Asked by: Gareth Snell (Labour (Co-op) - Stoke-on-Trent Central)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what the total number of potential redundancies disclosed in HR1 forms received by his Department was in the last 12 months; and what assessment he has made of the potential impact of energy costs on those figures.
Answered by Blair McDougall - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
In the financial year 2025/2026, the Insolvency Service recorded a total of 315,424 potential redundancies from HR1 (Advance Notice of Redundancy) forms:
April 2025 | 23,769 |
May 2025 | 24,643 |
June 2025 | 32,428 |
July 2025 | 25,162 |
August 2025 | 23,436 |
September 2025 | 24,504 |
October 2025 | 25,461 |
November 2025 | 30,396 |
December 2025 | 22,076 |
January 2026 | 28,493 |
February 2026 | 27,903 |
March 2026 | 27,153 |
No assessment of the potential impact of energy costs on those figures has been made as no specific questions about energy costs are asked on the HR1 form.
Asked by: Gareth Snell (Labour (Co-op) - Stoke-on-Trent Central)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what assessment he has made of the potential implications for his Department's policies of differences in business energy costs between the different nations and regions of the UK.
Answered by Chris McDonald - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
It has not proved possible to respond to my hon. Friend in the time available before Prorogation.
Asked by: Gareth Snell (Labour (Co-op) - Stoke-on-Trent Central)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what assessment he has made of the potential effectiveness of long-duration energy storage in providing price stability for industrial users.
Answered by Michael Shanks - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
It has not proved possible to respond to my hon. Friend in the time available before Prorogation.
Asked by: Gareth Snell (Labour (Co-op) - Stoke-on-Trent Central)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what steps his Department is taking to support businesses in piloting industrial-scale hydrogen fuel switching.
Answered by Michael Shanks - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
It has not proved possible to respond to my hon. Friend in the time available before Prorogation.
Asked by: Gareth Snell (Labour (Co-op) - Stoke-on-Trent Central)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, how many HR1 redundancy notices his Department received in each month of the 2025-26 financial year to date.
Answered by Blair McDougall - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
In the financial year 2025/2026, the Insolvency Service recorded a total of 4,566 HR1 (Advance Notice of Redundancy) forms as follows:
April 2025 | 365 |
May 2025 | 382 |
June 2025 | 414 |
July 2025 | 407 |
August 2025 | 285 |
September 2025 | 345 |
October 2025 | 412 |
November 2025 | 412 |
December 2025 | 248 |
January 2026 | 396 |
February 2026 | 430 |
March 2026 | 470 |
Asked by: Gareth Snell (Labour (Co-op) - Stoke-on-Trent Central)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps his Department takes to share data from HR1 redundancy notices with the Department for Work and Pensions to help ensure rapid response support is available for affected workers.
Answered by Blair McDougall - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Redundancy Payments Service (RPS), acting on behalf of the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, collects information from HR1 submissions and distributes it on a daily basis to the appropriate government departments and agencies who offer job brokering services and/or training services.
These agencies include The Department for Work and Pensions who provide rapid response services in England and Wales and the Scottish Government’s Partnership Action for Continuing Employment (PACE) who provide these services in Scotland.
Asked by: Gareth Snell (Labour (Co-op) - Stoke-on-Trent Central)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what assessment he has made of the prevalence of energy suppliers unilaterally changing payment terms for business customers.
Answered by Michael Shanks - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
It has not proved possible to respond to my hon. Friend in the time available before Prorogation.
Asked by: Gareth Snell (Labour (Co-op) - Stoke-on-Trent Central)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the Microbusiness Protection Rules implemented by Ofgem.
Answered by Chris McDonald - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Consumer protection rules are a matter for Ofgem, as the independent regulator. The Department continues to work closely with them to take forward the recommendations from the 2024 Non-Domestic Market Review, such as expanding access to the Energy Ombudsman and the development of a new regulatory regime for Third Party Intermediaries, such as energy brokers.
As part of its Consumer Confidence programme, Ofgem has developed consumer outcomes for all consumers, both domestic and non-domestic. These clarify the consumer outcomes Ofgem wants the sector to deliver and how they will be embedded into its regulatory framework.
Asked by: Gareth Snell (Labour (Co-op) - Stoke-on-Trent Central)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what steps he is taking to improve transparency in the wholesale energy costs passed on to commercial tenants.
Answered by Chris McDonald - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Energy re-sold to non-domestic tenants is a commercial matter between those two businesses dependent on their contract terms. Landlords in these situations have a legal duty to regularly inform their tenants of how much energy they have used and the price they have been charged for that energy.
Asked by: Gareth Snell (Labour (Co-op) - Stoke-on-Trent Central)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of energy costs on the survival of high-street independent retailers.
Answered by Kate Dearden - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
Through our Clean Power 2030 mission we are taking action to accelerate the transition to clean, homegrown electricity helping to improve energy security and reduce exposure to the volatility of fossil fuel prices across of the UK economy. Alongside this, the government is considering and intends to consult stakeholders on a range of options to address the relative cost of electricity for non‑domestic users and to support the wider take‑up of low‑carbon heat.
We have introduced permanently lower business‑rates multipliers for retail, hospitality and leisure properties, worth nearly £900 million a year and benefiting over 750,000 premises and introduced a £4.3 billion transitional support package to protect ratepayers from large overnight increases. Later this year, we will bring forward a new High Streets Strategy, to help reinvigorate our communities. These measures will provide meaningful, long-term support to independent retailers at the heart of their communities.