Asked by: Baroness Merron (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to help small booksellers compete with online retailers beyond the reliefs implemented during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The government is committed to ensuring digital markets, such as the e-commerce market, remain competitive and deliver positive outcomes for small businesses, consumers, and society. Our digital competition consultation set out a vision for the UK’s new pro-competition regime for digital markets and the powers of the new Digital Markets Unit, which is already operating in non-statutory form inside the CMA. The regime will enable the UK’s competition authorities to tackle the unique challenges of fast-moving digital markets and will aim to boost competition and innovation by tackling the sources and effects of market power in digital markets. The consultation closed on 1 October 2021 and we are now carefully considering the responses.
At budget, my Rt hon Friend Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer announced further business rates relief of 50% in 2022/23 for eligible retail, hospitality, and leisure businesses worth almost £1.7 billion and we are freezing the multiplier for 2022/23 saving businesses £4.6 billion over the next five years.
Asked by: Baroness Merron (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government when the final communications sectoral definition under the National Security and Investment Act 2021 will be published.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Government will publish the draft notifiable acquisition regulations as part of the implementation of the National Security and Investment Act 2021 in due course. This will include descriptions of the proposed acquisitions in the communications sector which must be notified to my Rt. Hon. Friend the Secretary of State.