Asked by: Imogen Walker (Labour - Hamilton and Clyde Valley)
Question to the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade, what recent assessment he has made of Royal Mail’s performance against its universal service obligations in Scotland.
Answered by Kate Dearden - Minister of State (Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade)
The government remains committed to ensuring a reliable universal postal service for users across all parts of the United Kingdom.
We have been clear that Royal Mail’s quality of service has not been good enough. The government has discussed Royal Mail’s performance with the company and Ofcom, as the independent regulator, and they know there is more to do to improve stability and reliability for customers, but it is welcome that the most recently released quality of service figures, for Q1 26/27, show an improvement.
Ofcom is investigating Royal Mail’s quality of service performance for 2025-26, and Royal Mail has published a service improvement plan alongside a £500 million investment into frontline resourcing.
Asked by: Imogen Walker (Labour - Hamilton and Clyde Valley)
Question to the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade, what estimate he has made of the number of workers who benefited from the increase in the National Living Wage in Hamilton and Clyde Valley constituency.
Answered by Kate Dearden - Minister of State (Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade)
Estimates by local authority and parliamentary constituency are not always available due to data reliability constraints.
Around 180,000 workers in Scotland were expected to benefit from a direct pay rise following National Minimum Wage (NMW) and National Living Wage (NLW) increases in April 2026. The 2026 NLW uplift is worth around £900 annually for a full-time worker, and over £1,500 for 18–20-year-olds on the NMW.
Further details can be found in the Impact Assessment The National Minimum Wage (Amendment) Regulations 2026.
Asked by: Imogen Walker (Labour - Hamilton and Clyde Valley)
Question to the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of the Lanarkshire AI Growth Zone on Scotland's computing capacity and artificial intelligence infrastructure.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Minister of State (Cabinet Office) (Jointly with the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Technology)
The Lanarkshire AI Growth Zone will strengthen Scotland's computing capacity by accelerating delivery of large-scale AI data centre infrastructure and increasing the amount of compute available in the UK.
The Lanarkshire AIGZ is also supporting significant private investment, creating skilled jobs and apprenticeships, and is contributing to the infrastructure needed to support the UK's AI ambitions.
Work is already well underway at the AI Growth Zone, and frontier AI chips will be live at the site next year, supporting the UK’s computing capacity and AI infrastructure goals.
Asked by: Imogen Walker (Labour - Hamilton and Clyde Valley)
Question to the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps his Department is taking to support local businesses in Hamilton town centre.
Answered by Gareth Thomas
The Government will bring forward a Small Business Strategy Command Paper next year, setting out the Government’s vision for small businesses, including those in Hamilton Town Centre, from boosting scale-ups to growing the co-operative economy, creating thriving high streets, and addressing access to finance and late payments.
The government will commit to funding key growth programmes in 2025-26 including Help to Grow: Management across the UK, which helps businesses and entrepreneurs unlock their potential through bespoke support and resources.