Asked by: Anneliese Dodds (Labour (Co-op) - Oxford East)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps his Department is taking to help ensure that importers ensure that their goods are free from forced labour.
Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Government is committed to tackling forced labour in UK and global supply chains and ensuring that UK businesses are not complicit in human rights abuses. A range of existing measures already support this, including the Procurement Act 2023, Overseas Business Risk guidance, and the Modern Slavery Act 2015. The review launched in the Trade Strategy into the UK’s approach to responsible business conduct focuses on tackling human rights and labour abuses and environmental harms in global supply chains. It will assess effectiveness of the UK’s current regime and the merits of alternative measures to support responsible business practices.
Asked by: Anneliese Dodds (Labour (Co-op) - Oxford East)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps his Department is taking to help improve the Corporate Power Purchase Agreements system as it applies to automotive manufacturing.
Answered by Chris McDonald - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Corporate Power Purchase Agreements (CPPAs) allow businesses to enhance competitiveness by securing stable, competitively priced electricity.
The UK’s Modern Industrial Strategy committed to issue a call for evidence on how the British CPPA market can be improved for industry. The call for evidence, run by DBT and DESNZ, was launched on 9 January and closes 6 March. Ideas generated will be carefully reviewed to inform future policy development.
Future policy will complement existing support for the automotive sector including the DRIVE35 initiative, an additional 1.3bn in the Electric Car Grant and increased funding for charging infrastructure.
Asked by: Anneliese Dodds (Labour (Co-op) - Oxford East)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, if he will list the companies that will receive 90 per cent discounted network charging costs under the proposed Network Charging Compensation scheme from 1 April 2026.
Answered by Chris McDonald - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Network Charging Compensation (NCC) Scheme is one of the three components making up the British Industry Supercharger (the Supercharger). The other two components are the GB Capacity Market Exemption and Energy Intensive Industries Exemption Scheme. The most current list of recipients of Supercharger support, and therefore NCC Scheme support, can be found at the following link: Contracts for Difference (CfD) and renewables obligation (RO): list of companies awarded an exemption - GOV.UK. These recipients, and future Supercharger recipients, will benefit from 90% compensation from network charges from 1 April 2026.
Asked by: Anneliese Dodds (Labour (Co-op) - Oxford East)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, with reference to the Centre for Social Justice's report entitled At what cost? Exploring the impact of forced labour in the UK, published in October 2024, whether his Department is taking steps to ensure the registration of hand car washing facilities.
Answered by Kate Dearden - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The government is creating the Fair Work Agency, which will enhance the enforcement of employment rights across sectors, including hand car washes. As announced in the Budget, the Agency will establish a dedicated 'hidden economy' team which will target sectors with multiple regulatory breaches, starting with hand car washes.
The initiative will address employment rights violations while collaborating with relevant enforcement authorities to protect workers and support legitimate businesses operating within the law.
Asked by: Anneliese Dodds (Labour (Co-op) - Oxford East)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, with reference to the document entitled Draft terms of reference for the Anti-Muslim Hatred Working Group, what updates her Department has provided on relevant developments in its area of work to that group since 2019.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Shadow Minister without Portfolio
Ministers and officials have regular discussions with the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities over a range of issues. More broadly, I refer the hon. Member to the answer of 1 March 2024, Official Report, PQ 16019 on tackling anti-Muslim hatred.
Asked by: Anneliese Dodds (Labour (Co-op) - Oxford East)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what recent assessment her Department has made of the equality impact of the increase in the angel investment annual income threshold.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Shadow Minister without Portfolio
The Government is aware of the recent increase in the threshold level for High Net Worth individuals as defined under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000. Self-certification under this exemption is one of several ways in which individual investors can make angel investments. Other options include self-certifying as a sophisticated investor through membership of an angel group or syndicate for at least six months, or accessing investments through a firm authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority.
HM Treasury sponsors the relevant legislation and hence the Department for Business and Trade has not sought to assess the equality impact of this change.
Asked by: Anneliese Dodds (Labour (Co-op) - Oxford East)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what discussions his Department has had with stakeholders on the decision to increase the angel investment annual income threshold to £170,000.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Shadow Minister without Portfolio
The Department for Business and Trade has received several representations about the recent increase in the threshold level for angel investors wishing to self-certify as High Net Worth individuals under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000. These representations have been referred to HM Treasury which is the sponsor of this legislation.
Asked by: Anneliese Dodds (Labour (Co-op) - Oxford East)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what her Department's planned timetable is for the publication of the Government’s ethnicity pay gap reporting guidance.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Shadow Minister without Portfolio
This Government remains committed to tackling all areas of disparities in this country, including in employment. It is crucial that everyone is treated fairly in the workplace, so that they can thrive and reach their full potential and we want to ensure that everyone has access to the same employment opportunities.
Ethnicity pay gap reporting is just one type of tool to assist employers in doing this and it may not always be the most appropriate mechanism for some types of organisations. Therefore, as set out in the “Inclusive Britain” report, which was published in March 2022, the Government will not be legislating to make ethnicity pay reporting mandatory at this stage. Instead we are committed to producing guidance to support those who wish to report voluntarily. This will be published in due course.
Asked by: Anneliese Dodds (Labour (Co-op) - Oxford East)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of the number of firms who have published ethnicity pay gap reporting.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Shadow Minister without Portfolio
This Government remains committed to tackling all areas of disparities in this country, including in employment. It is crucial that everyone is treated fairly in the workplace, so that they can thrive and reach their full potential and we want to ensure that everyone has access to the same employment opportunities.
Ethnicity pay gap reporting is just one type of tool to assist employers in doing this and it may not always be the most appropriate mechanism for some types of organisations. Therefore, as set out in the “Inclusive Britain” report, which was published in March 2022, the Government will not be legislating to make ethnicity pay reporting mandatory at this stage. Instead we are committed to producing guidance to support those who wish to report voluntarily. This will be published in due course.