Department for Business and Trade: Public Expenditure
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, pursuant to the Answer of 27 June 2025 to Question 61227 on Department for Business and Trade: Public Expenditure, how many lines of activity in his Department were considered as part of the zero based review.
Answered by Kate Dearden
At Spending Review 2025, the government conducted the first zero-based review (ZBR) of department budgets in 18 years, with every line of spending scrutinised to ensure value for money.
Through the zero-based review, the Department for Business and Trade carried out a line-by-line review of its current budgets. The review involved differing levels of granularity depending on the type and size of expenditure under review.
To ensure consistency in approach, cross-government guidance set expectations for the level of granularity each review should consider, recommending that departments review all spending within individual programme expenditure - at a minimum reflecting any lines of spending in excess of £1m per annum.
Savings identified through this process will support delivery of the government's commitment for all departments to deliver at least 5% savings and efficiencies by 2028-29.
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