Role of the Committee

The Business and Trade Sub-Committee on National Security and Investment was set up to examine the work and processes of the Investment Security Unit, which assesses investments in UK firms for the purposes of protecting national security, in accordance with the National Security and Investment Act 2021.

The Sub-Committee will carry out its work under a Memorandum of Understanding, signed on 14 March 2023 by former Chair Darren Jones and Nusrat Ghani, Minister for the Investment Security Unit. Some of the Sub-Committee’s work is likely to be done in private.

The Sub-Committee has the power to send for “persons, papers and records”. It therefore has powers to require the attendance of witnesses and the production of papers and other material. These formal powers are rarely used.