Consultation outcome

National Survey of Registered Businesses (NSRB) review: consultation response

Updated 26 February 2026

Response to consultation

Background

Between 14 November 2025 and 5 December 2025, the Department for Business and Trade (DBT) ran a public consultation on proposed changes to the National Survey for Registered Businesses (NSRB).

This consultation was prompted by the need for the survey (originally developed in the Department for International Trade (DIT)) to adapt and evolve to cover the expanding priorities of DBT. DBT will be replacing the NSRB with a new survey, the National Survey for Businesses (NSB). For a detailed background of the survey and a full outline of the proposed changes to the NSRB successor survey, see the consultation on the NSRB.

Detail of responses 

In total, over the consultation period 33 responses were received. However, once blank responses were removed, 14 useable responses remained. Completion rates ranged from 14% completion to 100% completion, with 9 respondents completing at least half of the questions.

Questions had different numbers of respondents as questions were not mandated. Bases will be outlined for each question throughout this document. As a small number of respondents completed the survey, caution needs to be taken when making strong conclusions. Therefore, the findings from the survey responses will be used as a guide.

Summary of findings

Across multiple choice and open text questions, all respondents were positive about suggested changes, with minor concerns (for example, that time series data would be retained and that user needs would be considered when making changes) voiced in open text questions which will be explored later. 

Some respondents welcomed the opportunity to expand the topic coverage and refine some existing questions and felt the proposed changes would make the NSRB’s successor survey a more effective tool.

Frequency of the survey 

Five responses were received for this question. The majority (3) of respondents foresaw no challenges or issues with increasing the frequency of the survey from annual to quarterly reporting. Of those 2 respondents that anticipated issues, one text response outlined the concern that further resources would be required to support this increased publication frequency. While this is a valid concern, DBT have adequate resourcing to manage this product.

A number of respondents stated they would utilise quarterly data, though the minimum frequency required was annual.

Outputs

The most valued publications were the ‘Executive summary’ and ‘Full summary report’, followed by ‘Summary tables’ and the ‘Technical report.’ Of the 8 responses for this question, very few respondents cited ‘Mid-year summary tables’ as a frequently used output (one per product). A number of respondents (3) denoted at least 2 publications as their most valued publications.

Five responses were received on the proposal by DBT to introduce an interactive dashboard. This was met positively by some respondents, suggesting this is a tool that would be effectively utilised by stakeholders. Two respondents stated they would actively use it, with one comment stating it would be “interesting and useful to engage with”.

However, the proposal to remove the annual report was met with concern from a number of respondents, with 4 of 5 respondents stating their work would be negatively impacted by not publishing a full annual report. Having evaluated the responses from the consultation, we will adopt a dual approach, that balances regular updates with long-term trend analysis.

As the survey will move to a quarterly publication cycle, an annual summary would largely duplicate the publication of quarterly executive summaries (alongside other products). We will also introduce a biennial report, produced to report where emerging trends can be presented more clearly. This model offers an efficient use of resources while continuing to meet stakeholders’ information needs.

Thoughts on removal, amendments and additions

Only a small number of respondents (2) responded to the specific questions on removal and amendment. Open text responses highlighted that removing suggested questions, particularly those related to advertising^{[footnote 1]} would streamline the survey and help focus the National Survey of Businesses (NSB) on the most relevant areas, as long as detail or time series data was not lost. However, additional detail on which areas of the survey they would want to retain was not included in responses.

As core themes and questions will be carried over to the new survey, generally with consistent wording and methodology, time series data will be preserved wherever possible. Some respondents felt the survey should not focus solely on DBT’s priorities but also reflect the needs of other users.

As this is a DBT survey, its priorities naturally provide the core framework. However, without a clear understanding of other users’ priorities, it is not possible to incorporate them at this stage. This point has been acknowledged and considered during the amendment process. DBT will continue to seek feedback to ensure the publication meets the wider needs of its user community.

The proposed additions were met positively, with no concerns reported.

Data collection approach

The NSRB has always been delivered entirely as a telephone-based survey. Respondents were asked if shifting to a more online approach would negatively impact their work. Only one respondent responded ‘Yes’ to whether there would be any implications for their work if the survey was to shift to a more web-based approach, but no additional context was shared.

The suggested shift to web-based questions would only cover a maximum of 20% of interviews in the new survey and analysis will be carried out as this shift takes place to evaluate the effect on survey response. This process will be carefully managed to ensure methodological consistency will remain.

Increasing the sample size

The NSRB currently interviews around 3,000 businesses annually. The new survey is planned to increase this to 4,000 annual interviews, with 1,000 interviews every quarter (and therefore every publication).

Two of 4 (half) respondents reported that an increased sample size would be most useful whilst one response preferred maintaining the current sample size; the remaining respondent didn’t know. Therefore, no issues were identified on this subject in the consultation.

Firmographic data

Two (of 4) respondents stated that they use ethnic minority data (number of working owners, partners and directors who are from ethnic minority groups), while no respondents reported using gender data.

A request for additional firmographic data was outlined, requesting Industry sector information, company size, geographic location or region and years in operation. The NSRB already collects (and the new survey will continue to collect) sector data, company size and location (by region). Years in operation is not currently included in the NSRB but is under consideration for the new survey.

Analysis by theme

Themes

The NSRB was split into 8 themes and respondents were asked how often they used data from each theme:

• general exporting behaviour
• barriers to exporting
• free trade agreements
• supply chains
• export knowledge and support
• expectations for growth and trade
• importing
• advertising and campaign metrics

The tables in the next section outline the trends of usage across these themes.

Theme by theme analysis

Table 1: count breakdown of data usage questions per theme

Question wording: “How frequently do you currently utilise the statistics and findings from the (theme) section of the NSRB?”. Possible answers: “Every publication (bi-annual)”, “Every annual wave”, “Some publications but not every wave”, “Not at all” (and Not Answered).

Theme	Every publication (bi-annual)	Every annual wave	Some publications, not every wave	Not at all
General exporting behaviour	1	2	4	5
Barriers to exporting	0	2	5	6
Free trade agreements	0	1	5	6
Supply chains	0	1	4	7
Export knowledge and support	0	1	4	6
Expectations for growth and trade	0	1	4	6
Importing	0	1	4	5
Advertising and campaign metrics	0	0	4	6

Table 2: count breakdown of data usage questions per theme with simplified reporting

Question wording: “How frequently do you currently utilise the statistics and findings from the (theme) section of the NSRB?”. Possible answers: “Every publication (bi-annual)”, “Every annual wave”, “Some publications but not every wave”, “Not at all” (and Not Answered). All answers excepting “Not at all” are combined in this figure to demonstrate usage variation more clearly than figure 1.

Theme	Use of any publication	Not at all
General exporting behaviour	7	5
Barriers to exporting	7	6
Free trade agreements	6	6
Supply chains	5	7
Export knowledge and support	5	6
Expectations for growth and trade	5	6
Importing	5	5
Advertising and campaign metrics	4	6

As tables 1 and 2 demonstrate, general exporting behaviour was the only theme where at least one respondent stated that they used “every publication”. A number of themes were used by around half of respondents, with barriers to exporting being the only theme where more respondents used at least some waves than none at all.

Comparing sample sizes, the most commonly used themes were barriers to exporting and general exporting behaviour. Export knowledge and support, supply chains, expectations for growth and trade and advertising and campaign metrics had the least usage, with the latter theme only ever being utilised in some waves.

Further changes following consultation

Following a review of the questions that will be carried over into the new NSB from the NSRB, DBT have identified several questions where the wording will be altered slightly, or combined with other questions, to maximise the benefit of the responses for teams in DBT while also streamlining survey response time. These changes will still provide the same utility in responses as they did in the NSRB, there are just additional elements which expand the content of the question.

Combining questions regarding reasons for not exporting, and whether the business’ products are suitable for exporting. The purpose here is to streamline the number of questions but still provide the necessary data for analysis.

The question asking which countries or regions businesses have exported to will lead to additional routing enabling respondents to identify specific market access barriers in those locations. The specific wording of the question will remain the same, however, responses will now feed more directly into subsequent questions focused on the market access barriers experienced in the selected countries or regions.

The questions regarding supply chain issues, “Describe your business’ experience of supply chain issues” will be reworded to focus specifically on challenges related to exporting or importing. This change maintains the value of the original question by capturing the nature of supply chain issues, while providing clearer insight into which trade activities are most affected.

The current question (asked of all businesses whose products or services are or could be suitable for export) asking about the utilisation of support services by businesses in relation to exporting - “Have you ever sought advice and support about exporting?” – will be expanded to include a list of specific support services offered by DBT, along with recently developed digital services that were not available when the NSRB was created.

These additions will also be reflected in the related NSRB question on businesses’ awareness of government export support services, ensuring that digital services are fully captured.

All questions carried over from the NSRB into the NSB will undergo review to ensure wording and response options provide maximum value for users. The core content from the NSRB will be retained, with adjustments focused on adding useful detail rather than removing information to ensure continued utility for external users.

This review is ongoing, and any final changes will be published as part of the consultation response to inform future users of the survey. Any questions which have been changed or altered will be highlighted in the publication.

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1. Full details of suggested removals see consultation document. ↩