Asked by: Drew Hendry (Scottish National Party - Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether her Department is taking steps to ensure that chemicals that can be used in the manufacture of choking agents are (a) tracked and (b) not sent to Russia.
Answered by Alan Mak - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade) (jointly with the Cabinet Office)
We have sanctioned the export of all chemicals and biochemicals of concern to Russia.
This is in addition to our existing export controls, which already restrict the export of certain chemicals, pathogens and toxins.
Sanctions and export controls are impacting Russia’s economy and depriving its military of key components, and we are going further by extending our capabilities..
My department has recently announced the creation of the Office of Trade Sanctions Implementation (OTSI) to strengthen enforcement and support industry compliance.
We are also working closely with Ukraine and international partners to coordinate efforts to thwart Russia’s efforts to circumvent sanctions to gain access to technology to support its invasion.
Asked by: Lord Mann (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask His Majesty's Government what free and fast track process is available for a householder to remove their address from the register at Companies House when that address has been used fraudulently by a company.
Answered by Lord Offord of Garvel - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
If a person finds that their address has been used by a company without their authorisation, they should contact Companies House providing details of the address and supporting evidence. There is no charge for applying to the Registrar of Companies to remove a person’s address from the register if it has been used without consent. Companies House does not offer a fast-track process.
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 times her Department has taken enforcement action against businesses for non-compliance with minimum wage legislation in each financial year since 2015.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
All businesses – irrespective of their size or business sector – are responsible for paying the correct minimum wage to their staff. The government is clear that anyone entitled to be paid the minimum wage should receive it and takes robust enforcement action against employers who do not pay their staff correctly. HMRC enforces minimum wage regulations on behalf of DBT.
Table 1: National Minimum Wage arrears, workers identified, and penalties issued from 2015/16 – 2021/22. Statistics for 2022/23 have not been published yet.
Financial year | Arrears | Number of workers | Penalties issued |
2015/16 | £10,281,396 | 58,080 | 815 |
2016/17 | £10,918,047 | 98,150 | 821 |
2017/18 | £15,615,609 | 201,785 | 810 |
2018/19 | £24,447,919 | 221,581 | 1,008 |
2019/20 | £20,836,609 | 263,350 | 992 |
2020/21 | £16,758,324 | 155,196 | 575 |
2021/22 | £16,316,841 | 120,295 | 696 |
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, in how many cases businesses in Wales were found to be non-compliant with minimum wage legislation in each year since 2019.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
All businesses – irrespective of their size or business sector – are responsible for paying the correct minimum wage to their staff. The government is clear that anyone entitled to be paid the minimum wage should receive it and takes robust enforcement action against employers who do not pay their staff correctly. HMRC enforces minimum wage regulations on behalf of DBT. Regional data for Wales has been provided in Table 1.
Table 1: National Minimum Wage arrears, workers identified, and penalties issued in Wales, 2019/20 to 2021/22.
Financial Year | Region | Arrears | Number of workers | Penalties issued |
2019/20 | Wales | £325,419 | 4,227 | 41 |
2020/21 | Wales | £262,408 | 3,895 | 14 |
2021/22 | Wales | £69,769 | 661 | 43 |
Asked by: Bob Seely (Conservative - Isle of Wight)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what information her Department holds on how many industrial ballots did not meet the threshold set by the Trade Union Act 2016 for strike action in each month of 2023.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
Available data relating to ballots for industrial action held by registered trade unions can be found on gov.uk under the Certification Officer’s official list of trade unions and their annual returns. However, data for the 2023 calendar year will not be available until later this year. Data for 2024 will not be available until the following year.
Asked by: Bob Seely (Conservative - Isle of Wight)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what information her Department holds on the average percentage of trade union members (a) voting in ballots and (b) voting in favour of industrial action in each month of 2023.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
Available data relating to ballots for industrial action held by registered trade unions can be found on gov.uk under the Certification Officer’s official list of trade unions and their annual returns. However, data for the 2023 calendar year will not be available until later this year. Data for 2024 will not be available until the following year.
Asked by: Bob Seely (Conservative - Isle of Wight)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what information her Department holds on how many trade union ballots in each industrial sector there were in each month of 2023.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
Available data relating to ballots for industrial action held by registered trade unions can be found on gov.uk under the Certification Officer’s official list of trade unions and their annual returns. However, data for the 2023 calendar year will not be available until later this year. Data for 2024 will not be available until the following year.
Asked by: Ruth Jones (Labour - Newport West)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether she has had discussions with the Secretary of State for Wales on supporting small businesses in (a) Newport West constituency and (b) Wales.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Secretary of State is regularly assessing the impact of economic growth, working with the Secretary of State for Wales to support SMEs.
The Government continues to support businesses, through Help to Grow: Management, Business Support Helpline and GOV.UK.
Wales is benefiting from £2.5 billion in levelling up funding to create jobs and grow the economy, and there will be two Investment Zones in Wales worth £160 million each, with one located across Cardiff and Newport.
The Government has provided business rates relief in England, whilst the Welsh Government has cut the rates relief, effectively doubling business rates in Wales.
Asked by: Ruth Jones (Labour - Newport West)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether she has made an assessment of the impact of recent economic growth figures on small and medium businesses in (a) Newport West constituency and b) Wales.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Secretary of State is regularly assessing the impact of economic growth, working with the Secretary of State for Wales to support SMEs.
The Government continues to support businesses, through Help to Grow: Management, Business Support Helpline and GOV.UK.
Wales is benefiting from £2.5 billion in levelling up funding to create jobs and grow the economy, and there will be two Investment Zones in Wales worth £160 million each, with one located across Cardiff and Newport.
The Government has provided business rates relief in England, whilst the Welsh Government has cut the rates relief, effectively doubling business rates in Wales.
Asked by: Claudia Webbe (Independent - Leicester East)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, with reference to paragraphs 28 and 29 of the summary grounds of the Secretary of State provided in the High Court case between the King (on the application of Al-Haq) v the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, AC-2023-LON-003634, if she will provide the dates for when each of the arms export licences to Israel identified in the Change in Circumstances review were issued.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Government is monitoring the situation in Israel and Gaza very closely.
The Government can and does respond quickly and flexibly to changing international circumstances. All licences are kept under careful and continual review and are able to be amended, suspended, refused or revoked as circumstances require.
HM Government publishes data on export licensing decisions on a quarterly basis in the Official Statistics, including data on outcome, end user destination, overall value, type (e.g. military, other) and a summary of the items covered by these licences. This data is available at: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/strategic-export-controls-licensing-data.