Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what the cost to her Department was of (a) events, (b) activities, (c) merchandise and (d) other costs relating to Pride Month 2023.
Answered by Alan Mak - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade) (jointly with the Cabinet Office)
The costs incurred in the Department for Business and Trade for expenditure related to Pride Month 2023 was £750.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of St Albans (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they plan to make an assessment of the impact of the Tesco-Booker merger on rural small businesses, such as post offices and village stores.
Answered by Lord Offord of Garvel - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
Investigations into mergers and anti-competitive practices are the responsibility of the Competition and Markets Authority, the UK’s independent competition regulator.
I note that the CMA conducted an in-depth investigation into Tesco’s acquisition of Booker in 2017 and concluded that it did not raise competition concerns.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of St Albans (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of the Tesco-Booker merger on independent shopkeepers.
Answered by Lord Offord of Garvel - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
Investigations into mergers and anti-competitive practices are the responsibility of the Competition and Markets Authority, the UK’s independent competition regulator.
I note that the CMA conducted an in-depth investigation into Tesco’s acquisition of Booker in 2017 and concluded that it did not raise competition concerns.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of St Albans (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of the changes recently introduced by Booker on independent retailers.
Answered by Lord Offord of Garvel - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
Investigations into mergers and anti-competitive practices are the responsibility of the Competition and Markets Authority, the UK’s independent competition regulator.
I note that the CMA conducted an in-depth investigation into Tesco’s acquisition of Booker in 2017 and concluded that it did not raise competition concerns.
Asked by: Lord Roberts of Llandudno (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask His Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the amount of steel that will be able to be produced from Port Talbot following its conversion to electric arc furnaces.
Answered by Lord Offord of Garvel - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
Tata Steel’s new Electric Arc Furnace will have a production capacity of approximately 3 million tonnes of crude steel per year.
Asked by: Navendu Mishra (Labour - Stockport)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether his Department carried out impact assessments prior to its decision to delay the implementation of the Employment (Allocation of Tips) Act 2023.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Employment (Allocation of Tips) Act, which became law in May 2023, will require employers to pass all tips on to workers, without deductions.
The accompanying statutory Code of Practice laid before Parliament on 22nd April 2024, and the other measures in the Act, will be effective from 1st October 2024.
The implementation date for the Act was revised from 1st July 2024 to 1st October 2024 to ensure sufficient time for those affected by the changes to prepare.
The impacts of the new requirements were considered in the impact assessment prepared for the Act: https://bills.parliament.uk/bills/3197/publications.
Asked by: Patricia Gibson (Scottish National Party - North Ayrshire and Arran)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, when she plans to reply to the correspondence of (a) 26 January and (b) 26 March 2024 from the hon. Member for North Ayrshire and Arran on concerns raised by a constituent about the conduct of Post Office Limited towards postmasters.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The correspondence from the hon. Member for North Ayrshire and Arran was responded to on 8 May 2024.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what protections are in place for whistle-blowers in local government.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
Under the Employment Rights Act 1996, workers are entitled to protection from detriment or dismissal as a result of blowing the whistle, and a route of redress through the Employment Tribunals if these protections are infringed. This includes workers in local government.
To qualify for protection the worker usually has to have made the disclosure to their employer, legal adviser or a prescribed person. Disclosures relating to local authorities can be made to the external auditor of the relevant authority, the Comptroller and Auditor General (National Audit Office), or a Member of Parliament.
The Government has published guidance, including on who is protected by law, how to make a disclosure, and what protections are available to whistleblowers. The guidance is available at: https://www.gov.uk/whistleblowing
Asked by: Beth Winter (Labour - Cynon Valley)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, if she will make it his policy to introduce a statutory right for disability support leave for disabled employees.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Government has no plans to introduce a statutory right for disability support leave for disabled employees.
All employers already have a duty to make ‘reasonable adjustments’ in the workplace where a disabled person would otherwise be put at a substantial disadvantage compared with their colleagues. The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) is responsible for enforcing the Equality Act and providing guidance on reasonable adjustments.
For disabled people who require adjustments which are beyond reasonable adjustments, Access to Work (AtW) can provide a grant for the disability related extra costs of working a disabled employee may face. To support employers an AtW case manager will contact the customer’s employer ahead of making an AtW award to offer advice on reasonable adjustments an employer can provide and the support available under the AtW scheme.
Asked by: Jo Stevens (Labour - Cardiff Central)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, how many employers in Wales her Department named as being non-compliant with minimum wage legislation in each year since 2019.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The government takes enforcement of the minimum wage seriously. We take robust action against employers who do not pay their staff correctly. Publicly naming employers who do not comply with the rules is an important part of enforcement.
Table 1: Employers named as being non-compliant with minimum wage legislation in Wales, 2019/20 to 2023/24. No rounds of the Naming Scheme took place in 2019/20 and 2022/23.
Financial Year | Region | Employers named |
2019/20 | Wales | N/A |
2020/21 | Wales | 5 |
2021/22 | Wales | 14 |
2022/23 | Wales | N/A |
2023/24 | Wales | 25 |