and Nuclear Decommissioning Authority
• medium-size organisations working on regulation – for example, Competition and Markets Authority
• advisory committees – for example, Committee on Climate Change

Our organisational structure

The post holders shown are those in post as at the publication date of this 2021-22 annual report and accounts. (For the full list of postholders during the year and up to publication, see the Directors’ report.)

Our ministers

• Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy: Rt Hon Jacob Rees-Mogg MP
• Minister of State (Minister for Climate): Graham Stuart MP
• Minister of State (Minister for Industry): Jackie Doyle-Price MP
• Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Minister for Business, Energy and Corporate responsibility): Lord Callanan
• Minister of State (Minister for Science and Investment Security): Nusrat Ghani MP
• Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Minister for Enterprise and Markets): Dean Russell MP

Our management: senior officials

• Permanent Secretary and Principal Accounting Officer: Sarah Munby
• Implementation and Delivery, Director: Simon Hulme
• Chief People Officer, HR Director: Alice Hurrell
• Trade, International, the Union and Analysis, Director General: Ashley Ibbett
• Energy Supply Taskforce, Director General: Madelaine McTernan
• Strategy and Policy, Director: Dan Micklethwaite
• BEIS Chief Scientific Adviser: Professor Paul Monks
• Science Innovation and Growth, Director General: Jo Shanmugalingam
• Chief Financial Officer; Finance Director: Tom Taylor
• Energy and Security, Director General: Joanna Whittington
• Corporate Services, Director General: Freya Guinness
• Net Zero Strategy and International, Director General: Lee McDonough
• Net Zero Buildings and Industry, Director General: Ben Rimmington
• Business Sectors, Director General: David Bickerton
• Communications, Director: Abigail Morris
• Market Frameworks, Interim Director General: Gavin Lambert (jobshare)
• Market Frameworks, Interim Director General: Caleb Deeks (jobshare)
• Energy Supply, Director General: Jonathan Mills

Our management: non-executive directors

• Lead non-executive (board member): Ann Cairns
• Non-executive (board member): Vikas Shah
• Non-executive (board member): Stephen Hill
• Non-executive (board member): Peter Mather

Our group

Executive agencies

They act as an arm of the Core Department. They undertake executive functions, rather than policy advice.

• Companies House
• Insolvency Service
• Intellectual Property Office^{[Note 1]}
• Met Office^{[Note 1]}
• UK Space Agency

Consolidated departmental group

These bodies are within our accounting boundary. They include non-departmental public bodies (NDPBs) and other central government bodies not yet classified as NDPBs.

The department sponsors NDPBs and usually sets their strategic framework. They are a separate legal entity and operate at arm’s length from ministers. However, a minister will be accountable to Parliament for them.

The full list of consolidated entities is in note 29. Those excluded below are separate legal entities, but their accountability flows from the entities below.

NDBPs

• Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service
• British Hallmarking Counci^{[Note 3]}
• Central Arbitration Committee
• Civil Nuclear Police Authority
• Coal Authority
• Committee on Climate Change^{[Note 3]}
• Committee on Fuel Poverty
• Committee on Radioactive Waste Management
• Competition Appeal Tribunal
• Competition Service
• Copyright Tribunal
• Low Pay Commission
• Nuclear Decommissioning Authority
• Oil and Gas Authority (trading name now North Sea Transition Authority from 21 Mar 2022)
• Regulatory Policy Committee
• Salix Finance Limited
• Small Business Commissioner^{[Note 3]}
• UK Atomic Energy Authority
• UK Research and Innovation

Other central government bodies

• British Business Bank
• British Technology Investments
• Certification Officer
• Electricity Settlements Company
• Financial Reporting Council
• Groceries Code Adjudicator^{[Note 3]}
• Low Carbon Contracts Company
• Pubs Code Adjudicator^{[Note 3]}
• UK Shared Business Services

Wider departmental group

They work to achieve BEIS objectives but are not consolidated into group accounts. They include public corporations, non-ministerial departments, and central government funds.

• Bulb Energy Limited^{[Note 2]}
• Celsa Steel (UK) Limited^{[Note 2]}
• Competition & Markets Authority^{[Note 4]}
• Land Registry^{[Note 4]}
• National Nuclear Laboratory^{[Note 2]}
• National Physical Laboratory^{[Note 2]}]
• Nuclear Liabilities Fund^{[Note 5]}
• Office of Gas and Electricity Markets^{[Note 4]}
• Ordnance Survey^{[Note 2]}
• Post Office Limited^{[Note 2]}

Notes

Not consolidated into the Departmental Group accounts:

1. Trading funds
2. Public corporations
3. Minor bodies, on the grounds of materiality
4. Non-ministerial departments
5. Central government funds

Where we spent our money

For the year ended 31 March 2022:

Group	Amount
Total DEL spend for the Departmental Group	£29.7 billion
Of which: Core Department and Agencies	£17.4 billion
Of which: Partner organisations and designated bodies	£12.3 billion

The diagram shows the major areas of spend - by Estimate line for the Core Department, and by entity for the department’s Agencies and partner organisations. The majority of the departmental spend in 2021-22 continues to be through the Core Department. However, in the years prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, the majority of the department’s spend, and policy delivery was through our partner organisations.

The Core Department has spent:

• £4.4 billion on grants to support businesses through the pandemic (included in delivering an ambitious industrial strategy)
• £1.6 billion on support to businesses through the CBILS/CLBILS and BBLS loan guarantee schemes (included in government as shareholder)

Agencies and Departmental Group spend includes:

• £8.6 billion by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), on funding for Science and Research
• £2.8 billion by the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) on managing our energy legacy safely and responsibly
• £527 million by the British Business Bank (BBB), through the Enable programme, Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund, Midlands Engine Investment Fund and Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Investment Fund, on supporting small business in the UK at all stages of their development
• £493 million by UK Space Agency (UKSA) on delivering an excellent space programme with the maximum economic, scientific and policy benefit for the UK

Diagram: Where we spent our money in 2021-22

View a larger version of this diagram

Where we spent our money in 2021-22: diagram data

Group	Major areas of spend	Value (£m)
Partner organisation	UKRI	£8,574m
Core Department	Managing our energy legacy safely and responsibly	£5,817m
Core Department	Deliver an ambitious industrial strategy	£4,366m
Partner organisation	Nuclear Decommissioning Authority	£2,757m
Core Department	Ensuring that our energy system is reliable and secure	£1,909m
Core Department	Government as Shareholder	£1,636m
Core Department	Delivering affordable energy for households and businesses	£1,346m
Partner organisation	BBB	£527m
Core Department	Capability	£514m
Executive agencies	UK Space Agency	£493m
Core Department	Maximise investment opportunities and bolster UK interests	£431m
Core Department	Taking action on climate change and decarbonisation	£365m
Core Department	Science and Research	£275m
Partner organisation	UKAEA	£241m
Core Department	Promote competitive markets and responsible business practices	£126m
Partner organisation	Diamond Light Source	£115m
Executive agencies	Insolvency Service	£77m
Partner organisation	ACAS	£57m
Partner organisation	Coal Authority	£56m
Partner organisation	Other	£(28m)
Executive agencies	Companies House	£25m
Partner organisation	UKSBS	£16m
Partner organisation	Salix Finance Limited	£9m
Total		£29,704m

Performance analysis

Structure of the performance analysis

The performance analysis provides a detailed narrative of our performance in 2021-22. It includes the following sections:

• our performance (against strategic priorities)
• risks affecting delivery of our priorities
• financial review
• sustainability report
• other relevant information in the public interest

Our Performance

This section provides details of the department’s performance against its strategic priorities in 2021-22.

1. Fight coronavirus: by helping businesses to bounce back from the impacts of COVID-19, supporting a safe return to the workplace and accelerating the development and manufacture of a vaccine.

1.1 Support business through the pandemic and recovery, engaging closely to understand needs and delivering vital support schemes

COVID-19 response

Throughout the pandemic, BEIS sought to understand the impact of COVID-19 on businesses and workers, and how government could help address these challenges. BEIS engaged closely with businesses, business representative organisations and trade unions.

BEIS engaged closely with sectors that we most heavily affected including hospitality, personal care and non-essential retail. Minister Scully chaired monthly retail and hospitality roundtables, and attendees discussed key issues related to the pandemic. BEIS officials worked with the Retail Sector Council, retailers and industry experts to explore strategic areas for joint working. These areas included levelling-up, employment, skills and meeting the challenges of net zero in the Build Back Better High Streets Strategy. The department also released the first ever Hospitality Strategy in July 2021. The Hospitality Sector Council was set up later in the year to co-create solutions to recovery challenges and build resilience in the sector.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, many businesses were closed to prevent the spread of the virus. As a result, in many cases rent on commercial premises went unpaid. This has led to ongoing disputes between tenants and landlords on outstanding pandemic-related rent debt. To help resolve these disputes, the government introduced a new statutory arbitration process as part of The Commercial Rent (Coronavirus) Act 2022, which came into force on 24 March 2022. BEIS took the legislation through Parliament.

Last year, the government published an updated Code of Practice to provide commercial landlords and tenants with a clear process for settling outstanding debts. The Code sets out that tenants who can pay their rent debt in full should do so, and that in the first instance, tenants unable to pay in full should negotiate with their landlord in the expectation that the landlord shares the burden where they are able to do so, and only as far as necessary, by waiving some or all rent arrears or giving time to pay.

COVID-19 grants

Since March 2020, we have provided local authorities with £26.8 billion of COVID-19 grants to allocate to eligible businesses. The breakdown of this total cash paid to local authorities is shown in the table below. (The expenditure is shown in note 4.4 grants in the financial statements. The difference between the cash amount paid and the recognised expenditure is a receivable due back to BEIS, shown in note 15).

In addition, the department provided local authorities with ‘New Burdens’ funding for all schemes. This is additional funding to help with the administrative burden of working on grants. We have provided £197.3 million to support local authorities to date. This includes £4.5 million still to be paid once work on assurance is completed.

Grant scheme	BEIS payments (£bn)	Closing date
Small Business Grants Fund (SBGF) and the Retail, Hospitality and Leisure Grant Fund (RHLGF)	12.3	Aug-20
Local Restriction Support Grants (LRSG)	7.8	Mar-21
Christmas Support Payment (CSP) to wet-led pubs	0.2	Feb-21
Additional Restrictions Grant (ARG) scheme	2.1	Mar-22
Local Authority Discretionary Grant Funds (LADGF)	0.6	Aug-20
Restart Grant scheme	3.4	Jul-22
Omicron Hospitality and Leisure Grant (OHLG)	0.6	Mar-22

COVID-19 loans

The Recovery Loan Scheme (RLS) was launched in April 2021. It followed the closure of the original COVID-19 loan schemes. It aimed to ensure UK businesses of any size could continue to access loans and other kinds of finance as they grew and recovered from the disruption of the pandemic.

The original COVID-19 loan schemes included the - Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS), Coronavirus Large Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CLBILS), Bounce Back Loan Scheme (BBLS), and Future Fund. We delivered them in partnership with the British Business Bank (BBB). This provided timely financial assistance to over 1.6 million businesses.

CBILS, CLBILS and BBLS closed to new applicants on 31 March 2021. The total number of loans approved and value for each scheme is shown in our performance metrics below. They provided almost £80 billion of finance and reached almost a third of SMEs in the UK. BBB estimate that 0.5 to 2.9 million jobs could have been lost in the absence of these schemes. See BBB’s early impact evaluation.

Future Fund launched on 20 May 2020 and closed to new applicants on 31 January 2021. It provided convertible loans of up to £5 million to companies that had previously raised equity finance. Government’s investment matched the investment by third-party investors, at the minimum. The number of loans approved, and value is shown in our performance metrics below.

1.2 Manage economic shocks, helping to protect businesses and jobs where available

COVID-19 loans

Repayments for the earliest BBLS borrowers was due in April 2021. This was after an initial 12-month period of grace expired. BBLS borrowers have been able to use the repayment flexibilities offered under the ‘Pay as You Grow’ scheme. This allows businesses to tailor repayments according to their individual circumstances, so provides support to businesses. As of 31 March 2022, 28% of BBLS borrowers have accessed one or more Pay as You Grow option.

The data on early repayment shows signs that businesses are bouncing back. As of 31 March 2022, majority of businesses are meeting monthly repayments for their COVID-19 loan. Over 78% of facilities are meeting monthly repayments as scheduled and 7% of all facilities have been fully repaid. 7% of facilities are in arrears and 8% of facilities have been subject to a default.

Challenges

BBLS suffered a number of fraudulent claims. An estimate of the amount anticipated to be lost to fraud over the life of the guarantees is provided in the regularity section.

The department is working on identifying instances of loans being obtained fraudulently, penalising those responsible and recovering funds where possible. We have expanded our internal counter-fraud capabilities to help us do more on this front. Further detail is provided in the governance statement.

1.3 Support a safe return to workplaces, restoring jobs and livelihoods and rebuilding consumer confidence

COVID-19 response

BEIS published the government’s Working Safely Guidance. The guidance supported businesses, employers and employees to comply with their responsibilities and mitigate risks the from COVID-19. This allowed businesses to reopen safely during the pandemic, to mitigate the risk of business failure. Almost all workplaces were covered by the guidance. BEIS also supported the deployment of workplace testing to businesses. We encouraged uptake of the workplace testing through the Working Safely guidance and engagement with employers.

From 1 April 2022, the guidance was replaced with Principles for Employers. This helps employers and workforce managers understand how to reduce the spread of respiratory infections such as COVID-19 and flu in the workplace. This guidance will be delivered by the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA).

1.4 Ensure the continued development and manufacture of vaccines for deployment in the UK and overseas to protect lives

The Vaccine Taskforce (VTF) was first established by BEIS in May 2020 with these 3 objectives:

• secure access to promising COVID-19 vaccines for the UK population as quickly as possible
• make provision for international distribution of vaccines
• strengthen the UK’s onshoring capacity and capability in vaccine development, manufacturing and supply chain to provide resilience for future pandemics

From 1 August 2021, VTF became a joint unit of BEIS and the Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC). BEIS remains responsible for the third of the above objectives.

Before August 2021, the VTF secured vaccines for the first booster campaign which started in September 2021. It also launched the international donation of vaccines. This supports the UK government’s commitment for equitable access to vaccines worldwide.

Performance metrics

1. Number of business and value of loans supported by British Business Bank COVID-19 debt schemes as of 31 March 22

Loans	Value (£bn)	Number approved
RLS	3.4	15,000
BBLS[Note 1]	47.4	1,560,309
CBILS[Note 1]	26.4	109,877
CLBILS[Note 1]	5.6	753
Future fund[Note 2]	1.1	1,190

Notes

1. Scheme closed to new applicants on 31 March 2021
   
2. Scheme closed to new applicants on 31 January 2021

Source: HM Treasury coronavirus (COVID-19) business loan scheme statistics
Release schedule: n/a

2. Number of Advanced Purchase Agreements for vaccine supply signed each year & number of different vaccine modalities in the Vaccine Taskforce portfolio

Year	Number of Agreements signed for vaccine supply	Number of different vaccine modalities under the Agreements signed
As at 31 Mar 2022	6	3
As at 31 Mar 2021	7	4

Source:
1. AstraZeneca
2. GSK/Aventis
3. Pfizer
4. Novavax
5. Moderna
6. Janssen

Release schedule: n/a

2. Tackle climate change: reduce UK greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2050. (Cross-cutting outcome also supported by DEFRA, DFT, DLUHC and HMT)

2.1 Deliver net zero carbon emissions

Heat and buildings strategy

In May 2021 we announced over £44 million to enable the supply of clean energy to tens of thousands of UK homes, and also public buildings. The investment will help cut carbon emissions by up to 22% for homes and buildings connected to heat networks. It will also provide potential reductions of up to 15% in energy costs.

In October 2021 we published the Heat and Buildings Strategy. It sets out the government’s plan to cut carbon emissions significantly from UK homes and workplaces. Like the transition to electric vehicles, this will be a gradual transition, incentivising consumers and driving down costs.

There are about 30 million buildings in the UK. Heating these buildings contributes to almost a quarter of all UK emissions. Addressing the carbon emissions produced can save money on energy bills and improve lives. It can also support up to 240,000 skilled green jobs by 2035. This will boost the economic recovery, level up across the country and ensure we build back better.

The Heat and Building Strategy aims to phase out the installation of new natural gas boilers from 2035, install 600,000 heat pumps per year by 2028, support households transition with Boiler Upgrade Scheme of £450 million which provides £5,000 capital grants to consumers.

Net zero strategy

We also published the Net Zero Strategy in October 2021. It builds on the foundations the Prime Minister laid last year, in their 10 point plan for a green industrial revolution. The strategy provides our decarbonisation pathways to net zero. It keeps us on track for: UK carbon budgets, our Nationally Determined Contribution by 2030, and net zero by 2050. It includes illustrative scenarios, policies and proposals for each sector and cross-cutting action to support the transition.

The Green Homes Grant – Local Authority Delivery programme includes funding for 5 Local Net Zero Hubs. These hubs would help local authorities to develop net zero projects and attract investment. The programme also develops best practice tools for local governments. For example, the ‘Net Zero Go’ tool is an online platform to help local government turn ambition on net zero into local action.

We announced our Greening Government Commitments in October. It sets how UK government departments, and their agencies will reduce their impacts on the environment in the period 2021 to 2025. These include reducing water consumption, reducing greenhouse gas emissions, minimising waste and promoting resource efficiency. They also set out commitments for departments to improve sustainable procurement, develop and deliver Nature Recovery Plans, develop and deliver Climate Change Adaptation Strategies, and reduce environmental impacts from ICT and digital services.

2.2 Drive the green industrial revolution

In June 2021, we published proposals to reform and expand the Warm Home Discount in England and Wales until 2026. The aim of the reform is to improve fuel poverty - targeting rate and ensure more fuel poor households can receive automatic rebates on energy bills. This is in line with the commitments announced in the energy white paper in 2020.

In July 2021, we set out the government’s approach for an Advanced Modular Reactor (AMR) R&D demonstration programme. AMRs are typically smaller than conventional nuclear power stations, more flexible, and could be built at a fraction of a cost.

More specifically, it will explore High Temperature Gas Reactors (HTGRs) as the most promising technology. Ministers are investing £170 million into delivering this by the early 2030s.

It is hoped that HTGRs will safely create electricity to power homes on the grid and generate low-carbon hydrogen. In addition, because they can generate extremely high temperature heat, they could help decarbonise industry and potentially power district heating networks by the 2040s.

In August 2021 we launched the UK’s first-ever Hydrogen Strategy. It drives forward the commitments laid out in the Prime Minister’s 10 point plan for a green industrial revolution. It sets the foundation for how the UK government will work with industry to meet its ambition for 5GW of low carbon hydrogen production capacity by 2030. This is the equivalent of replacing natural gas to power around 3 million UK homes each year, and powering transport and businesses, particularly heavy industry. It is set to support over 9,000 UK jobs and unlock £4 billion investment by 2030.

In September 2021, we awarded £3.8 million to 7 projects to develop technologies that support the coexistence of offshore windfarms and UK air defence systems. These will reduce the adverse impact that windfarms can have on Air Defence (AD) and Air Traffic Control (ATC) surveillance systems. It also supports our commitment to scale up offshore wind to 40GW by the end of the decade.

We announced the new £270 million Green Heat Network Fund. It will support low-carbon technologies like heat pumps, solar and geothermal energy in the roll out of the next generation of heat networks. The scheme will play a significant role in kick-starting market demand for heat pumps. This will drive down costs for consumers. It will deliver a mix of low-carbon heating solutions as we incentivise people to transition away from fossil fuel boilers over the next 15 years.

We announced a major expansion of heat networks in December, with an investment of £19 million to go towards setting up 5 new heat networks, 2 in Bristol, and 3 across Liverpool, London and Worthing, providing households and workplaces with more affordable, reliable heating that offers a low-carbon, more cost-effective alternative to installing individual, energy-intensive, heating solutions such as gas boilers.

In October 2021, we announced business rates exemption for green property improvements - including solar panels and heat pumps. It would help businesses to invest to make buildings more energy efficient.

In February 2022, we awarded nearly £7 million to turbocharge UK projects that are developing innovative energy storage technologies. This was the first round of government-backed competition. The intermittent nature of renewables like solar and wind power means that energy can be produced when it is not needed, such as during extended periods of high wind. However, as new technologies are developed, this energy can be stored for longer. It will help to manage variations in helping manage electricity generation, increase resilience, and maximise value for money.

In February 2022, we announced that the frequency of auctions for funding through the Contracts for Difference (CfD) scheme, will change to every year from every 2 years. This will support renewable electricity producers and boost the UK’s renewable energy infrastructure.

2.3 Accelerate international climate action

We launched the Visions for a Net Zero Future project. It will bring together academics, business, civil society and citizens to look at the innovations and approaches to deliver a greener, carbon-neutral society. The project will develop 6 visions, each focusing on a different region around the world - the UK, Jamaica, Brazil, Kenya, United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, and India.

2.4 Support the successful hosting of COP26

In November 2021 we hosted the 26th conference of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP26), in Glasgow. COP decisions went further than ever before in recognising and addressing loss and damage from the existing impacts of climate change. Some achievements of the conference are listed below.

• The Glasgow Climate Pact will speed up the pace of climate action. All countries agreed to revisit and strengthen their current emissions targets to 2030, known as Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), in 2022. This will be combined with a yearly political roundtable to consider a global progress report and a Leaders summit in 2023.
• The Paris Rulebook, the guidelines for how the Paris Agreement is delivered, was also completed after 6 years of discussions. This will allow for the full delivery of the landmark accord, after agreement on a transparency process which will hold countries to account as they deliver on their targets. This includes Article 6, which establishes a robust framework for countries to exchange carbon credits through the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
• For the first time, the COP agreed action on phasing down fossil fuels. It heeds calls from civil society and countries most vulnerable to climate impacts.
• There were also commitments to significantly increase financial support through the Adaptation Fund as developed countries were urged to double their support to developing countries by 2025.

Challenges

In July 2021, we confirmed that the UK met the obligations of the Energy Efficiency Directive in 2020. However, we missed the 2020 Renewable Energy Directive target of 15% of our energy coming from renewable sources, achieving 13.6%.

Performance metrics

1. Total UK net greenhouse emissions (million tonnes of CO2 equivalent) (for tracking progress against carbon budgets)

Year	UK net territorial greenhouse gas emissions (MtCO2e)[Notes 1, 2, 3]	Difference from 1990
2021 (provisional)	424.5	-
2020 (final) [Note 2]	405.5	-400.7
2019	447.9	-

Source: Provisional UK greenhouse gas emissions national statistics 2021 and Final UK greenhouse gas emissions national statistics: 1990 to 2020
Release schedule: annual

Notes

1. Emission estimates exclude international aviation and shipping, consistent with accounting basis for UK greenhouse gas emission reduction targets up to 2032.
2. Total greenhouse gas emissions in 2020 (and, to a lesser extent, 2021) are considered an outlier due to the effect of lockdown measures, introduced during the COVID-19 pandemic, reducing emissions.
3. In 2020, net territorial greenhouse gas emissions in the UK were estimated to be 405.5 million tonnes carbon dioxide equivalent (MtCO2e), a decrease of 9.5% compared to the 2019 figure of 447.9 million tonnes and 49.7% lower than they were in 1990. Total greenhouse gas emissions increased by 4.7% between 2021 and 2020 (provisional estimates)

2. Total UK net greenhouse gas emissions by sector (million tonnes of CO2 equivalent)

	UK net territorial greenhouse gas emissions by sector, 2020 (MtCO2e) [Notes 1, 2, 3]	UK net territorial greenhouse gas emissions by sector, 2020 (% of total emissions) [Notes 1, 2, 3]	UK net territorial greenhouse gas emissions by sector, 2019 (MtCO2e)	UK net territorial greenhouse gas emissions by sector, 2019 (% of total emissions)
Energy Supply	84.5	21%	95.8	21.1%
Business	72.8	18%	77.9	17.1%
Transport (including domestic aviation and shipping)	98.7	24%	122.2	26.9%
Public	7.4	2%	7.9	1.7%
Residential	66.3	16%	69.2	15.2%
Agriculture	46.2	11%	46.3	10.2%
Industrial processes	9.5	2%	10.4	2.3%
Land use, land use change, forestry	4.0	1%	5.9	1.3%
Waste Management	19.2	5%	19	4.2%

Source: Final UK 1990-2020 greenhouse gas emissions national statistics (2021 data not available by sector)
Release schedule: annual

Notes

1. Greenhouse gas emissions in 2020 are considered an outlier due to the effects of lockdown measures installed during the COVID-19 pandemic. Total emissions were reduced, with transport and business sectors particularly impacted.
   
2. Emission estimates exclude international aviation and shipping, consistent with accounting basis for UK greenhouse gas emission reduction targets up to 2032.
   
3. Emission estimates presented are based on 100-year global warming potentials (GWPs) from the IPCC 5th Assessment Report (without climate-carbon feedback), consistent with accounting basis for upcoming UK greenhouse gas emission reduction targets.

3. Total projected greenhouse gas savings from BEIS sectors included in the Energy and Emissions Projections (EEP)

	Total projected greenhouse gas emissions savings in BEIS sectors (MtCO2e) [Note 1]	1990 emissions (MtCO2e)	2030 projections (MtCO2e)
Energy Supply	237	282	45
Business	49	114	64
Industrial Processes	46	55	9
Residential (joint responsibility with DLUHC)	15	80	66
Public sector	5	13	8

Source: Energy and Emissions Projections
Release schedule: annual

Notes

1. Emission estimates presented are based on 100-year global warming potentials (GWPs) from the IPCC 5th Assessment Report (without climate-carbon feedback), consistent with accounting basis for upcoming UK greenhouse gas emission reduction targets. Differences have been rounded.

4. Low carbon share of electricity generation (percentage)

	Low carbon share of electricity generation (%) [Note 1]
2021 (provisional)	52%
2020	56%
2019	53%

Source: Energy Trends, UK electricity
Release schedule: annual

Notes

1. Low carbon sources include wind, wave, solar, hydro, nuclear, and other renewables, such as bioenergy. Figures cover domestic electricity generation only.

5. Employment in low carbon and renewable energy economy (LCREE) in the UK and constituent countries

2019	Estimated by the ONS to be 202,100 full-time equivalent (FTE) in 2019. Including low carbon businesses and their supply chains, this figure was over 410,000 FTEs.

Source: ONS Publication of the LCREE Survey
Release schedule - annual with an approximately 15 month lag

3. Unleash innovation and accelerate science and technology throughout the country to increase productivity and UK global influence.

3.1 Make the UK a science superpower

In April 2021, we put in place an extra £250 million to support pioneering research and drive the UK’s ambitions to become a science superpower. As a result, UK scientists will have access to more public funding than ever before. This takes total government investment in R&D to £14.9 billion in 2021-22. It follows 4 years of significant growth in R&D funding, including a boost of more than £1.5 billion in 2020-21. It will mean UK government R&D spending is now at its highest level in 4 decades.

In July, we published the UK Innovation Strategy. Our vision is for the UK to be a global hub for innovation. In this strategy we set out our plans against 4 key pillars, which will support the achievement of that vision:

• pillar 1: Unleashing business – we will fuel businesses who want to innovate
• pillar 2: People - we will make the UK the most exciting place for innovation talent
• pillar 3: Institutions and places - we will ensure our research, development and innovation institutions serve the needs of businesses and places across the UK
• pillar 4: Missions and technologies – we will stimulate innovation to tackle major challenges faced by the UK and the world and drive capability in key technologies

In September 2021, we published the National Space Strategy. It sets out long-term plans to strengthen the UK’s status as a world-class space nation. The new vision will help grow the UK’s multibillion-pound space industry, boost private investment and capitalise on UK strengths such as satellite manufacturing. The strategy brings together UK government civil and defence space activities to protect UK interests at home and abroad.

3.2 Double investment in R&D

Our Bill on the Advanced Research and Invention Agency (ARIA) received royal assent in February 2021, in preparation for the establishment of the agency. The creation of ARIA will complement the work of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI). It will build on the government’s ambitious R&D Roadmap, published in July 2020. The new agency will be tasked with funding high-risk research that offers the chance of high rewards. It would support ground-breaking discoveries that could transform people’s lives for the better.

In March 2021, we confirmed how the £39.8 billion R&D budget for 2022-2025, the largest ever, will be allocated between partner organisations. The allocations will allow the government to deliver on the ambitions set out in the Innovation Strategy. These investments will support our commitment to ensure total R&D spending reaches 2.4% of GDP by 2027.

A further £60 million will support manufacturing investments by companies at the leading-edge of innovation. This will include investments in cell and gene therapies, earlier and better diagnostic technologies and medical devices.

3.3 Improve technology take-up

In March 2021, in conjunction with the Department for Health and Social Care, we invested £260 million to support research and development, and the manufacturing of new drugs, devices and diagnostics.

Up to £200 million of this will enable research to better access NHS data - through Trusted Research Environments and digital clinical trial services. This will make crucial data more secure and quickly available for research. It will also assist the NHS to deliver new life-saving treatments to patients faster. It will support more diverse and inclusive clinical research to tackle health inequalities and improve patient care.

3.4 Foster open and competitive markets

In October 2021 we announced £1.6 billion for new and growing businesses, to be delivered via the government’s British Business Bank over the next 3 years. This includes £312 million for 33,000 new Start-Up Loans to business owners across the UK. It also includes £307 million for businesses in the North, Midlands and Southwest via expanding the Regional Funds programme. For the first time, this programme will launch funds in Scotland and Wales and continue to work with the Northern Ireland Executive to maintain the existing fund. The government will also provide £52.5 million for the Regional Angels Programme.

Challenges

OneWeb is a satellite company part owned by the government. Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the Board of OneWeb, voted to suspend all launches from Baikonur, Kazakhstan. The company currently has 428 spacecraft in orbit. This is sufficient to provide space-borne internet connections above 50 degrees North (which includes the UK). But close to 650 satellites are required to run a truly global service.

Performance metrics

1. Gross Expenditure Research and Development as percentage of GDP

Year	%
2019	1.7%
2018	1.7%
2017	1.7%
2016	1.9%
2015	1.6%

Source: ONS Gross Domestic Expenditure on R&D as a percentage of GDP
Release schedule: annually

2. Business Enterprise Research and Development as a % of GDP

Year	%
2020	1.3%
2019	1.2%
2018	1.2%
2017	1.1%
2016	1.1%

Source: ONS Business Enterprise R&D as percentage of GDP
Release schedule: annually

3. Percentage of businesses that are innovation active, including by region

Year	%
2018-20	45%
2016-18	38%
2014-16	49%
2012-14	53%
2010-12	44%

Source: UK Innovation Survey
Release schedule: every 2 years

4. Back long-term growth: boost enterprise by making the UK the best place in the world to start and grow a business.

Boost enterprise by making the UK the best place to start and grow a business

We introduced the Subsidy Control Bill in June 2021. It provides the framework for a new, UK-wide subsidy control regime. The regime will enable public authorities, including devolved administrations and local authorities, to deliver subsidies tailored to local needs. This will help to deliver government priorities such as levelling up, achieving net zero carbon and supporting the economy’s recovery from COVID-19.

In October 2021, we announced that the government will look to make it easier for enterprising companies to relocate to the UK - to attract investment and jobs. BEIS will launch a consultation on creating a re-domiciliation regime. It proposes to bring the UK into line with peers such as New Zealand and Canada, and strength our position as a global business hub.

We launched the Help to Grow: Digital scheme in December 2021. It provides small businesses with free, impartial online support on how to use digital technology to boost performance. It will also offer them access to discounts up to £5,000 towards the costs of buying approved software.

EU regulations exempt ‘vertical agreements’ from EU competition law. In February 2022, we announced we will replace these rules with bespoke rules better suited to the UK. Vertical agreements are agreements between companies at different levels of the supply chain, such as farmers and grocers. These vertical agreements benefit consumers by encouraging efficiencies, investment and innovation. The new rules will ensure competition law does not impose unnecessary burdens.

Increase opportunity

In October 2021, we announced a National Living Wage (NLW) increase up to £9.50 an hour to be introduced from April 2022.This gives a £1,000 pay rise to 2 million of the lowest paid workers across the UK. The change will make the new NLW rate the highest ever, as significant progress is made towards ending low pay.

The hospitality, retail and leisure sectors have been hit hard by the pandemic. In October 2021, we announced support for these sectors with a 50% business rates discount capped at a maximum of £110,000. This also applies to high street personal care businesses like hairdressers.

Drive up productivity and create high value, better paid jobs

In July 2021, we introduced new proposals to clamp down on those who promote tax avoidance arrangements. It will make sure promoters face tougher action to discourage them from operating and to disrupt their activities. It will do more to support customers to steer clear of and leave tax avoidance arrangements.

In January 2022, we set out the government’s vision to modernise the economic regulation of the utilities sectors. It includes:

• how the government intends to ensure regulators’ duties allow them to meet these systemic challenges
• how the government will provide strategic clarity on long-term aims for these sectors – it will publish a letter of strategic guidance to the CEOs of Ofwat, Ofgem and Ofcom
• how it can enhance competition for strategic investment opportunities for the long-term benefit of consumers and investors
• how transparency and consistency in key processes can be improved, for example, for the weighted average cost of capital when setting price controls

Strengthen our national security regime

The National Security and Investment Act 2021 commenced on 4 January. It introduces new powers for government to investigate and intervene in investments and other acquisitions of entities and assets in the UK, or linked to the UK, where they could harm the UK’s national security.

Performance metrics

1. Output per hour growth

Year / quarter	%
2021 Q4	1.3%
2021 Q3	-1.5%
2021 Q2	0.2%
2021 Q1	0.8%
2020 Q4	-3.9%
2020 Q3	8.3%
2020 Q2	-1.7%
2020 Q1	-0.8%
2019 Q4	0.2%
2019 Q3	0.3%
2019 Q2	0.2%
2019 Q1	-0.5%

Source: Output per hour worked % change quarter on previous quarter SA
Release schedule: Quarterly

2. Output per worker growth

Year / quarter	%
2021 Q4	1.4%
2021 Q3	0.2%
2021 Q2	5.2%
2021 Q1	-1.3%
2020 Q4	2.1%
2020 Q3	18.5%
2020 Q2	-18.5%
2020 Q1	-2.7%
2019 Q4	-0.6%
2019 Q3	0.5%
2019 Q2	-0.1%
2019 Q1	0.3%

Source: Output per Worker: Whole Economy: % change quarter on previous quarter SA: UK
Release schedule: Quarterly

3. Business investment as a % of GDP

Year	%
2021	8.9%
2020	9.5%
2019	10.0%
2018	8.9%

i) Business investment:
Source: Gross Fixed Capital Formation: Business Investment: CP SA: £m
Release schedule: Quarterly
ii) GDP
Source: Gross Domestic Product at market prices: Current price: Seasonally adjusted £m
Release schedule: Quarterly

4. Business birth rate, including by region

	2020	2019	2018
North East	12.3%	12.7%	12.5%
North West	12.9%	13.3%	14.3%
Yorkshire and The Humber	11.7%	12.2%	11.8%
East Midlands	12.1%	12.5%	12.1%
West Midlands	12.2%	15.0%	13.3%
East	10.8%	12.1%	12.3%
London	14.0%	15.7%	15.9%
South East	10.9%	11.9%	11.7%
South West	10.4%	10.7%	10.4%
Wales	11.4%	11.8%	13.3%
Scotland	9.8%	11.8%	11.1%
Northern Ireland	9.9%	10.4%	9.6%
Total	11.9%	13.0%	12.9%

Source: ONS, Business demography, UK: 2020
Release schedule: Annually

Delivery against our strategic enablers

Workforce, skills and location

Reinforce the systems for talent management and performance management to address the personal and professional development needs of staff, and reward performance in line with government and departmental priorities
We had a strong talent offer which combines the central talent programme with our internal talent delivery. Our internal talent delivery has focused on building talent pipelines across all grades. We continued to sponsor ‘Crossing Thresholds’ and ‘Forward Institute’ for senior leaders and SCS sponsorship for team leaders. We have a robust performance management system which is supported by the use individual payments which recognises excellent performance.

Ensure that our organisation reflects the country we serve by a more diverse location footprint and relocating roles, including SCS positions, outside of London
We continued to recruit in Aberdeen, Birmingham, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Salford, with some presence in Belfast – our ‘places for growth’ locations. We also recruited into Darlington economic campus (DEC). DEC is pioneering cross government hub and BEIS is one of the cluster of departments recruiting into it.

Continue to remove barriers to recruitment, development and promotion of a diverse workforce
We continued to make incremental changes to our attraction materials and advertising channels. We were awarded the Civil Service Commissioners’ Mark of Excellence for recruitment - the inaugural department to win this award. We launched our first social mobility apprenticeships. We successfully attracted the first applicants to our Prison Leavers initiative. We also launched our BEIS alumni network to stay in touch with former members of the department.

Innovation technology and data

In 2021-22, we delivered a more modern Data Management Service. It has been designed to automate the full end to end lifecycle of managing data. We also introduced colleagues to our agile delivery approach, via Help to Grow: Digital and The National Security Infrastructure projects. It allowed teams to quick test & refine new ideas which sped up our delivery.

Delivery, evaluation and collaboration

In 2021-22, BEIS continued to mature its capabilities in evaluation and collaboration. We delivered a new project lifecycle. We have started to pilot and roll-out a new tool for Portfolio Project and Programme Management (PPPM). It is used by project teams for the day-to-day management of their business. We also set up a Project Assistance Team to support specific high priority projects.

To control project activity, we delivered a Business Case Assurance Tool (BCAT) and made upgrades to the performance monitoring tool (ORB). BCAT is used to manage the assurance process by which business cases are approved. ORB is used for retrospective reporting on the delivery of a project’s objectives.

Performance metrics

• People survey engagement score: see staff report
• Representation of female staff, ethnic minority staff and disabled staff: see staff report
• Greenhouse gas emission: see sustainability report

Impact of COVID-19 on strategic objectives, and priority outcomes for 2021-22

As in 2020-21, the pandemic continued to place significant demands on the department. However, our business planning and resource allocation from 2020-21 meant it had minimal impact on the delivery of our other strategic priorities.

To deliver our ‘Fighting Coronavirus’ priority, we delivered business support programmes and the safe workplace guidance. As case rates declined, we provided guidance and support for sectors reopen and recover. This included publishing our Hospitality Strategy in July 2021. Over the year, we also helped sectors manage the emergence of variants.

The Vaccine Taskforce continued to deliver a world-leading vaccination and booster programme – it reduced rates of COVID mortality and morbidity across the UK. We are developing an onshoring programme to support vaccine production in the UK. This will ensure a positive legacy for the UK life sciences sector. From the corporate perspective, BEIS agreed our new hybrid working model. This was done in consultation with staff networks. It aims to maximise the benefits of working both in the office and at home.

Impact of EU Exit on strategic objectives, and priority outcomes for 2021-22

Following the end of the Transition Period on 31 December 2020 the impact of EU Exit on delivering the department’s strategic objectives and priority outcomes has reduced significantly.

We have turned our focus to maximise new opportunities from our economic and regulatory independence. We are working to deliver an optimal business environment; boost enterprise and facilitate job creation.

The UK’s future participation in the Horizon Europe programme continued to be uncertain. The department is both negotiated with the EU on continuing membership and developed domestic alternatives.

The Subsidy Control Bill was introduced to Parliament. It outlines the UK’s domestic alternative to EU State Aid rules. The new system will contribute to meeting the UK’s international commitments on subsidy control. This includes international commitments at the World Trade Organization (WTO) and in Free Trade Agreements. The Professional Qualifications Bill was also introduced to Parliament. Its purpose is to replace EU legislation governing how overseas professional qualifications are recognised in the UK.

A summary of how our performance contributes to United Nations Sustainable Development Goals

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are a package of 17 global goals for 2016-2030, developed by UN member states. The UK government is delivering SDGs via HMG’s existing performance frameworks. Departments are required to identify where their performance contributes to the delivery of relevant SDGs. BEIS contributes mainly to SDGs 7, 9 and 13.

Further details on the bullet points in the table, may be found in the performance narrative above.

BEIS priorities	SDGs	Progress in 2021-22
Tackle climate change	Goal 7 - Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all	Rising gas prices put significant pressure on the energy retail market. In response we: - implemented a Special Administration Regime for Bulb Energy Ltd - to protect consumers from higher prices and loss of funds held by Bulb and ensure continued energy supply (note 4.1) - implemented the Energy Bills Support Scheme BEIS published our Heat & Buildings Strategy The Energy Company Obligation (ECO) scheme is an obligation on large energy suppliers to provide energy efficiency and heating measures for fuel poor consumers in Great Britain. ECO has installed over 3 million measures in over 2.2 million homes. The next iteration of ECO will run from 2022 to 2026 with an increase in value from £640 million to £1 billion per year. We have also committed to a 4-year, £4 billion successor to ECO.
Unleash innovation	Goal 9 - Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialisation and foster innovation	We published the Transitioning to zero emission cars and vans: 2035 delivery plan. It sets out significant milestones towards our phase out dates for petrol and diesel cars and vans. As part of the Net Zero Strategy, we committed an additional £620 million for targeted vehicle grants and infrastructure to support the transition to electric vehicles. We announced that Britishvolt has been offered funding through the Automotive Transformation Fund for its planned gigafactory in Northumberland.
Tackle climate change	Goal 13 - Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts	We supported the successful delivery of COP26 where the Glasgow Climate Pact was signed. We spent more than £550 million on BEIS climate finance in 2021-22. It provided capital investment, technical assistance and capacity building to drive the transition to low-carbon, development paths. drawing in investment from the private sector and other actors. Overall cumulative total ICF results for 2021 show 51 million tonnes of reduced / avoided GHGs and £8 billion public and private finance mobilised for climate change action We introduced regulations to increase the minimum energy performance for a range of domestic and non-domestic electrical appliances. We published an Energy-related Products Policy Framework. It sets out government’s ambitions to push products to be more energy- and resource-efficient.
Back long-term growth	Goal 1 - End poverty in all its forms	We increased the National Living Wage in April to £8.91 per hour
Back long-term growth	Goal 5 - Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls	In 2020 BEIS undertook a review into workplace support for victims of domestic abuse. We published the report in 2021 and committed to hold best practice roundtables for employers.
Unleash innovation	Goal 8 - promote sustained inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all	In April we launched the Recovery Loan Scheme. We launched the Help to Grow scheme, which offers training to help SME business leaders to increase productivity, seize investment opportunities and grow their business.
Back long-term growth	Goal 11 - Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable	BEIS International Climate Finance programmes including the Urban Climate Action and Climate Leadership in Cities Programmes are supported cities in developing countries. They helped to deliver ambitious climate actions and mobilise local political and technical leadership on net-zero. We supported the Market Accelerator for Green Construction programme. This helped to drive the financing and construction of more energy efficient buildings in emerging economies.
Tackle climate change	Goal 12 - Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns	The Green Gas Support Scheme (GGSS) launched November 2021to manage waste in an environmentally sound way. It provides subsidy support to produce biomethane via anaerobic digestion (AD) to inject into the gas grid. AD is the preferred treatment route for unavoidable food waste. The GGSS complements Defra’s waste policies. The environment bill committed to increase collection of household food waste, leading to more food waste generated. The GGSS provides a sustainable solution.

Forward look

What we are aiming to achieve

In 2022-23, while addressing the risks posed by the wider economic and international context, our focus will be to:

• generate cheaper, cleaner, homegrown energy and deliver on this government’s commitment to net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050
• unleash innovation to make the UK a science superpower
• boost enterprise to level up the country while supporting families with the cost of living
• drive economic recovery from coronavirus

Ensure energy security and deliver net zero

Energy security will form a core part of the department’s work as we deliver on net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. We will accelerate plans for cheaper, cleaner, home-grown power. We aim to build an independent and secure energy system and support families with bills. We will continue to roll-out our broader net zero strategy and facilitate the creation of highly skilled green jobs. We will use our domestic policy to lead by example on the international climate change agenda, to secure a positive legacy following COP26.

Unleash innovation

Next year will be an exciting time for the department’s work to unleash innovation and accelerate science and technology throughout the country. It will deliver this government’s ambitions to be a global science superpower. Over the last 12 months we published the Innovation Strategy, R&D People and Culture Strategy, National Space Strategy, AI Strategy, Fusion Strategy and Life Science Sector Vision. Next year we will continue to focus on the implementation of these strategies. We will continue to set up the Advanced Research and Invention Agency (ARIA). We will also deliver ambitions in the R&D Roadmap. This includes providing a response to the independent reviews of the RDI landscape, Research Bureaucracy and UKRI. Finally, we will lead on the cross-government R&D mission set out in the Levelling Up white paper.

Boost enterprise

We will drive long-term growth and boost enterprise, by making the UK the best place in the world to start, grow and invest in a business. This includes direct support for business through the British Business Bank (BBB), and programmes such as Help to Grow. It also includes our work on investment security and economic crime, to help us swiftly impose and enforce sanctions. At the domestic level, we will support families with the cost of living. We will do this through our work on the National Minimum Wage, and regulatory reform measures to champion the consumer, support workers and tackle fraud.

Help businesses

As we continue to deliver on our Plan for Jobs and Growth, we will drive the UK’s recovery from coronavirus, help businesses, facilitate investment, and mitigate supply chain disruption. We will help the UK prepare for potential future pandemics. We will do this by onshoring vaccine production capacity and maximising our comparative advantage in the life science sector.

Risks affecting delivery of our priorities

This section provides further details on risks faced by the department in 2021-22.

1. Risks continuing from 2020-21

Relative severity: considers likelihood of risk materialising and impact of risk.

Risk	Mapped to BEIS priorities	Mitigating activities	Relative risk severity & direction of risk trend to Mar 2021
Financial constraints could limit our ability to deliver our objectives and ambitions	Back long-term growth Unleash innovation Tackle climate change	- We monitored our in-year position. We managed the Supplementary Estimate process, which is fundamental to deliver a balanced in year position. - We discussed financial position, policy funding and emerging issues with HM Treasury. - We had quarterly deep dives into specific budgets to identify risks and levers to manage over/ under spends. We considered commitments, volatility or other data as needed.	Medium / Stable
Unable to lead the global fight to tackle climate change in line with the Paris Agreement	Back long-term growth Unleash innovation Tackle climate change	- We worked closely with other governments, multilaterals, and NGOs to set objectives, provide support and make interventions. - We targeted ICF activities that most effectively supports green recovery and country specific needs. - We ensured the team was sufficiently resourced - through business planning. - We continued with delivery of COP 26 and worked with other government departments.	Medium / Decreasing risk The risk rating has decreased through effective mitigation and delivery of COP 26
Legal budget and resources are not managed effectively	Back long-term growth Unleash innovation Tackle climate change	- We monitored total spend and planned future costs. Where necessary, we will use this to develop a spending profile for the year and adjust to external factors. - We engaged with other government departments to find out best practices and how they manage GLD costs.	Medium / Stable
Policies and programmes are inadequate to effectively support economic recovery and drive productivity growth	Back long-term growth Fight coronavirus	- We worked with HM Treasury on a plan for growth to support the economy. - We managed the rollout of vaccines to support the country to emerge from lockdown and prevent COVID-19. - We monitored sectors and targeted support packages for businesses. - We developed an enterprise strategy and developed investment opportunities.	High / Stable The risk rating remains high due to longer term impacts of the pandemic and external variables.
Non compliance with the Public Sector Equality Duty	Back long-term growth Unleash innovation Tackle climate change	- We developed proposals to drive up compliance with Public Sector Equality Duty. - We developed a report to report progress on equality objectives externally. We reviewed the processes for internal clearance. - We developed an equalities monitoring & evaluation framework.	Medium / Decreasing risk The risk rating decreased to medium due to effective mitigation.
Failure to meet carbon budgets due to measures to mitigate climate change not reducing emissions sufficiently	Back long-term growth Unleash innovation Tackle climate change	- We strengthened our cross government and cross-national governance under Climate National Strategy Implementation Group (NSIG). - We developed business models for greenhouse gas removal technologies. - We developed more ambitious policy options for Carbon Budgets 4,5 and 6 (2023-37) and 2030 Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) for the Climate Action Strategy Committee (CASC).	High / Stable The risk rating remains high due to our long-term net zero commitments.
Catastrophic or severe incident affecting energy or nuclear critical national infrastructure	Tackle climate change	- We worked with the Office for Nuclear Regulation to maintain safety and security standards, including strengthening the regulatory framework. - We ensured robust safety and security arrangements (physical, personnel and cyber) were in place at civil nuclear sites. - We engaged with the industry to identify vulnerabilities and mitigate cyber risks not addressed through regulation.	High / Stable The risk rating remains static due to our commitment to ensuring energy infrastructure is kept secure.

2. Risks that were new in 2021-22

Risks that were newly identified or escalated based on threats the department has faced during the year. They were added at various points during the year.

Risks	Mapped to BEIS priorities	Mitigating activities	Relative risk severity & direction of risk trend to Mar 2022
Workforce capacity and capability is not prioritised in the right areas	Back long-term growth Unleash innovation Tackle climate change	- We monitored emerging issues/risks with a focus on capacity and reprioritise accordingly. - We reviewed workforce capacity against departmental priorities. - We reported on resourcing priorities.	High / Increasing risk The risk rating increased due to BEIS reacting to external factors like the pandemic and energy market.
Staff wellbeing is not supported sufficiently	Back long-term growth Unleash innovation Tackle climate change	- We supported wellbeing during the implementation of hybrid working, via workshops and other sessions.	Medium / Stable
Sensitive information is compromised or lost through cyber-attack, eavesdropping, theft, mistakes or leaks.	Back long-term growth Unleash innovation Tackle climate change	- We increased investment in holistic security, weaving together personnel, physical, cyber, cultural and resilience threads. This helps to counter the expanding threats to our people and information. - We maintained strong, tested cyber defences and invested against emerging threats. We recognise that our people are an equally important defence – so we enhanced security awareness across the department. - We worked across government to realise the horizon-scanning, centralisation and professionalisation benefits from the maturing Security Function.	High / Stable The department is satisfied all possible avenues are in place to mitigate this risk. The rating remains high due to the increasing nature of cyber-attacks, and importance of staff safety.
A security incident at work harms BEIS officials, ministers or visitors	Back long-term growth Unleash innovation Tackle climate change	- We increased investment in holistic security, weaving together personnel, physical, cyber, cultural and resilience threads. This helped to counter the expanding threats to our people and information. - We recognised that our people are an equally important defence and enhanced security awareness across the department. - We worked across government to realise the horizon-scanning, centralisation and professionalisation benefits from the maturing Security Function.	High / Stable The department is satisfied all possible avenues are in place to mitigate this risk. The rating remains high due to the increasing nature of cyber-attacks, and importance of staff safety.
Delivery of parts of our policy agenda is less effective and impactful due to a deterioration in relationships with one or more of the devolved administrations.	Back long-term growth Unleash innovation Tackle climate change	- We developed and embedded the BEIS Union strategy and Action Plan 2022. - We ensured effective intelligence was shared with the Centre, including the Cabinet Office, Territorial Offices and other government departments. - We maintained strategic oversight and coordination of DA relationships to support the delivery of objectives - We upskilled colleagues across BEIS on the Devolution and Union agenda.	High / Stable This risk rating is high due to the importance of managing these relationships.
Sharp and sustained rise in gas prices significantly impact business and a range of consumers	Back long-term growth Unleash innovation Tackle climate change	- We addressed resourcing issues related to the Gas Price Programme. - We monitored trends and establishing actions to mitigate the risk impacts of high gas prices over the short, medium and long term. - We developed work to protect vulnerable consumers and EIIs work aims to mitigating impacts to the sector.	High / Increasing risk The risk rating is high due to the importance of managing the energy market
Communications budgets aren’t managed effectively	Back long-term growth Unleash innovation Tackle climate change Fight coronavirus	- We reviewed business planning activity for unfunded assumptions.	High / Increasing risk The risk rating is high due to the importance of having an adequate budget to deliver Communications or Campaign activity
Onshoring investments become financially unviable or are unable to pivot to respond effectively to future health emergencies	Back long-term growth Unleash innovation Fight coronavirus	- We made a commitment to sustainable investments for the long-term. - We understood and applied the lessons learned from previous investments. - We ensured monitoring and evaluation plans captured key investment Key Performance Indicators. - We ensured appropriate approvals/assurance and due diligence processes were followed.	Medium / Stable

3. Risks that were closed or de-escalated

Risk	Mapped to BEIS priorities	Mitigating activities	Narrative
We may lack the strategic and cultural flexibility to manage the impacts of a rapid change to priorities	Back long-term growth Unleash innovation Tackle climate change	- We maintained an effective reporting system to ensure risks are identified early and considered by senior leaders, to support strategic decision making. - A dedicated team worked to develop our Target Operating model, to strengthen capability. - We identified future trends through annual horizon scanning of our external environment. We recruited people with the necessary commercial, technical, and operational skills.	This area remains a high priority. However, this specific risk has been de-escalated and managed at group level.
Inadequate availability, quality, or understanding of evidence base underpinning policy development and delivery	Back long-term growth Unleash innovation Tackle climate change	- We produced Quality Assurance (QA) scores for all business-critical models our overall score is above target. - We increased monitoring early on at policy development stage and improved mechanisms to review the policies. - We continued to develop a central archive of completed appraisals, monitoring and evaluations to support better, analysis and policy development.	This area remains a high priority. However, effective mitigation has led to this risk being de-escalated.
Failure to attract, develop and retain sufficiently skilled staff and support their wellbeing	Back long-term growth Unleash innovation Tackle climate change	- We ensured senior leaders maintain oversight of teams. We tracked that leave is taken, hours worked are proportionate, and flexible working options are considered. - We conducted workforce planning to develop resourcing plans, review strategy and international capability. - We monitored the results of our People Survey 2019-20. We improved staff retention with new learning and development packages and the appointment of Wellbeing Champions.	The department has re-articulated this concern into 2 separate risks for workforce capacity and managing staff wellbeing
Sensitive information is lost or compromised through cyber-attack, theft, mistakes or leaks, or a security incident at work harms BEIS ministers, staff, or visitors	Back long-term growth Unleash innovation Tackle climate change	We ran staff awareness campaigns to reinforce security behaviours and develop a security conscious culture – technical and physical defences are not enough on their own. - We maintained strong and tested cyber defences. - We developed proportionate defences for BEIS and our partner organisations. - We worked with other government departments to adopt best practices.	The department has re-articulated this concern into 2 separate risks for cyber and physical security.
Vaccine nationalism and foreign government intervention: one or more shipments of the drug substance or drug product to the UK could be restricted by interventions from foreign countries or Blocs	Back long-term growth Unleash innovation Fight coronavirus	- We engaged across government to understand political intervention to stabilise vaccine supply. - We proactively engaged with international partners. - We supported and developed COVAX (COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access) as a supply mechanism and a forum to collaborate. - We developed strategy for domestic production where possible and supported the development of UK capacity and capability.	The risk has been supeceded by 2 new risks related to the Onshoring Programme.

Financial review

Overview

The financial review provides an analysis of our financial performance and position for the year. It is organised under the following headings:

Expenditure

a) How expenditure is presented
b) Our budget framework
c) Comparison of outturn to previous year
d) Comparison of outturn to budget

Financial position

a) Recognition of COVID-19 business support - financial guarantees and grants
b) Impact of changes in discount rates
c) Contracts for difference
d) Nuclear decommissioning provision

How expenditure is presented

The analysis of expenditure in the financial review is based on the SOPS.

Statement of Outturn against Parliamentary Supply (SOPS)	SOPS is specific to the public sector. It reports the department’s expenditure against the control limits that Parliament has voted on. The department is held to account on its financial performance/ use of taxpayers’ funds based on this limit. A reconciliation between IFRS and SOPS is shown in SOPS 2	Departmental expenditure £141.1 billion Departmental budget £225.6 billion
Statement of Comprehensive Net Expenditure (SoCNE)	The Financial Statements are prepared on a similar basis to the rules generally applied by private sector businesses. It is prepared in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS).	Core Department and Agencies net expenditure from operations £26.3 billion Departmental Group net expenditure from operations £138.9 billion

Our budget framework

TME: The total amount a department spends

AME: They are volatile or demand-led in a way the department cannot control. HM Treasury do not set firm AME budgets. The department monitors forecasts closely and updates them annually.

DEL: They are understood and controllable. HM Treasury set firm budgets during a Spending Review, which occur every 3 to 5 years. DEL budgets are classified into resource and capital.

Resource DEL
Programme RDEL: For frontline service provision
Admin RDEL: For back-office functions such as rent or IT

Capital DEL
General capital: For assets or investments, except financial transactions
Financial transactions: For loans given or shares purchased

Comparison of outturn to previous year

	2021-22 Budget £m	2021-22 Outturn £m	2020-21 Outturn £m
TME [Notes 1,2]	225,597	141,065	54,338
Of which
Total DEL (Note 3)	31,649	29,704	42,946
Resource DEL	9,569	8,712	22,496
Capital DEL	22,080	20,992	20,450
Total AME	193,948	111,361	11,392
Resource AME	189,303	115,150	(8,152)
Capital AME	4,645	(3,790)	19,544

Notes

1. The TME outturn is the total of Voted and Non-Voted in the Statement of Outturn against Parliamentary Supply.
   
2. The TME outturn corresponds to ‘total voted and non-voted’ Outturn reported in the SOPS.
   
3. This expenditure is analysed in Where we spent our money.

The SOPS Outturn expenditure does not represent cash spend. The departmental Group’s performance in any year is impacted by accounting ‘fair value’ movements. As they are non-cash adjustments, they do not feature in standard descriptions of spend, such as in ‘Where we spent our money’, shown in the Performance report.

The significant movements in resource AME this year come from, the movements in the fair value of the Contracts for Difference and the changes to discount rates and cost estimate adjusting provisions in particular the NDA’s nuclear decommissioning provision.

Variations in our expenditure against the budget and the previous years are explained below in further detail.

Comparison of expenditure to previous years recognised in SOPS

This table shows the department’s key areas of net expenditure recognised in SOPS for the last 5 years.

	2021-22 £m	2020-21 £m	2019-20 £m	2018-19 £m	2017-18 £m
Nuclear Decommissioning Authority	103,362	3,473	6,751	(99,592)	73,218
Science and research	7,690	9,182	7,785	7,511	6,740
Contracts for Difference	10,021	468	3,543	(2,971)	3,558
UK Research & Innovation (Innovate UK)	1,018	1,066	1,077	1,052	973
Coal Authority	3,168	274	58	(1,993)	1,545
Green Infrastructure Platform	(74)	(87)	9	11	24
Renewable Heat Incentive	920	848	846	818	687
International Climate Finance	431	584	339	321	330
Post Office	233	115	92	228	140
Redundancy payment service	261	442	431	319	260
COVID-19 business support grant schemes	3,852	8,050	10,976	-	-
COVID-19 business loan guarantee schemes	(2,566)	21,281	-	-	-
Future Fund	(16)	1,151	-	-	-
Nuclear Liabilities Fund	5,622	5,070	-	-	-
Green Investment Bank sale receipts	-	-	-	-	(1,621)
Other	7,143	2,423	1,937	75	179
Total	141,065	54,340	33,844	(94,221)	86,033

In 2021-22 the Departmental Group’s expenditure recognised in the department’s SoCNE increased to £138.9 billion, an increase of £86.4 billion compared to 2020-21 Departmental Group’s expenditure. This increase was primarily driven by the change in discount rates. The provision discount rate in the long term has increased from negative (0.01%) to negative (1.27%).

The impact of the changes in discount rates recognised in the SoCNE for the NDA’s nuclear decommissioning provision was 2021-22 was £90.5 billion, higher than £2.1 billion recognised in 2020-21.

The financial instrument discount rate used for valuing the contract for difference (CfD) liabilities has gone from a positive rate of 0.7% to a variable negative discount rate for 2021-22, that varies based on projected inflation in future years, the discount rates for future cashflows in 2022-23 of (5.65%), 2023-24 of (0.47%), 2024-25 of 0.24%, 2025-26 of (0.06%) and 2026-27 onwards of (0.10%). This will result in an increase in the CfD liabilities.

The Contracts for Difference (CfDs) fair value movement recognised in expenditure in 2021-22 was £10.3 billion, lower than £2.7 billion recognised in 2020-21.

COVID-19 related expenditure

In 2020-21 the department recognised £31 billion for COVID-19 related business support grant, loan and guarantee schemes. 2021-22 saw a decrease in COVID-19 related expenditure.

In 2021-22, £3 billion was paid under the Restart Grant (note 4.4), £0.5 billion was paid under the Omicron Hospitality and Leisure Grant (note 4.4) and £0.5 billion was paid under the Additional Restrictions Grant schemes (note 4.4), a further £46 million was recognised for the Future Fund (note 12.2). £2.2 billion has been recognised as a reduction to expenditure in relation to the business support COVID-19 financial guarantee loan schemes as a result of the ECL remeasurement of the expected claims along with expenditure in relation to business interruption payments and income from lender fees (notes 4.1, 6.1 and 19).

COVID-19 related expenditure: table

	2021-22 £m	2020-21 £m
Business support - Grant expenditure
Small Business Grant Fund (SBGF), and Retail Hospitality and Leisure Grant Fund (RHLGF)	-	110
Local Authority Discretionary Grant Fund (LADGF)	-	573
Local Restrictions Support Grant schemes	(224)	7,225
Restart Grant	3,045	-
Omicron Hospitality and Leisure Grant (OHLG)	479	-
Additional Restrictions Grant (ARG)	499	-
New burdens funding	53	142
	3,852	8,050
Business support
Financial Guarantee schemes	(2,567)	21,281
Trade Credit Reinsurance	(10)	85
Future Fund	46	1,090
	(2,531)	22,456
Science & Research
Science & Research support grants	-	540
	-	540
Total	1,321	31,046

Due to the Vaccine Taskforce being transferred to DHSC during 2021-22, expenditure has been restated for 2020-21.

CfDs and Capacity Market Payments

The increase in the estimated discounted value of CfD payments from (£16.9 billion) in 2020-21 to (£26.9 billion) in 2021-22 resulted in a £10.3 billion expense reported in the SoCNE which is offset by payments to CfD generators of (£0.3 billion).

£0.9 billion of Capacity Market payments were made in 2021-22 compared to £1.1 billion in 2020-21. These payments are offset by the recognition of levy income.

Discount rates

Significant changes in HM Treasury’s prescribed discount rates have resulted in large impacts on the SoCNE. In 2021-22, the movement on discount rates has resulted in £90.5 billion being recognised in relation to the nuclear decommissioning provision. £2.1 billion was recognised in 2020-21. In addition to the impact of the discount rate change, the nuclear provision liability has increased by £15.3 billion due to changes in cost estimates. Further detail of the movements in provisions can be found in note 20.1 for Nuclear provisions and note 20.2 for Other provisions.

Comparison of outturn to budget

Explanations for the key variances from budget are as follows, split by budget line headings from the SOPS.

	Outturn £m	Budget £m	Variances £m	Variances %
TME	141,065	225,597	(84,532)	(59.92%)
Resource DEL	8,712	9,569	(857)	(9.84%)
Capital DEL	20,992	22,080	(1,088)	(5.18%)
Total DEL	29,704	31,649	(1,945)	(6.55%)
Resource AME	115,150	189,303	(74,153)	(64.40%)
Capital AME	(3,790)	4,645	(8,435)	222.56%
Total AME	111,360	193,948	(82,588)	(74.16%)

Total Managed Expenditure (TME)
Our TME budget was £225.6 billion; against this the department had an Outturn of £141.1 billion. The department underspent by £84.5 billion in comparison to its Estimate.

This was primarily as a result of,

• a provision for grant funding that was not required of £17.4 billion in Resource AME
• uncertainties at the time of budgeting for the CfD valuation of £14.7 billion in Resource AME
• uncertainties at the time of budgeting for the nuclear decommissioning provision of £34.2 billion in Resource AME

Resource DEL
The Estimate was £9.6 billion. Outturn against the Estimate was £8.7 billion; £857 million lower than budget. This is primarily due to an underspend against COVID-19 business support grants.

Capital DEL
The Estimate was £22.1 billion. Outturn against the Estimate was £21.0 billion, £1.1 billion lower than budget. The majority of the underspend is in relation to unused budget for the Energy Special Administration Regime.

Resource AME
The Estimate was £189.3 billion, and Outturn was £115.2 billion, an underspend of £74.1 billion.

The primary reason for the underspend was that the department requested budget cover for a potential provision relating to grant funding that was not required as a result of the UK negotiating to become an associate member of the EU’s Horizon Europe, Euratom Research and Training and International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) programmes. This accounted for £17.4 billion of the underspend.

In addition to this, the NDA’s nuclear decommissioning provision was £34.2 billion lower than the Estimate which reflects uncertainties when budgeting for the Outturn. The CfD liabilities were £15 billion lower than the Estimate due to contingency in the forecast of the wholesale electricity prices.

Capital AME
The Estimate was £4.6 billion, and Outturn was (£3.8 billion), an underspend of £8.4 billion.

£2.9 billion of the underspend was due to funding that was not required as a result of the UK negotiating to become an associate member of the EU’s Horizon Europe, Euratom Research and Training and International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) programmes, and £4.1 billion underspend is in relation to COVID-19 financial guarantees for which there were significant uncertainties when setting the budget.

Breakdown of Outturn against Budget for EU Exit and COVID-19 expenditure

Area of Expenditure		Outturn £m	Budget £m	Saving £m
TME		141,065	225,597	(84,532)
RDEL	EU Exit	34	36	(2)
RDEL	COVID-19	5,082	5,902	(820)
RDEL	Other	3,595	3,631	(36)
Total RDEL		8,712	9,569	(858)
CDEL	EU Exit	-	-	-
CDEL	COVID-19	111	189	(78)
CDEL	Other	20,882	21,891	(1,009)
Total CDEL		20,993	22,080	(1,087)
Total DEL		29,704	31,649	(1,945)
RAME	EU Exit	-	-	-
RAME	COVID-19	(296)	(2)	(294)
RAME	Other	115,446	189,305	(73,859)
Total RAME		115,150	189,303	(74,153)
CAME	EU Exit	-	-	-
CAME	COVID-19	(3,525)	-	(3,525)
CAME	Other	(265)	4,645	(4,910)
Total CAME		(3,790)	4,645	(8,435)
Total AME		111,360	193,948	(82,588)

The Vaccine Taskforce costs have been restated in 2021-22, as the taskforce has transferred to the Department for Health and Social Care.

EU Exit expenditure

The majority of the £34 million of expenditure relating to EU Exit recognised in Resource DEL, related to staff and related costs.

COVID-19 expenditure

As detailed in the table COVID-19 related expenditure, the £5 billion recognised in Resource DEL, included:

• £3.8 billion to business support grant expenditure paid and recognised in the year
• £2.1 billion relating to business support financial guarantee – Business Interruption Payments

The £110 million recognised in Capital DEL, relates primarily to Grants paid in year to support the Vaccines Taskforce.

The £296 million recognised in Revenue AME, primarily relates to receipts from the CBILS, CLBILS and RLS Loan scheme.

The £3.5 billion recognised in Capital AME, primarily relates to the business support – financial guarantee expenditure recognised in 2021-22 under the CBILS/CLBILS and BBLS financial guarantee business schemes.

All of this spending was funded by HM Treasury during the 2021-22 Main and Supplementary Estimate processes.

Official Development Assistance

The UK’s Official Development Assistance (ODA) refers to the overseas aid budget. BEIS ODA is used in 2 main ways - on research and innovation (R&I) and tackling climate change.

ODA spend is reported for the calendar year, on a cash basis. In 2021, BEIS’ total spend was £928 million. This comprised R&I: £368 million and tackling climate change: £560 million.

Activities supported on R&I

• research studies, both basic and applied
• international partnerships between UK institutions and partners in low- and middle-income countries
• innovation and technology accelerators
• building research capacity through fellowships and PhDs
• Commercialisations of R&I

Activities supported on tackling climate change

• adapting to the impacts of climate change, low carbon growth and addressing deforestation
• mobilisation of private sector capital in South Africa to promote cleaner, greener growth
• expansion of UK PACT, to supply technical expertise to Kenya, Nigeria, Indonesia, Colombia, South Africa
• technical assistance to partner countries to increase and implement their Paris Agreement
• coal transitions and integration of renewable energy technologies

BEIS ODA spend by sector ^{[Note 1]}

Sector	Sector code [Note 2]	R&I £m	ICF £m	Total £m
Education, Level Unspecified	111	13.9	-	13.9
Secondary Education	113	0.1	-	0.1
Post-Secondary Education	114	8.0	-	8.0
Health, General	121	89.8	-	89.8
Basic Health	122	17.2	-	17.2
Non-communicable diseases (NCDs)	123	0.9	-	0.9
Population Policies/Programmes & Reproductive Health	130	2.3	-	2.3
Water Supply & Sanitation	140	1.6	-	1.6
Government & Civil Society-general	151	6.8	-	6.8
Conflict, Peace & Security	152	1.5	-	1.5
Other Social Infrastructure & Services	160	1.8	-	1.8
Transport & Storage	210	0.0	-	0.0
Communications	220	0.1	-	0.1
Energy	230	1.0	-	1.0
Energy Policy	231	0.4	6.5	6.9
Energy generation, renewable sources	232	12.7	120.1	132.8
Energy distribution	236	0.3	-	0.3
Banking & Financial Services	240	0.1	2.0	2.1
Business & Other Services	250	0.4	0.2	0.6
Agriculture	311	27.5	-	27.5
Forestry	312	0.1	69.7	69.8
Fishing	313	1.3	-	1.3
Industry	321	6.6	-	6.6
Mineral Resources & Mining	322	0.3	-	0.3
Construction	323	0.0	-	0.0
General Environment Protection	410	37.1	34.5	71.6
Other Multisector	430	115.5	24.6	140.1
Emergency Response	720	0.1	-	0.1
Disaster Prevention & Preparedness	740	0.9	-	0.9
Administrative Costs of Donors	910	19.0	10.7	29.7
Unallocated / Unspecified	998	0.3	291.9	292.2
Total		367.6	560.2	927.8

Notes

1. These figures are provisional. The final 2021 Statistics on International Development is due to be published by the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office in late September 2022.
   
2. Sector codes used by the OECD Development Assistance Committee (DAC): www.oecd.org/

Consolidated Statement of Financial Position

The department remains in a net liability position as at 31 March 2022. The department’s liabilities have increased from (£163.8 billion) at 31 March 2021 to (£273.4 billion) at 31 March 2022. The most significant items and assumptions impacting the Statement of Financial Position are explained below. They include:

a. recognition of COVID-19 business support - financial guarantees and business support grants
b. impact of changes in discount rates
c. Contracts for Difference
d. nuclear decommissioning provision

(a) Recognition of COVID-19 Business support - Financial guarantees and Business support grant

In 2021-22, the impact of the government’s response to COVID-19 can be seen on the Statement of Financial Position through the financial guarantee loan schemes and Trade Credit Reinsurance Scheme. The liabilities in relation to these schemes total £15.8 billion at 31 March 2022 in comparison to £19.8 billion at 31 March 2021. This is reflective of companies drawing down guarantees associated with these schemes, as well as the updated model. Further information can be seen in note 21. The expenditure of these schemes recognised in the year have been discussed in the Comparison of expenditure to previous years section above.

The department’s trade and other receivables balance has decreased in 2021-22. £0.6 billion of this decrease represents the decrease in money due back to the department from local authorities and reflects the decrease in COVID-19 grant support provided in 2021-22. Further details are given in note 15.

(b) Impact of changes in discount rates

About discount rates

Some of the department’s priorities carry very long-term obligations that will involve expenditure for decades to come. Their eventual costs are uncertain, but the department is required to present a single value in the accounts. This value is based on our best estimate of costs, technology, and other relevant factors. It is also adjusted from the future value to the present-day value using discount rates - the time value of money. The accounts use several discount rates depending on the nature of the transaction and the regulation applicable. These rates are in line with the appropriate accounting standards.

In the past discount rates have usually been positive. This means money invested in the present would give a future return that would exceed the rate of inflation – this is known as a positive ‘real’ return. Government bonds are seen as a low-risk form of investment, so they have a lower rate of return than other investments. They also pay a fixed cash amount when they mature. Therefore, the higher the price paid for bonds now, the lower the rate of return in the future. Following the global financial crisis, demand for lower–risk investments increased, particularly government bonds. As a result, the price of government bonds rose. This resulted in government bonds providing a negative ‘real’ return. The long-term discount rate has been negative since 2015.

In 2021-22, the long-term discount rate remained negative and was more negative than the rates used in 2020-21. This change has driven the change in the reported value of the department’s long-term obligations. Even when the cash the department expects to pay has not changed substantially. An increase in liabilities due to the discount rate changes has been reflected in the 2021-22 accounts.

The short-term and medium-term discount rates have also been revised. Discount rates being more negative than in prior years. This change has driven the change in the reported value of the department’s short-term and medium-term provision liabilities.

Impact on assets

Assets are discounted at positive rates. This means that the present value is lower than the cash the department expects to receive. For financial instruments we are required to use the prescribed HM Treasury discount rate of 1.9% nominal, or the rate of return implicit in the contract if higher. For Repayable Launch investments, the department assessed the implicit rate to be 3.50% plus CPI of 2.90% (2020-21: 3.50% plus 3.22%).

Impact on liabilities

Liabilities in 2021-22 continue to be discounted at a negative rate. The present value of the liabilities is therefore higher than the value the department expects to pay in the future.

The specific assets and liabilities that have been discounted are shown the in table below, in line with the HM Treasury Public Expenditure System (PES) paper issued on 13 December 2021. Provisions from the NDA and the Coal Authority relate to the expected future cost of managing the nation’s energy legacy.

	2021-22	2020-21	Rationale
Nuclear decommissioning provision
Short-term < 1 years	(3.53%)	(1.22%)	Set by HM Treasury Public Expenditure System (PES) paper issued on 13 December 2021
Short-term 1 – 2 years	(2.13%)	(1.62%)
Short-term 3 – 5 years	(1.53%)	(2.02%)
Medium-term 6 – 10 years	(1.30%)	(1.82%)
Long-term 11 – 40 years	(1.05%)	(0.01%)
Long-term > 40 years	(1.34%)	(0.01%)
CfD financial instruments
2022/23:	(5.65%)	0.70%	1.9% adjusted for the latest CPI forecasts for each modelled year
2023/24:	(0.47%)	0.70%
2024/25:	0.24%	0.70%
2025/26:	(0.06%)	0.70%
2026/27 and thereafter:	(0.10%)	0.70%
Coal pension receivable
Real rate + 3% RPI (as contractual figures are in nominal values)	3.7%	3.7%	Financial instruments discount rate as at initial recognition (non-indexed)
COVID-19 schemes
Financial Guarantees	1.9%	3.7%	Set by HM Treasury Public Expenditure System (PES) paper issued on 13 December 2021
Future Fund	8%	8%	The rate of return implicit in the contract
Trade Credit Reinsurance	1.9%	3.7%	Set by HM Treasury Public Expenditure System (PES) paper issued on 13 December 2021
Repayable Launch Investments
Higher of the implicit rate of return or the financial instrument’s rate	3.50% CPI 2.90%	3.50% CPI 2.22%	Risk-free rate for government investment appraisal set by HM Treasury Green Book, adjusted for inflation

Notes

1. The values above are real rates for 2021-22 and 2020-21 taking into account the nominal and inflation rates for 2021-22 and 2020-21. They are derived from HM Treasury’s rates. Further details of the nominal and inflation rates are given in the Departmental Group Accounting Policies note 1.23.

The impact of discounting

	2021-22 With discounting £m	2021-22 Without discounting £m	2021-22 Impact of discounting £m	2020-21 With discounting £m	2020-21 Without discounting £m	2020-21 Impact of discounting £m
Assets – financial assets
Repayable Launch Investments	463	545	(82)	485	732	(247)
Coal pension receivable	575	631	(56)	695	773	(78)
Liabilities – provisions, financial guarantees and insurance contracts
NDA nuclear provision	236,766	148,893	87,873	135,118	131,454	3,664
Coal Authority provision	5,618	8,459	(2,841)	2,529	2,508	21
COVID-19 Financial Guarantees	15,806	16,066	(260)	19,773	20,477	(704)
Trade Credit Reinsurance	31	32	(1)	69	73	(4)
Liabilities – financial instruments
CfD liabilities (recognised and deferred liabilities)	97,591	93,225	4,366	88,930	100,086	(11,156)

(c) Contacts for Difference

Contracts for difference (CfDs) are designed to incentivise investment in a mix of low carbon electricity generation technologies which will help the UK meet its renewable and decarbonisation targets. CfD contracts do this by agreeing with a generator a strike price for electricity supplied, thereby providing certainty needed for private investment, while protecting consumers from having to continue to pay higher support costs when electricity prices are high. The support payments paid (or repaid) in future will be calculated from the difference between the ‘strike’ price and the average market price.

Low Carbon Contracts Company

Difference payments under the CfDs are funded through a levy paid by licensed energy suppliers. The Low Carbon Contracts Company (LCCC) is the company established by government to collect this levy, manage the CfDs and pay or receive the contracted difference payments. The LCCC is managing 69 CfD contracts.

Accounting for fair value

In order to comply with the relevant accounting standards, the department is required to estimate the ‘fair value’ of future CfD payments. Difference payments under CfDs can be positive (an asset) or negative (a liability) and are currently recognised as a liability. The matching asset arising from the statutory obligation on suppliers is not recognised under the FReM. The CfD liability figure is calculated using a model that estimates eligible generation by CFD holders and combines this with forecast expected demand for electricity and electricity prices over the term of the contract (which are affected by a large number of factors including forecast expected generation mix and demand for electricity). The figures in the financial statements represent management’s best current estimate within a range of scenarios and will be subject to change over time.

• In accordance with accounting standards the initial fair value of any contract is deferred, meaning that it’s not recognised in the accounts. As at 31 March 2022, the cumulative value of the deferred differences of the CfDs was (£70.7 billion) (31 March 2021: (£72.0 billion)).
• The department will in future accounting periods recognise all subsequent movements of fair value CfD contracts through the SoCNE, whose cumulative value was (£97.6 billion) at 31 March 2022 (31 March 2021: (£88.9 billion)).
• The department has recognised a liability of (£26.9 billion) as at 31 March 2022 relating to part of the initial deferred fair value being recognised plus subsequent movements in fair value after initial recognition being recognised less payments to CfD generators (31 March 2021 (£16.9 billion)) on the Statement of Financial Position. Further information on this can be seen in note 10 to the Financial Statements.

The tables below show movements in the year. Further details on the CfDs are in note 10 to the financial statements.

Effect on the Statement of Financial Position

	2021-22 £bn	2020-21 £bn
01-Apr	16.9	16.5
Changes in FV on existing recognised contracts	8.9	1.6
Payments made to generators	(0.2)	(2.3)
Deferred differences recognised	1.3	1.1
31-Mar	26.9	16.9

Movements in fair value

	2021-22 £bn	2020-21 £bn
01-Apr	88.9	89.6
Changes in fair value on existing recognised contracts	8.9	1.6
Additions	-	-
Payments made to generators	(0.2)	(2.3)
31-Mar	97.6	88.9

Effect on the Statement of Comprehensive Net Expenditure

	2021-22 £bn	2020-21 £bn
Contract for difference derivatives	10.2	2.7
comprising
Changes in FV on existing recognised contracts	8.9	1.6
Deferred differences recognised	1.3	1.1

(d) NDA provision

NDA manage the clean-up and decommissioning of 17 nuclear licensed sites across the UK – such as former nuclear power stations and research centres. Some of these sites date from the earliest days of nuclear power. Unlike modern nuclear facilities, decommissioning of these sites was not built into plans or designs.

Decommissioning of sites will take many decades. In part, this is because plans often include periods of ‘care and maintenance’, where sites are made safe and put into an interim state, allowing residual amounts of radioactive material to decay over time. By doing this, the final stages of decommissioning will be easier and safer to complete.

NDA’s best estimate of the future costs of the estate over the next 100+ years on an undiscounted basis is £148.7 billion.

This figure is based on dealing with an assumed inventory of materials with varied radiological characteristics and using the extant strategy for retrieval and disposal of the resulting materials over several decades. Each of these elements is uncertain in its own right – the cost of developing the necessary technology and plants to deal with these activities is also uncertain. The quality of the forecast becomes less certain the longer the projection.

NDA has reviewed the methodologies used in the calculation, taking into account HM Treasury Green Book guidance and the need to remove optimism bias. Projects like these could typically have a range of estimates from -50% to +300%. In light of uncertainties in the estimate, NDA considers it prudent to present a credible range of outcomes. The range presented for the current year is for undiscounted costs of £126 billion to £273 billion.

NDA provision: forecast undiscounted expenditure

Total expenditure profile (£m, undiscounted)

Sustainability report

About GGCs

BEIS is the lead department for setting policies for UK to become net zero by 2050. So, we are committed to incorporating sustainability into our own operations to align with this target. We are doing this through the Greening Government Commitments (GGCs) - a framework for government departments to improve their sustainability across a range of targets. The current framework is for 2021-25. Targets are measured against a 2017-18 baseline, to be achieved by March 2025.

The targets for BEIS are for the BEIS GGC family, made up of the Core Department and our partner organisations that fall within the scope of the GGCs. This scope is set by Defra who own the GGC policy. The 16 BEIS POs reporting into the GGCs are listed in the footnotes. We have collected sustainability information for each of these entities, and we report the combined data below.

Before 2021-22, the BEIS family was made up of a smaller number of partner organisations. This data has not been included in the tables below, as it is not directly comparable to the entities in 2021-22. However, it can be found in previous years’ annual reports.

GGC targets and outcomes

The following table shows a summary of our performance in 2021-22. BEIS has made positive progress against the GGC targets. It should be noted that COVID-19 has been a factor in the rate of reduction across these measures for 2021-22.

GGC targets by March 2025	Outcomes 2021-22	Comments
GHG emissions
Overall emissions – 62% reduction	43% reduction	We were on track to reach the target of a 62% reduction in overall emissions.
Direct emissions – 30% reduction	14% reduction
ULEV [Note 1] – 25% of fleet by 31 Dec 2022	13% of fleet	BEIS is currently not on track to achieving the ULEV target by the end of 2022 due to global supply issues with these vehicles.
Domestic flights - reduce emissions by 30%	88% reduction	COVID-19 restrictions had a large impact on air travel resulting in an 88% reduction in domestic flight emissions.
Waste
Overall waste – 15% reduction	46% reduction	We exceeded the overall waste reduction target.
Landfill – reduce to less than 5% of overall waste	9% of overall waste	We are on track to achieve the landfill and recycling rate targets by 2025.
Recycling – increase to 70% of overall waste	67% of overall waste
Paper use – reduce by 50%	64% reduction
Water
Usage – reduce by 8%	34% reduction

Notes

1. Ultra-low Emission Vehicle: less than 50g CO2 per km

Greenhouse gas emissions

Emissions	2021-22 Tonnes CO2e	2017-18 Tonnes CO2e
Scope 1 [Note 1]	21,200	24,965
Scope 2 [Note 2]	64,053	131,030
Scope 3 (official business travel) [Note 3,4]	8,093	12,773
Total GHG emissions	93,346	168,768

Notes

1. Scope 1: direct emissions from sources owned or controlled.
2. Scope 2: indirect emissions from consumption of purchased electricity or sources of energy generated upstream.
3. Scope 3: other indirect emissions occurring due to BEIS’ operations, but not directly owned or controlled by BEIS.
4. Includes domestic and international travel emissions. But only domestic business travel is measured in GGC emissions reduction target, in the GGC targets and outcomes above. For a breakdown of domestic and international travel, see travel data below.

Energy use

Office closures due to the pandemic continued to have an impact on our energy usage during the year. However, we have also continued to make significant progress in reducing our GHG emissions through implementing energy efficiency improvements and moving towards greener or renewable sources of energy where possible.

	2021-22	2017-18
Gas (mWh)	109,381	109,328
Electricity: renewable [Note 1] (mWh)	214,359	2,710
Electricity: mains standard (mWh)	79,479	325,142
Other energy sources (mWh)	25,810	28,974
Total related energy use (mWh)	429,028	466,154
Expenditure (£000) - gas [Note 2]	-	-
Expenditure (£000) - electricity: renewable [Note 2]	-	-
Expenditure (£000) - electricity: mains standard [Note 2]	-	-
Expenditure (£000) - other energy sources [Note 2]	-	-
Gross expenditure (£000) on the purchase of energy	48,229	37,527
Expenditure (£000) on accredited offset purchases	n/a	-
Total related expenditure (£000) [Note 3]	48,229	37,527

Notes

1. Total of any electricity generated on site (for example, PV) and electricity purchased via a green tariff.
2. A breakdown of total energy expenditure is currently unavailable.
3. INSS excluded from total energy expenditure due to unavailable data.

Travel

Official business travel was significantly reduced by travel restrictions due to the COVID pandemic across all categories. This has also resulted in greatly reduced official business travel expenditure.

	2021-22	2017-18
International Travel (tonnes CO2e)	973	7,274
- Long haul air travel	794	6,031
- Short haul air travel	178	1,223
- International rail (Eurostar)	0	20
Domestic Travel (tonnes CO2e)	1,448	5,499
- Domestic air travel	124	999
- Rail (Note 1)	227	1512
- Bus/Coach	1	91
- Taxi	26	88
- Private vehicle (staff owned or hire vehicles)	1070	2812
Total emissions from travel (tonnes CO2e)	2,421	12,773
Expenditure on official business travel (£000)	7,358	21,662

Notes

1. Rail refers to all rail types, including trams and London Underground.

Waste

BEIS continues to support colleagues in finding ways to reduce the amount of waste we produce and ensure that we provide a full range of recycling facilities across our sites.

	2021-22	2017-18
Total waste arising (tonnes)	2,926	5,378
Recycled (excluding ICT waste) (tonnes)	1,753	3,514
Reused (excluding ICT waste) (tonnes)	1	1
ICT waste recycled, reused and recovered (externally) (tonnes)	92	73
Composted / food waste (tonnes)	118	176
Incinerated with energy recovery (tonnes)	674	1,006
Incinerated without energy recovery (tonnes)	29	2
Waste to landfill (tonnes)	259	606
Of which: deemed hazardous (tonnes)	135	318
Total waste disposal cost (£000) [Note 1]	1,767	1,284

Notes

1. ACAS, CMA and INSS not included in waste expenditure data as this is included in overall service charge

Paper use

We have significantly reduced our paper usage from our baseline year and will look to maintain and improve this in future years. We purchase only recycled paper which we also recycle after use.

	2021-22	2017-18
A4 ream equivalent Paper procured	46,214	129,255

Consumer single use plastic and re-use schemes

We have eliminated a wide range of consumer single use plastics from our estate, including items such as plastic cutlery and cups, and are continually looking for opportunities to remove more.

We are in the process of implementing a reuse scheme for our project waste, in line with moving towards a circular economy approach, to reduce our impact on the environment and to add social value where we can.

Water

We have continued to reduce our water usage and have installed automatic sensor water taps across various sites to minimise wastage. We will consider newer technologies as they become available and encourage the efficient use of water amongst colleagues to continue this downward trend in the coming years.

	2021-22	2017-18
Water consumption (m3) [Note 1]	309,009	464,999
Water supply and sewage costs (£000) [Note 2]	1,191	1,089

Notes

1. Nesta is not included in water consumption data.
2. ACAS, INSS, NSTA not included in water expenditure data.

Sustainable procurement

We have compared our procurement practices to the sustainable procurement standard ISO20400, which supersedes BS8903, and have identified areas to improve.

Government Buying Standards provide product specifications, and we have followed these standards.

To manage supply chain impacts, we continued to follow the relevant methodologies:

• we assess the risk of modern slavery in the supply chain
• we evaluate suppliers’ commitment to deliver social value beyond the contract
• we evaluate suppliers’ ability to deliver the environmental requirements in a tender

We did not undertake significant procurement that required any other methodologies.

BEIS’ food and catering services was with Aramark, who were responsible for the responsible sourcing of food.

Prompt payments

The government’s policy is to pay 80% of undisputed invoices (and 90% of SME invoices) within 5 days, with the remainder paid within 30 days. The impact of COVID-19 on the spending mix has continued to affect the performance levels. We publish our prompt payment performance on gov.uk, quarterly, with a lag, in line Cabinet Office publication requirements.

	2021-22	2020-21	2019-20
Invoices paid within 5 days	87.24%	83.07%	94.3%
Invoices paid within 30 days	98.87%	98.34%	99.1%

Spend with SMEs

The share of direct SME procurement has been substantially affected by the COVID-19 vaccination programme which is centred on major pharmaceutical companies. This trend continued through the past year. Overall, our spend with SMEs has stayed substantially above our pre-pandemic levels. We publish our SME spend performance on gov.uk, annually, with a lag, in line Cabinet Office publication requirements.

	2021-22	2020-21	2019-20
Share of direct procurement placed with SMEs	10.5%	16.0%	30.3%
SME procurement	£496m	£504m	£410m

Nature Recovery Plan

BEIS will work with its partner organisations on developing a Nature Recovery Plan and implementing biodiversity improvements across our sites. The aim is to protect, and where possible enhance, the biodiversity on our estate. This plan will be completed, and implementation started by April 2025.

BEIS climate change adaptation strategy

A climate change adaptation strategy will prepare the department for the impacts of climate change on our buildings and operations. We will produce an adaptation strategy by the end of the current GGC framework in 2025. The first step of this will be to conduct a climate change risk assessment which will be carried out in 2022-23.

Climate change adaptation

For our policies, projects, or programmes, we prepare business cases for spend approvals and impact assessments for regulation approvals. In these documents, we address how the policy will contribute to wider government priorities including net zero. We quantify the change in greenhouse gas emissions from the policy. This is done in line with the Green Book guidance. The department does not have a specific learning and development offer on climate change adaptation. However, directorates can submit their plans for specialised training.

Rural proofing

In policy appraisals, we embed place-based analysis. This essentially covers rural proofing. Place-based analysis considers the impacts on different regions, including rural areas. This is done even where policy proposals have no geographically defined objectives, but appear to have different implications, positive or negative, for different parts of the UK. Our analysts have access to guidance and training on place-based analysis.

Performance management on policy appraisals include quality assurance (QA) of analytical models, impact assessments and policy evaluations. QA of analytical models ensure models use sound evidence effectively – and reviews any placed based analysis used in models. Impact assessments assess the social, economic, and environmental effects of public policy. But under ‘wider impacts’, they monitor the potential impact on regions, where relevant. Policy evaluations are carried out on all policies and include place-based analysis. Post implementation reviews (PIR) are carried out for relevant policies and include place-based analysis where relevant.

Our project control activities include the Gateway Assurance Review. Rural proofing is not addressed in this review. For projects that are £20 million or over, risky, or contentious, a business case is prepared and reviewed by Project Investment Committee (PIC) for approval. If rural proofing forms part of the business case, PIC may consider how rural proofing will be achieved, and the value for money.

The Cities and Local Growth Unit (CLGU) is a joint unit between BEIS and the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLHUC). CLGU work on delivering the local growth and the levelling up agenda. It supports government’s ambition to ensure the whole of the UK benefit from the same access to opportunities. The team based across the UK maintain close relationships with local stakeholders to inform and challenge policy development as well as delivery.

On learning and development, the department does not have a specific offer on rural proofing. However, directorates can submit their learning plans for technical and specialised training.

In the performance management process, individuals set work and development objectives and directorates set business improvement goals. This is a key opportunity to consider policy impacts, potentially including rural proofing.

Reducing environmental impacts from ICT and digital

BEIS reports on ICT waste as part of the GGCs, above. We are discussing further ICT measures and KPIs with Defra. The Core Department has an ICT and digital policy in place. The Core Department plans to switch to suppliers of cloud services who are committed to becoming net zero by 2030. We already use some of these cloud suppliers. The remaining part of the Core Department are due to move to these cloud suppliers by 2025.

Sustainable construction

BEIS had no significant construction or refurbishment projects during the in 2021-22.

Performance in other areas

Performance on public correspondence

We aim to respond to 80% of our correspondence in 15 working days.

In 2021-2022, we received 3,200 written enquiries from members of the public, and responded to 71% of cases within 15 working days.

Performance fluctuated during this period. This was due to a higher proportion of complex enquiries, which required more time to resolve, on issues such as the coronavirus pandemic, and energy and climate change. The tables below show our monthly performance and annual trend.

	No. of written enquiries received	No. with response within 15 days	% with response within 15 days
Apr-21	274	193	70%
May-21	227	92	41%
Jun-21	246	138	56%
Jul-21	325	258	79%
Aug-21	267	165	62%
Sep-21	304	198	65%
Oct-21	336	223	66%
Nov-21	263	204	78%
Dec-21	149	133	89%
Jan-22	265	239	90%
Feb-22	277	237	86%
Mar-22	267	204	76%
Total	3,200	2,284	71%

	No. of written enquiries received	No. with response within 15 days	% with response within 15 days
2019-20	5,099	4,452	87%
2020-21	7,492	5,406	72%
2021-22	3,200	2,284	71%

Respect for human rights and social matters

In November 2021, we published the first BEIS Modern Slavery statement. It sets our commitments to tackle modern slavery in our supply chains. The statement will be produced annually and contains key performance indicators to track progress against our commitments. The Statement is available here - BEIS Modern Slavery Statement 2020 to 2021.

Anti-bribery and anti-corruption

No cases of bribery or corruption were identified within BEIS core in 2021-22.

BEIS has a Gifts, Hospitality and Bribery and Corruption policy. This guards against the risk of allegations of impropriety against staff and non-executive directors. Directorates record gifts and hospitality offered over a value of £15 and any reciprocal gifts given. Due to working from home, there has been a lower risk of inappropriate gifts and hospitality being received or given. In 2021-22, 10 items were placed on the gifts and hospitality register; 8 were accepted and 2 declined.

We continued to manage risks relating to bribery and corruption and worked with other government departments on high-risk areas. These included COVID-19 support funding and overseas’ funding. Our counter fraud team promote awareness of fraud, including bribery and corruption. Mandatory training must be completed by all staff. More in-depth training is required to be completed by staff within specific areas, including finance and those with financial responsibility.

Advertising

The government communications plan has oversight for communications in all government departments. Our communications team supports the delivery of major policy areas in BEIS.

We deliver communications through a range of channels - marketing, press and public relations, digital, internal. We also work with partners to help us reach our audiences. Where necessary, we use paid publicity and advertising to raise awareness and influence behaviours. All our communications are insight driven and robustly evaluated. Key areas of paid advertising in 2021-22 are listed below.

National Living Wage / National Minimum Wage

The National Living Wage / National Minimum Wage campaign informed workers of the increase rates and changes in age eligibility. It encouraged eligible workers to check their payslips after 1 April 2021. The campaign also targeted those from black and minority ethnic backgrounds or working in at risk sectors. Our community radio campaign was translated into Somali, Punjabi, Hindi, Bengali and Urdu, to reach people whose first language is not English. We also reached 1.7 million 18 to 24-year-olds through influencers on Fanbytes.

Help to Grow (business support campaigns)

The Help to Grow campaign encouraged SME senior decision makers to boost their business success by signing up to management courses across the UK, and to apply for vouchers to access discounted software. A combination of paid channels, such as radio, social media, and print, combined with a comprehensive PR, influencer and stakeholder approach, was used to drive interested individuals online to find out more and apply. Scheme uptake stats will be published in due course.

Together for our planet

The campaign encouraged businesses to sign up to reduce their emissions to net zero by 2050. It drove over 519,000 visits to the Small Business Climate hub, with more than 2,000 SMEs committing to become net zero before COP26. We achieved high awareness of government’s ambition to reach net zero by 2050. Highlights included BT Tower branding, Google workshops and a Royal Mail postmark on all mail to businesses for 2 months. We also worked with partners to run the ‘Heroes of Net Zero’ small businesses competition.

COVID-19

We worked with other government departments to communicate support available for businesses and workers during COVID-19.

Complaints to the Parliamentary Ombudsman

Type	Number
Number of complaints accepted for investigation by the Parliamentary Ombudsman in 2020-21	0
Number of investigations reported on in 2019-20[Note 1]	0
(a) Investigations fully upheld	0
(b) Investigations partly upheld	0
(c) Investigations not upheld	0

Ombudsman recommendations in 2020-21	Number
Complied with	0
Not complied with	0

Note:

1. Number of investigations reported may include complaints accepted for investigation in a previous year.

These figures have been obtained directly from the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman for the period 2020-21.

The Ombudsman only accepts complaints that have been through the BEIS internal complaints process. We aim to answer all formal complaints via [email protected] within 20 working days. Only a small percentage of complaints we receive are escalated to the Ombudsman.

Sarah Munby
Permanent Secretary and Principal Accounting Officer

18 October 2022