Select committee: Welsh Affairs Committee
Conclusion 11
1st Report - Promoting Wales for Inward Investment
Published 27 May 2026
Addressed to Wales Office
Welsh Affairs Committee Promoting Wales for inward investment All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Conclusion (the committee's words)
We encourage the incoming Welsh Government to seriously consider establishing a dedicated investment promotion agency. If the Welsh Government establishes an investment promotion agency for Wales, the Department for Business and Trade must set out how it will work with the agency in a Memorandum of Understanding. DBT should do this in conjunction with the Wales Office and in collaboration with the Welsh Government. This is a vital step, as it provides certainty to investors about how the two governments will work together. (Recommendation, Paragraph 83) Untapped potential
From: Welsh Affairs Committee, 1st Report - Promoting Wales for Inward Investment (HC 136), 27 May 2026
Government response
The government responded to the whole report on 15 September 2026 (deadline 27 July 2026).
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The government welcomes the Committee's conclusions but does not agree two recommendations (a Wales Office annual inward investment report and publishing overseas investment enquiries), and agrees or accepts others 'in principle'.
- On a Wales-specific annual inward investment report, the recommendation is not agreed: DBIST statistics already include a breakdown by UK nations, so "an additional report by the Wales Office is not required".
- On publishing overseas investment enquiries, the recommendation is not agreed. The government does not consider a summary "sufficiently meaningful" because enquiries vary in quality, maturity and strategic value.
- On intergovernmental groups, it agrees in principle. The next meetings of the Trade and Business and Industry groups are scheduled for October 2026, with later meetings held "on a regular basis".
- On an investment promotion agency, it accepts in principle. DBIST and the Wales Office "will consider specific working arrangements" once the Welsh Government's policy direction is fully set out.