Common Questions

What does the Department for Business and Trade do?

DBT is the UK Government department responsible for business policy, international trade, export promotion, and bilateral trade agreements. It was created in February 2023 from a split of the former Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy.

Why did DBT give Altilium an £18.5m grant?

DBT awarded £18.5m to Altilium on 16 April 2026 to support the Plymouth-based EV battery recycling company as part of the UK industrial strategy to anchor advanced manufacturing supply chains domestically.Source: DBT

When was the Department for Business and Trade created?

DBT was created in February 2023 when the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy was split, with energy and net-zero functions separated into a distinct department.

Background

On 9 July 2026, the Department for Business and Trade co-authored a 42-page Life Sciences Jobs Plan alongside DHSC, DSIT and the Office for Life Sciences, targeting the gap between life-sciences graduates and employer-ready laboratory skills. The plan follows DBT's £18.5m grant to Plymouth-based EV battery recycler Altilium on 16 April 2026, part of a week in which £76.7m flowed into UK tech, a 45% rise week on week.

DBT was created in February 2023 from a restructuring of the former Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), with energy and net-zero functions separated at the same time. The department is responsible for business policy, international trade, export promotion, and bilateral trade negotiations, and administers the UK's portfolio of free-trade agreements and grant instruments supporting advanced manufacturing, clean technology, and life sciences.

Where DSIT backs research infrastructure and the British Business Bank provides finance guarantees, DBT deploys targeted grants and, increasingly, workforce-facing initiatives like the Jobs Plan to anchor commercial outcomes domestically, from battery recycling capacity in Plymouth to the lab-skills pipeline that life-sciences employers say is now their binding constraint on growth.