Analysis · No. 12 · Sectors
Climate and energy: less on wind farms, more on heating.
We sorted everything government published, bought, discussed and was asked about since the July 2024 election into 39 sectors. Energy and utilities is the fourth busiest.
We read 456,455 records across 24 sources. We placed each record in the sectors its words are about, with the same scorer that runs search on Seam. We measure activity in five strands: what government publishes, what it buys, who it meets, what Parliament asks, and who checks it. The method is at the end of the page.
Where energy ranks
Energy and utilities ranks fourth of the 39 sectors. The three busiest are health and social care, education and skills and local government. It is strongest in “who checks it”, where it takes 8.0% of records, about 5 times the typical sector’s share, third of the 39 sectors.
The busiest sectors in government
Each sector’s share of activity in the latest twelve months (Nov 2025–Oct 2026), averaged across the five strands. It shows the top 12 of 39. The three busiest are darker, and Energy and utilities is darkest.
- Energy and utilities
- The three busiest sectors
- Other sectors
- 1. Health and social care7.9%
- 2. Education and skills8.1%
- 3. Local government8.3%
- 4. Energy and utilities6.1%
- 5. Transport5.2%
- 6. Digital and telecoms4.7%
- 7. Justice and policing5.4%
- 8. Life sciences5.3%
- 9. Manufacturing3.9%
- 10. Small business3.7%
- 11. Housing3.9%
- 12. Construction3.3%
We order sectors by their average rank on three measures: the average strand share shown here, the middle (median) strand share, and the raw number of records. Ties go to the higher average share. The table shows all three.
Show the numbers
| # | Sector | Average share | Rank | Middle strand share | Rank | Records | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Health and social care | 7.9% | 3 | 8.6% | 1 | 22,613 | 1 |
| 2 | Education and skills | 8.1% | 2 | 7.9% | 2 | 22,370 | 2 |
| 3 | Local government | 8.3% | 1 | 6.0% | 3 | 13,388 | 7 |
| 4 | Energy and utilities | 6.1% | 4 | 5.5% | 4 | 15,165 | 5 |
| 5 | Transport | 5.2% | 7 | 4.5% | 7 | 17,494 | 4 |
| 6 | Digital and telecoms | 4.7% | 8 | 5.3% | 5 | 13,865 | 6 |
| 7 | Justice and policing | 5.4% | 5 | 5.2% | 6 | 10,366 | 10 |
| 8 | Life sciences | 5.3% | 6 | 3.4% | 12 | 18,079 | 3 |
| 9 | Manufacturing | 3.9% | 10 | 4.1% | 8 | 10,918 | 8 |
| 10 | Small business | 3.7% | 11 | 3.5% | 11 | 10,441 | 9 |
| 11 | Housing | 3.9% | 9 | 3.5% | 10 | 8,246 | 14 |
| 12 | Construction | 3.3% | 12 | 3.3% | 13 | 9,133 | 11 |
| 13 | Financial services | 3.2% | 13 | 3.7% | 9 | 8,066 | 15 |
| 14 | Environment | 2.9% | 15 | 2.9% | 14 | 8,254 | 13 |
| 15 | Employment | 3.1% | 14 | 2.7% | 17 | 8,299 | 12 |
| 16 | Children and families | 2.8% | 16 | 2.7% | 16 | 7,613 | 16 |
| 17 | Charities | 2.5% | 17 | 2.9% | 15 | 6,541 | 18 |
| 18 | Planning | 1.9% | 21 | 2.5% | 18 | 6,140 | 19 |
| 19 | Defence | 2.3% | 18 | 1.4% | 26 | 7,560 | 17 |
| 20 | Research and science | 1.8% | 23 | 1.8% | 20 | 4,498 | 24 |
| 21 | Tax and accounting | 2.2% | 19 | 1.0% | 30 | 5,661 | 20 |
| 22 | Farming and food | 1.8% | 24 | 2.2% | 19 | 4,403 | 26 |
| 23 | Media, culture and sport | 1.7% | 25 | 1.5% | 24 | 5,538 | 21 |
| 24 | govaffairs | 2.1% | 20 | 1.8% | 21 | 3,355 | 32 |
| 25 | Foreign affairs and trade | 1.9% | 22 | 1.3% | 28 | 4,651 | 23 |
| 26 | Aviation, maritime and ports | 1.6% | 27 | 1.6% | 22 | 4,165 | 27 |
| 27 | Welfare | 1.7% | 26 | 1.0% | 29 | 5,413 | 22 |
| 28 | Pensions | 1.5% | 28 | 1.5% | 25 | 4,134 | 28 |
| 29 | Retail | 1.5% | 30 | 1.5% | 23 | 3,743 | 30 |
| 30 | Water | 1.5% | 29 | 1.4% | 27 | 4,042 | 29 |
| 31 | Facilities and estates | 1.1% | 32 | 0.8% | 34 | 4,421 | 25 |
| 32 | Automotive | 1.0% | 33 | 0.9% | 31 | 3,413 | 31 |
| 33 | Immigration | 1.1% | 31 | 0.9% | 32 | 3,285 | 33 |
| 34 | Aviation | 0.8% | 34 | 0.8% | 33 | 1,946 | 35 |
| 35 | Artificial intelligence | 0.8% | 35 | 0.7% | 35 | 2,099 | 34 |
| 36 | Hospitality and tourism | 0.5% | 36 | 0.6% | 36 | 1,827 | 36 |
| 37 | Insurance | 0.3% | 37 | 0.3% | 37 | 998 | 37 |
| 38 | Semiconductors and compute | 0.2% | 38 | 0.2% | 38 | 668 | 38 |
| 39 | Gambling | 0.1% | 39 | 0.1% | 39 | 349 | 39 |
Where energy shows up
Share of each strand’s records that affect energy and utilities, latest twelve months, against the typical (median) sector.
- Typical sector
- Energy and utilities
- What government publishesAnnouncements, policy papers, consultations, guidance, transparency releases, statistics, NHS England5.3%
- What it buysContract notices and awards6.7%
- Who it meetsMeetings ministers and senior officials hold with outside organisations4.8%
- What Parliament asksWritten and oral questions, debates, select committee letters and evidence, Holyrood and the Senedd5.5%
- Who checks itRegulators, the Information Commissioner, the public auditors, the RPC8.0%
A record can touch more than one sector, so shares across sectors add up to more than 100%.
Show the numbers
| Strand | Records in the strand | Energy and utilities | Typical sector | Multiple |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| What government publishes | 33,752 | 5.3% | 2.9% | 1.8× |
| What it buys | 98,295 | 6.7% | 1.7% | 3.9× |
| Who it meets | 11,870 | 4.8% | 1.6% | 3.0× |
| What Parliament asks | 102,894 | 5.5% | 2.6% | 2.1× |
| Who checks it | 7,018 | 8.0% | 1.5% | 5.3× |
How it has changed
Since the government’s first year, energy’s share of “what it buys” has moved most upward (+0.6 points). Its share of “who checks it” has moved most downward (−7.5 points).
Then and now, strand by strand
Energy and utilities’ share of each strand in the government’s first year (Jul 2024–Jun 2025) and the latest twelve months (Nov 2025–Oct 2026).
- First year
- Latest twelve months: bigger share
- smaller share
- What government publishes−0.6 pts
- What it buys+0.6 pts
- Who it meets−1.8 pts
- What Parliament asks+0.2 pts
- Who checks it−7.5 pts
Show the numbers
| Strand | First year | Latest 12 months | Change, points |
|---|---|---|---|
| What government publishes | 5.9% | 5.3% | −0.6 |
| What it buys | 6.1% | 6.7% | +0.6 |
| Who it meets | 6.6% | 4.8% | −1.8 |
| What Parliament asks | 5.3% | 5.5% | +0.2 |
| Who checks it | 15.5% | 8.0% | −7.5 |
Month by month, in each strand
Energy and utilities’ share of each strand, averaged over three months to reduce the effect of single busy weeks. Each panel has its own scale. Hover over the line to see each month.
- Higher now than at the start
- Lower
What government publishes
5.9% → 5.3%
What it buys
6.1% → 6.7%
Who it meets
6.6% → 4.8%
What Parliament asks
5.3% → 5.5%
Who checks it
15.5% → 8.0%
Meetings appear a quarter or more late, so that panel stops earlier than the rest.
How much activity affects energy, month by month
Records affecting energy and utilities each month, July 2024 to October 2026, coloured by strand. Hover over a column for the detail.
- What government publishes
- What it buys
- Who it meets
- What Parliament asks
- Who checks it
The busiest month was October 2026. Counts swing with the parliamentary calendar and with how sources publish (a council can post a hundred contract awards in a day). That is why the rest of this page uses shares.
Show the numbers
| Month | What government publishes | What it buys | Who it meets | What Parliament asks | Who checks it | All |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| July 2024 | 70 | 11 | 94 | 199 | 84 | 458 |
| August 2024 | 86 | 8 | 57 | 70 | 94 | 315 |
| September 2024 | 96 | 3 | 109 | 171 | 113 | 492 |
| October 2024 | 100 | 9 | 148 | 415 | 82 | 754 |
| November 2024 | 118 | 6 | 99 | 391 | 90 | 704 |
| December 2024 | 135 | 11 | 67 | 315 | 98 | 626 |
| January 2025 | 90 | 7 | 102 | 375 | 77 | 651 |
| February 2025 | 79 | 27 | 92 | 445 | 118 | 761 |
| March 2025 | 133 | 171 | 123 | 538 | 127 | 1,092 |
| April 2025 | 112 | 196 | 113 | 416 | 93 | 930 |
| May 2025 | 91 | 188 | 92 | 422 | 81 | 874 |
| June 2025 | 139 | 219 | 138 | 489 | 78 | 1,063 |
| July 2025 | 144 | 254 | 113 | 438 | 103 | 1,052 |
| August 2025 | 83 | 240 | 36 | 119 | 93 | 571 |
| September 2025 | 116 | 312 | 72 | 230 | 71 | 801 |
| October 2025 | 101 | 375 | 74 | 474 | 35 | 1,059 |
| November 2025 | 115 | 317 | 78 | 498 | 47 | 1,055 |
| December 2025 | 163 | 390 | 61 | 361 | 41 | 1,016 |
| January 2026 | 174 | 318 | 82 | 476 | 48 | 1,098 |
| February 2026 | 140 | 398 | 65 | 472 | 48 | 1,123 |
| March 2026 | 201 | 499 | 82 | 562 | 67 | 1,411 |
| April 2026 | 137 | 394 | 71 | 435 | 30 | 1,067 |
| May 2026 | 138 | 346 | 56 | 365 | 44 | 949 |
| June 2026 | 163 | 436 | 80 | 721 | 59 | 1,459 |
| July 2026 | 174 | 507 | 0 | 386 | 75 | 1,142 |
| August 2026 | 93 | 819 | 0 | 324 | 46 | 1,282 |
| September 2026 | 151 | 1,154 | 0 | 330 | 52 | 1,687 |
| October 2026 | 156 | 965 | 0 | 749 | 6 | 1,876 |
What it is about
The biggest themes are heating, insulation and efficiency, net zero and climate and wind, solar and renewables. Growing fastest: public buildings, power and charging, heating, insulation and efficiency and storage and flexibility. Fading: GB Energy, investment and jobs, wind, solar and renewables and suppliers, Ofgem and the market. Parliament drives energy bills and fuel poverty and oil, gas and the North Sea. Contracts drive public buildings, power and charging and storage and flexibility.
What energy activity is about
Share of energy and utilities records touching each theme, first year (Jul 2024–Jun 2025) against the latest twelve months (Nov 2025–Oct 2026). Sorted by the latest share.
- First year
- Latest twelve months: bigger share
- smaller share
- Heating, insulation and efficiency11.6%
- Net zero and climate9.8%
- Wind, solar and renewables7.5%
- Storage and flexibility6.0%
- Nuclear5.5%
- Grid and connections5.0%
- Energy bills and fuel poverty4.7%
- Public buildings, power and charging4.7%
- Hydrogen, carbon capture and industry4.6%
- GB Energy, investment and jobs3.7%
- Oil, gas and the North Sea3.4%
- Suppliers, Ofgem and the market3.0%
A record can affect several themes, or none. 46% touch none of these, usually because the title says too little (“Lot 2”, “Provision of services”). The word lists are in the method box at the end of the page.
Show the numbers
| Theme | Records | First year | Latest 12 months | Relative change |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Heating, insulation and efficiency | 2,780 | 8.0% | 11.6% | +45% |
| Net zero and climate | 2,832 | 11.9% | 9.8% | −18% |
| Wind, solar and renewables | 2,550 | 12.6% | 7.5% | −40% |
| Storage and flexibility | 1,529 | 5.0% | 6.0% | +20% |
| Nuclear | 1,745 | 7.6% | 5.5% | −28% |
| Grid and connections | 1,448 | 6.0% | 5.0% | −17% |
| Energy bills and fuel poverty | 1,372 | 5.8% | 4.7% | −19% |
| Public buildings, power and charging | 1,051 | 2.8% | 4.7% | +68% |
| Hydrogen, carbon capture and industry | 1,411 | 6.3% | 4.6% | −27% |
| GB Energy, investment and jobs | 1,272 | 6.3% | 3.7% | −41% |
| Oil, gas and the North Sea | 845 | 2.9% | 3.4% | +17% |
| Suppliers, Ofgem and the market | 1,008 | 4.9% | 3.0% | −39% |
The themes, quarter by quarter
Share of energy and utilities records touching each theme in each quarter, in per cent. We set the shading row by row. The darkest cell is that theme’s busiest quarter. Hover over a cell for the detail.
- Quietest quarter for the theme
- Busiest quarter
| Jul–Sep2024 | Oct–Dec2024 | Jan–Mar2025 | Apr–Jun2025 | Jul–Sep2025 | Oct–Dec2025 | Jan–Mar2026 | Apr–Jun2026 | Jul–Sep2026 | Oct2026 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Heating, insulation and efficiency | 5.2 | 8.7 | 8.2 | 8.5 | 8.7 | 10.1 | 13.0 | 10.6 | 11.1 | 13.8 |
| Net zero and climate | 8.5 | 14.0 | 13.7 | 10.4 | 8.5 | 10.3 | 9.9 | 10.6 | 9.1 | 8.6 |
| Wind, solar and renewables | 14.5 | 14.6 | 11.5 | 11.4 | 9.8 | 8.2 | 8.5 | 8.6 | 5.9 | 5.7 |
| Storage and flexibility | 5.0 | 5.6 | 3.9 | 5.7 | 5.5 | 5.3 | 5.0 | 6.5 | 6.1 | 6.9 |
| Nuclear | 9.3 | 7.5 | 7.1 | 7.2 | 7.4 | 5.9 | 5.4 | 5.6 | 5.6 | 5.5 |
| Grid and connections | 7.7 | 6.6 | 6.3 | 4.6 | 5.5 | 3.6 | 5.8 | 4.2 | 4.6 | 7.0 |
| Energy bills and fuel poverty | 4.7 | 5.9 | 6.9 | 5.3 | 4.2 | 4.7 | 5.3 | 5.8 | 3.5 | 4.4 |
| Public buildings, power and charging | 1.9 | 2.3 | 2.9 | 3.6 | 2.5 | 2.7 | 3.8 | 4.6 | 6.3 | 5.4 |
| Hydrogen, carbon capture and industry | 4.9 | 6.4 | 6.0 | 7.0 | 4.7 | 5.3 | 4.4 | 6.2 | 3.3 | 4.0 |
| GB Energy, investment and jobs | 5.8 | 6.3 | 6.6 | 6.3 | 4.0 | 4.2 | 3.5 | 4.4 | 3.6 | 3.5 |
| Oil, gas and the North Sea | 3.7 | 2.7 | 3.6 | 2.2 | 2.1 | 1.9 | 4.4 | 2.8 | 2.3 | 6.8 |
| Suppliers, Ofgem and the market | 4.3 | 5.0 | 5.5 | 4.6 | 3.7 | 3.0 | 3.1 | 3.5 | 2.7 | 2.7 |
| Energy and utilities records in the quarter | 1,265 | 2,084 | 2,504 | 2,867 | 2,424 | 3,130 | 3,632 | 3,475 | 4,111 | 1,876 |
The first quarter starts on 5 July 2024, the day after the general election. The last runs only to the end of October 2026. Read along a row, not down a column.
Where each theme comes from
Share of each theme’s records by strand, since July 2024. Sorted by how much comes from Parliament.
- What government publishes
- What it buys
- Who it meets
- What Parliament asks
- Who checks it
- Energy bills and fuel poverty13%73%10%
- Oil, gas and the North Sea10%10%73%
- Net zero and climate24%11%56%
- Hydrogen, carbon capture and industry13%10%18%55%
- Wind, solar and renewables16%17%53%
- Nuclear21%10%51%10%
- GB Energy, investment and jobs18%26%50%
- Grid and connections13%10%11%46%20%
- Suppliers, Ofgem and the market12%18%42%24%
- Heating, insulation and efficiency16%36%37%
- Public buildings, power and charging10%44%34%
- Storage and flexibility10%40%11%32%
Themes near the top are what MPs and peers raise. Themes near the bottom are what government buys, publishes or is checked on.
Show the numbers
| Theme | What government publishes | What it buys | Who it meets | What Parliament asks | Who checks it | Records |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Energy bills and fuel poverty | 12.8% | 1.4% | 2.6% | 73.3% | 9.8% | 1,372 |
| Oil, gas and the North Sea | 10.1% | 4.9% | 9.9% | 72.8% | 2.4% | 845 |
| Net zero and climate | 24.5% | 11.2% | 5.6% | 56.3% | 2.4% | 2,832 |
| Hydrogen, carbon capture and industry | 13.3% | 10.3% | 18.4% | 55.3% | 2.7% | 1,411 |
| Wind, solar and renewables | 15.7% | 7.9% | 16.9% | 53.1% | 6.3% | 2,550 |
| Nuclear | 21.4% | 10.3% | 6.9% | 51.1% | 10.2% | 1,745 |
| GB Energy, investment and jobs | 17.5% | 4.7% | 25.6% | 50.4% | 1.8% | 1,272 |
| Grid and connections | 12.8% | 10.4% | 10.7% | 45.5% | 20.5% | 1,448 |
| Suppliers, Ofgem and the market | 11.5% | 4.2% | 18.5% | 42.2% | 23.7% | 1,008 |
| Heating, insulation and efficiency | 16.5% | 36.3% | 7.2% | 37.4% | 2.5% | 2,780 |
| Public buildings, power and charging | 9.6% | 43.5% | 4.9% | 34.3% | 7.7% | 1,051 |
| Storage and flexibility | 10.3% | 39.5% | 10.9% | 32.2% | 7.1% | 1,529 |
Who is involved
Department for Energy Security and Net Zero publishes most, UK Research and Innovation buys most, and Energy UK is the organisation ministers and officials meet most often on energy.
Who is doing the energy activity
The ten bodies with the most records in each strand since July 2024. Hover over a bar for the full name and count.
Who publishes most · 129 bodies
Who buys most · 1,442 buyers
Who ministers and officials meet most · 1,045 organisations
Which departments answer the questions
Contracts went to 5,798 different suppliers. The ten busiest won 4% of them. The meetings chart counts each organisation named on a return once per meeting.
What Parliament asks
Each party asks close to its usual share of energy questions. Written questions here take a median 8 days to answer, against 8 across government.
Who asks about energy
Share of written and oral questions on energy and utilities asked by each party, against its share of all questions, since July 2024.
- All questions
- Energy and utilities: more than its usual share
- less
- Labour28%
- Conservative37%
- Liberal Democrat19%
- Reform UK2%
- Independent5%
- Crossbench1%
- SNP2%
- Green2%
- DUP2%
- Plaid Cymru2%
Based on 9,429 questions where the asking member’s party is recorded. Peers sit in the Lords. “Crossbench” members belong to no party.
Show the numbers
| Party | Energy and utilities | All questions |
|---|---|---|
| Labour | 28.4% | 29.0% |
| Conservative | 37.0% | 39.9% |
| Liberal Democrat | 19.1% | 18.4% |
| Reform UK | 2.1% | 2.5% |
| Independent | 4.7% | 3.7% |
| Crossbench | 1.1% | 1.1% |
| SNP | 2.1% | 0.9% |
| Green | 1.6% | 1.1% |
| DUP | 2.1% | 2.7% |
| Plaid Cymru | 1.8% | 0.8% |
Where the money goes
8,580 contract notices and awards since July 2024. The typical (median) one is worth £198k, against £120k across all of government.
Contracts, quarter by quarter
Energy and utilities contract notices and awards each quarter. The figure above each column is its share of all contracts that quarter.
The last quarter runs only to the end of October 2026.
Show the numbers
| Quarter | Contracts | Share of all contracts |
|---|---|---|
| Jul–Sep 2024 | 22 | 4.8% |
| Oct–Dec 2024 | 26 | 4.2% |
| Jan–Mar 2025 | 205 | 6.7% |
| Apr–Jun 2025 | 603 | 6.1% |
| Jul–Sep 2025 | 806 | 5.6% |
| Oct–Dec 2025 | 1,082 | 7.0% |
| Jan–Mar 2026 | 1,215 | 6.3% |
| Apr–Jun 2026 | 1,176 | 6.4% |
| Jul–Sep 2026 | 2,480 | 6.7% |
| Oct 2026 | 965 | 7.1% |
How big the contracts are
Share of energy and utilities contract notices and awards in each value band, against all contracts, since July 2024.
- All contracts
- Energy and utilities: more common
- less common
- Under £10k3%
- £10k–100k35%
- £100k–1m37%
- £1m–10m16%
- £10m–100m6%
- £100m and over3%
Values are what the buyer published: an estimate for an open notice, the award for a closed one, and for a framework the ceiling across every buyer that might use it.
Show the numbers
| Value | Energy and utilities | All contracts |
|---|---|---|
| Under £10k | 2.6% | 5.9% |
| £10k–100k | 35.1% | 40.2% |
| £100k–1m | 36.6% | 33.1% |
| £1m–10m | 16.5% | 13.9% |
| £10m–100m | 6.1% | 4.9% |
| £100m and over | 3.2% | 2.0% |
On the record
The most recent policy papers and consultations that affect energy, dated by when each consultation closed or each paper was last updated. Every one is on Seam with the rest of its source.
- Policy paper · last updated 28 October 2026 · HM Revenue & CustomsCustoms and excise: power to dispose of goods seized as liable to forfeiture
- Policy paper · last updated 28 October 2026 · HM TreasuryData Centre Covenant
- Policy paper · last updated 28 October 2026 · Department for Energy Security and Net ZeroEnergy debt circuit breaker: a strategy for domestic energy debt
- Policy paper · last updated 28 October 2026 · HM Revenue & CustomsTax treatment of payments under the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero Electricity Bill Discount Scheme
- Consultation · closed 27 October 2026 · Department for Energy Security and Net ZeroCapacity Market: changes for Prequalification 2027
- Policy paper · last updated 21 October 2026 · Department for Energy Security and Net ZeroUK Emissions Trading Scheme (UK ETS): policy overview
- Policy paper · last updated 13 October 2026 · Department for Energy Security and Net ZeroHeating oil: government response to CMA market study
- Consultation · closed 4 October 2026 · Department for Energy Security and Net ZeroCapacity Market: new technologies 2026
If you work in climate tech or energy
- Know where your sector stands out. For energy it is “who checks it”, at 5 times the typical sector’s share. That is where your sector stands out most against others.
- Follow the rising themes. Growing fastest: public buildings, power and charging, heating, insulation and efficiency and storage and flexibility. Watch these for new consultations, contracts and questions.
- Find the people already talking. The organisations in the meetings chart already have access to ministers.
How we did this: method and caveats
Data. The Seam search database: one row for every record in every source on the site. This piece uses everything dated from 5 July 2024, the day after the general election, to the end of October 2026: 456,455 records. We leave out directories (officials, bodies, councils, registers of interests) because they are lists, not activity. We also leave out ministers’ expenses, hospitality, gifts and travel. Meetings appear a quarter or more late, so the latest months hold fewer of them. Charts built on months or quarters use whole months only.
The five strands. What government publishes: announcements, policy papers, consultations, guidance, transparency releases, statistics, NHS England (62,441 records). What it buys: contract notices and awards (132,067 records). Who it meets: meetings ministers and senior officials hold with outside organisations (36,405 records). What Parliament asks: written and oral questions, debates, select committee letters and evidence, Holyrood and the Senedd (208,774 records). Who checks it: regulators, the Information Commissioner, the public auditors, the RPC (16,768 records).
Sectors. The scorer that ranks search results on Seam reads each record. It checks the record against the hand-written lexicon (word list) of 39 sectors: phrases and words for each, with words that argue against a sector. A record counts towards its strongest sector, and towards any other sector that scores at least half as much. If a record’s strongest sector scores below 2.5 (less than one decisive phrase), we leave the record unplaced. 74% of records are placed. We made three changes from the search pages, all because a count needs to be stricter than a search. First, we do not use the publisher, because a department’s name decided too many thin records on its own. Second, we switch off the machine-learned extra terms, because they placed records in sectors they were not about. Third, we remove boilerplate first, such as the “Senior official. Meetings” that ends every meeting record. We make one correction by hand. We take a record out of local government if its only “council” is the UN Security Council or a similar body.
Activity and rank. A sector’s activity is its share of each strand’s records, averaged across the five, so that no strand dominates. The biggest strand, what parliament asks, has 12 times as many records as the smallest. We rank sectors on three measures over the latest twelve months (Nov 2025–Oct 2026): that average, the middle (median) strand share, and the raw count of records. We then order them by their average rank across the three. Health and social care, Education and skills and Local government come third, second and first on the average share and first, second and third on the middle share. On the raw count they come first, second and 7th, because sectors heavy in contracts and written questions collect more records. We also tried the scorer with the publisher and the extra terms switched back on. The same sectors stayed near the top, but digital and telecoms rose sharply on meetings alone. That is the noise those changes remove.
Themes come from keywords in each record’s title and summary. For a meeting, that is its purpose and the organisation met. For a question, it is the question. The lists are below. They are a judgement, and they miss records whose titles say little.
Change over time compares the government’s first year (July 2024 to June 2025) with the latest twelve months (Nov 2025–Oct 2026). We compare shares, not counts, because the amount published swings with the parliamentary calendar.
Caveats. Counting records measures how much paper a subject generates, not how much it matters or what it costs. Some sources publish in bulk. One council that posts each school-taxi route as its own contract award can move a sector’s share of contracts on its own. The charts say so where one buyer accounts for 15% or more of a sector’s contract records. Contract values are as published. Frameworks carry their ceiling, which is why we use bands and medians, never totals.
The theme word lists
| Theme | Words and phrases in the title or summary |
|---|---|
| Net zero and climate | net zero, carbon budgets?, Climate Change Committee, climate, greenhouse, emissions?, decarbonis, COP \d*, Paris Agreement, low.carbon |
| Grid and connections | grid, connections? (queue, reform, offers?, dates?), grid connections?, transmission, distribution network, DNOs?, National Energy System Operator, NESO, pylons?, substations?, electricity networks?, network (charges, charging, operators?, companies), interconnectors?, cables? |
| Storage and flexibility | storage, batter(y, ies), flexibility, long.duration, pumped (hydro, storage), demand (side, response, flexibility), smart (grid, charging) |
| Wind, solar and renewables | offshore wind, onshore wind, wind (farms?, turbines?, power, energy), solar, renewab, contracts? for difference, CfDs?, allocation round, clean power, tidal, hydro(power, electric) |
| Nuclear | nuclear, SMRs?, small modular, Sizewell, Hinkley, fusion, Sellafield, decommissioning |
| Hydrogen, carbon capture and industry | hydrogen, carbon capture, CCUS, CCS, industrial (decarbonisation, energy), biomass, Drax, biofuels?, sustainable aviation fuel, SAF, emissions trading, ETS, CBAM, carbon (border, price, pricing, leakage), energy.intensive |
| Energy bills and fuel poverty | energy (bills?, prices?, price cap, costs?, debt, help), price cap, fuel poverty, warm home discount, standing charges?, tariffs?, prepayment, cost of living |
| Heating, insulation and efficiency | heat pumps?, boilers?, insulation, energy efficiency, warm homes, EPCs?, energy performance, heat networks?, retrofit, boiler upgrade, ECO4?, home upgrade, clean heat, heating, gas (appliances?, servicing, safety) |
| Oil, gas and the North Sea | oil and gas, North Sea, petroleum, licensing round, offshore (oil, gas), windfall, Energy Profits Levy, LNG, liquefied natural gas, fracking, upstream, gas (fields?, production, imports?, storage, prices?), heating oil, oil (prices?, fields?, production, companies) |
| Suppliers, Ofgem and the market | Ofgem, energy (suppliers?, regulat, market, companies), suppliers? of last resort, market (reform, arrangements), REMA, zonal pricing, smart meters?, switching |
| GB Energy, investment and jobs | Great British Energy, GBE, National Wealth Fund, Clean Industry Bonus, supply chains?, green jobs, clean energy jobs, investment, industrial strategy |
| Public buildings, power and charging | (electricity, gas, energy, fuel) (supply, supplies, procurement, contract), utilit(y, ies), public sector decarbonisation, solar (panels?, PV), PV, LED, street lighting, building management, metering, charge points?, EV, electric vehicles?, charging infrastructure |