Select committee: Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee
Recommendation 9
2nd Report - Business events
Published 6 Jul 2026
Addressed to Department for Culture, Media and Sport
Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee State of Play: Business events All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Recommendation (the committee's words)
We recommend that the government establish clear expectations for ministerial engagement with the sector, including indicative targets for attendance at priority events. Priority events should include those that offer significant opportunities for trade, investment, innovation, or international influence, even where delegate numbers are relatively small. These expectations should be published, alongside regular reporting on ministerial attendance, to enable transparency and to allow progress to be monitored. (Recommendation, Paragraph 24) The UK as a business events destination
From: Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee, 2nd Report - Business events (HC 335), 6 July 2026
Government response
The government responded to the whole report on 18 September 2026 (deadline 7 September 2026).
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The government welcomes the report and agrees that "a strong business events sector is good for the UK", but it makes its commitments through a wider Major Events strategy and does not accept several recommendations as framed.
- On a standalone national strategy, it commits to a cross-sectoral Major Events strategy "by spring 2027", with business events included. It sees no need for a separate National Business Events Council "at this time", but "will keep this under consideration".
- On promotion abroad and the VisitBritain team, it says the BTA had a flat cash settlement and VisitEngland is allocating around 20% of its core operational budget in 2026/27 to business events. It says the smaller team "reflects the change in scope of the brief".
- On ministerial engagement, it says "At this stage, we will not create targets or provide reporting on ministerial attendance", citing "disproportionate cost", while working with industry to identify priority events.
- On cost pressures, it notes that VAT exceptions "have always been limited" and that the ETA fee is "comparable" to similar permissions elsewhere. It points to a £4.3 billion business rates support package, and agrees that investing in regional connectivity "is vital".