Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what proportion of procurement training for staff in his Department since 5 July 2024 has been delivered by organisations affiliated with trade unions.

Answered by Georgia Gould - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)

Information on supplier organisations’ affiliation with trade unions is not held.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to improve access to fertility treatments.

Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Government recognises that fertility treatment across the National Health Service in England is subject to variation in access. Work continues on joint advice from the Department and NHS England about the offer around NHS-funded fertility services.

Funding decisions for health services in England are made by integrated care boards and are based on the clinical needs of their local population. We expect these organisations to commission fertility services in line with National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidelines, ensuring equal access to fertility treatment across England. NICE are currently reviewing these guidelines.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant the Answer of 13 January 2025 to Question 22722 on Fertility: Medical Treatments, whether he will make it his policy to collect these data centrally.

Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

There are no current plans to collect these data.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant the Answer of 13 January 2025 to Question 22721 on Fertility, whether he will make it his policy to collect these data centrally.

Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

There are no current plans to collect these data.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many infrastructure contracts awarded by her Department since 5 July 2024 have included mandatory collective bargaining clauses.

Answered by Mike Kane - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

There are no infrastructure contracts awarded by the Department since 5 July 2024 that have included mandatory collective bargaining clauses.

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many public contracts awarded by the Crown Commercial Service since 5 July 2024 have included mandatory commitments to publish suppliers’ (a) gender and (b) ethnicity pay gaps.

Answered by Georgia Gould - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)

Contracts are established between the supplier and the individual contracting authority.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what proportion of public transport procurement projects contracted by her Department have included net zero requirements since 5 July 2024; and what estimate she has made of the cost of those requirements.

Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

The Department for Transport does not record the net-zero requirements included in procurement projects.

Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether he plans to change the number of staff in his Department working on new free trade agreements.

Answered by Douglas Alexander - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)

DBT's Trade Policy, Implementation and Negotiations (TPIN) Group operates a flexible resourcing model to maximise efficiency across its priorities. The Department has committed to delivering six Free Trade Agreement (FTA) negotiations alongside leading work on the Comprehensive and Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), work on the U.S. and the reset of the UK-EU relationship, and multilateral, implementation and market access work.

Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether any staff in his Department have been allocated to negotiating a free trade agreement with the United States.

Answered by Douglas Alexander - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)

DBT's Trade Policy, Implementation and Negotiations (TPIN) Group operates a flexible resourcing model to maximise efficiency across its priorities. The Department has committed to delivering six Free Trade Agreement (FTA) negotiations alongside leading work on the Comprehensive and Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), work on the U.S. and the reset of the UK-EU relationship, and multilateral, implementation and market access work.

Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, how many public contracts awarded by his Department since 5 July 2024 have required suppliers to recognise trade unions as a condition of contract award.

Answered by Justin Madders - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)

The Department of Business and Trade uses Government standard contract templates and these do not contain a specific requirement to recognise trade unions as a condition of a contract award.

Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, with reference to the oral contribution of the Minister for Services, Small Business and Exports of 26 February 2025, Official Report, column 857, what progress his Department has made on creating the new business growth service.

Answered by Gareth Thomas - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)

We have begun engagement and consultation with SMEs, business representative bodies, the devolved governments, local government, the Growth Hubs network and other key stakeholders to determine further details on the design, development and implementation of the Business Growth Service before its launch date this summer.

The Business Growth Service will simplify the government’s business support ecosystem, with locally led support underpinned by an improved online service. It will help realise the government’s Small Business Strategy, complementing the Industrial Strategy, Trade Strategy and Make Work Pay plans as part of a comprehensive approach to our Growth Mission.

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many UK nationals emigrated from the UK for long-term purposes in the (a) third and (b) fourth quarter of 2024.

Answered by Georgia Gould - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)

The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority.

A response to the Hon gentleman’s Parliamentary Question of 4th March is attached.

Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, with reference to the oral contribution of the Minister for Services, Small Business and Exports of 26 February 2025, Official Report, column 857, whether his Department plans to undertake public consultation before bringing forward legislative proposals to reduce late payments.

Answered by Gareth Thomas - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)

In September 2024 we announced a package of measures to help ensure small businesses are paid promptly by the large businesses they supply.

This included launching a new Fair Payment Code and a commitment to including payment performance information in large companies’ annual reports, and the launch of a public consultation.

We will soon be launching our public consultation on further measures to address late payments and long payment terms, including new powers for the Small Business Commissioner to tackle large businesses who pay late.

Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, with reference to the oral contribution of the Minister for Services, Small Business and Exports of 26 February 2025, Official Report, column 857, what his Department's timetable is for launching the business growth service.

Answered by Gareth Thomas - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)

We hope to launch the Business Growth Service (BGS) in the summer.

The BGS will, over time, simplify the government’s business support ecosystem, with locally led support underpinned by an improved online service. It will help realise the government’s Small Business Strategy, complementing the Industrial Strategy, Trade Strategy and Make Work Pay plans as part of a comprehensive approach to our Growth Mission.

Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, with reference to the oral contribution of the Minister for Services, Small Business and Exports of 26 February 2025, Official Report, column 857, how many staff in his Department have been allocated to the working on the development of the new business growth service; and at what the total staff cost is for the (a) 2024-25 and (b) 2025-26 financial years.

Answered by Gareth Thomas - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)

The Business Growth Service (BGS) and the broader plans for small business are a priority for the Department for Business and Trade. There is currently a flexible resourcing model in place to develop the Business Growth Service. As of March 2025, a small, full-time core team has been put in place dedicated to developing the BGS with a range of other teams supporting the programme in areas such as Digital, Communications, and Stakeholder Engagement. Final plans for 2025-26 are not yet available but, at launch, the BGS will encompass a much wider range of DBT staff delivering for businesses.

Found: _NC83 Andrew Griffith Greg Smith Dame Harriett Baldwin .

Found: _NC83 Andrew Griffith Greg Smith Dame Harriett Baldwin ★.