Asked by: Helen Morgan (Liberal Democrat - North Shropshire)
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 incentivise growth in rural businesses.
Answered by Gareth Thomas - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
Rural businesses offer significant potential for growth and are central to our economy. DBT works with other departments who provide funding for the Rural England Prosperity Fund (REPF) supporting new and existing rural businesses and improved community infrastructure that will provide essential community services.
The Government has just announced the Business Growth Service (BGS), with local delivery at its heart to bring a range of existing core services under the BGS banner.
All businesses can access their Local Growth Hubs, which provide advice and support throughout the business journey, shaping their offer around the unique needs, whether town or country.
Asked by: Helen Morgan (Liberal Democrat - North Shropshire)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether het has made a recent assessment of the potential implications for his policies of the difficulties that rural businesses face.
Answered by Gareth Thomas - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
Rural businesses offer significant potential for growth and are central to our economy. DBT works with other departments such as Defra, helping people living and working in rural areas to realise the full potential of rural businesses and communities placing them at the heart of our policymaking.
The Government will publish a Small Business Strategy Paper later this year, setting out the Government’s vision for all small businesses, and has committed to funding for two key growth-driving programmes in 2025-26: Growth Hubs in England and Help to Grow: Management across the UK, which help businesses and entrepreneurs unlock their potential through bespoke support and resources
The Rural England Prosperity Fund is intended to support new and existing rural businesses, including farm businesses, to develop new products and facilities that will be of wider benefit to the local economy and to support new and improved community infrastructure that will provide essential community services and assets for local people and businesses to benefit the local economy
Asked by: Helen Morgan (Liberal Democrat - North Shropshire)
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 support rural businesses.
Answered by Gareth Thomas - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
Rural businesses offer significant potential for growth and are central to our economy. As with all places, fulfilling the needs of people and businesses in rural areas is at the heart of our policymaking.
The Government has just launched the Business Growth Service (BGS), a national service with local delivery at its heart. It will bring a range of existing core services under the BGS banner, working hand in glove with local and devolved governments and the Growth Hubs network.
All businesses can access their Local Growth Hubs, which provide advice and support throughout the business journey, shaping their offer around the unique needs, whether town or country.
Asked by: Helen Morgan (Liberal Democrat - North Shropshire)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, how many individuals have (a) been offered and (b) accepted compensation under the Group Litigation Order Scheme.
Answered by Gareth Thomas - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
As of 30 August, 253 offers had been made to claimants under the GLO scheme; 207 postmasters had accepted their offer. Data on all Horizon redress schemes are published monthly on gov.uk.
Asked by: Helen Morgan (Liberal Democrat - North Shropshire)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, how much funding the Marches Growth Hub received (a) when the Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) was in place and (b) after the LEP was removed.
Answered by Gareth Thomas - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
DBT Funding for the Marches Growth Hub for each FY since it was established is set out in the table below:
Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) funded to deliver the Growth Hub | Marches Growth Hub delivered by Shropshire LA | |||||||||
2015-16 | 2016-17 | 2017-18 | 2018-19 | 2019-20 | 2020-21 | 2021-22 | 2022-23 | 2023-24 | 2024-25 | |
The Marches annual allocations (£'000) | 250 | 205 | 205 | 205 | 205 | 462 | 462 | 231 | 261 | 261 |
Asked by: Helen Morgan (Liberal Democrat - North Shropshire)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what assessment her Department has made of the adequacy of the number of skilled mechanics.
Answered by Alan Mak - Shadow Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology
The Government are in regular contact with the automotive sector to understand their requirements and we continue to support the automotive sector, including through the Automotive Council Skills Working Group which covers skills issues across manufacturing, aftermarket (repair and servicing) and sales.
The Government recognises that skills are critical to the current and future needs of the economy and that is why we are committed to delivering a world-leading skills system that is employer-focused, high-quality, and fit for the future. This is through high quality further and higher education, apprenticeships, and adult training. This is driving productivity and growth by growing talent across the country, addressing skills shortages and responding to evolving skills needs in key growth sectors.
Asked by: Helen Morgan (Liberal Democrat - North Shropshire)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, if she will have discussions with (a) Ofcom and (b) Royal Mail on (i) the maintenance of postcodes and (ii) the extent to which newly designated postcodes are recognised by satellite navigation systems.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Shadow Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities
The Government understands the role data plays in delivering benefits in the public and private sectors and the UK has traditionally maintained high quality address data that supports a wide range of uses across the economy.
However, the postcode system is an operational tool, owned and maintained by Royal Mail, with its primary purpose being to ensure the accurate sorting, routing and delivery of customers’ mail. Royal Mail keeps this under review for its purposes.
Postcodes may be used for other purposes including by private and public sector organisations. The terms of access to the Postcode Address File are regulated by Ofcom, the independent regulator. However, other commercial products to identify locations for the purposes of deliveries and directions are also available.
Asked by: Helen Morgan (Liberal Democrat - North Shropshire)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps her Department is taking to support British cheese makers.
Answered by Greg Hands
We are supporting dairy producers, including through the Dairy Export Programme which resulted from £1m committed by the Prime Minister to boost UK dairy exports, especially amongst SMEs.
The Programme was agreed following consultations with UK dairy businesses and industry bodies. It is UK-wide and designed to unlock new opportunities for our dairy exports in growth markets around the world.
The Programme builds on existing work the department has been doing with the sector. For example, DBT recently supported a VIP cheese buyer tasting space at Anuga, the world-leading food fair in Cologne.
Asked by: Helen Morgan (Liberal Democrat - North Shropshire)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps she is taking to help British cheese producers maintain levels of exports to Canada.
Answered by Nusrat Ghani
As of 1 January 2024, U.K. exporters can export cheese to Canada tariff free if they do so through a Canadian importer with a licence for Canada’s “non-EU” World Trade Organisation quota. We continue to work closely with U.K. cheese exporters to monitor the impact of these changes.
We will also work closely with the sector to ensure that U.K. exporters are in a strong position to take advantage of the Canadian dairy quotas that the U.K. will be able to access through CPTPP.
Asked by: Helen Morgan (Liberal Democrat - North Shropshire)
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 potential impact of changes to the UK’s trading agreement with Canada on the British cheese industry.
Answered by Nusrat Ghani
As of 1 January 2024, U.K. exporters can export cheese to Canada tariff free if they do so through a Canadian importer with a licence for Canada’s “non EU” World Trade Organisation quota.
These changes only came into effect at the start of the year, and it is too early to determine the full impact.
We will continue to work closely with U.K. cheese exporters to monitor the impact of the changes, including what this means for the relationships between Canadian import licence holders and exporters.