This paper provides briefing for the Select Committee to provide an overview of the work and performance of the former Department of Trade and Industry in the financial year 2006-07 and subsequent months. It takes as its basis the Department’s Annual Report, drawing upon the work of the Select Committee and the National Audit Office (NAO), together with relevant findings and recommendations from other external and internal reviews of departmental performance.

Most of the responsibilities of the former Department for Trade and Industry, with the exception of its science and innovation brief, were transferred to the new Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR) on 28 June 2007. This paper focuses on those departmental activities that are now carried out by BERR plus the work of the Better Regulation Executive which has been added to the new Department’s responsibilities.

This paper comprises three Parts:

• Part 1 considers the Department’s operating environment;
• Part 2 examines the Department’s capacity to deliver its goals; and
• Part 3 looks at how key parts of the Department performed in 2006-2007.