Asked by: Joshua Reynolds (Liberal Democrat - Maidenhead)
Question to the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade, what assessment he has made of the potential impact on business investment, job creation and high street confidence of (a) providing longer notice and implementation periods for significant fiscal and regulatory changes and (b) tackling illicit and persistently non-compliant retail operators.
Answered by Blair McDougall - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade) (Jointly with the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
On significant regulatory changes, the Government seeks to give businesses sufficient notice and implementation time. Departments are also encouraged to use the common commencement dates of 6 April and 1 October to reduce burdens on business.
On tackling illicit and persistently non-compliant retail operators, serious and organised crime has a direct and damaging impact on local communities, undermining legitimate businesses, fuelling wider criminality, and eroding public confidence in the safety and vitality of our high streets. Criminal groups exploit apparently legitimate businesses to conceal their activities, with money laundering playing a key role in allowing these networks to operate and profit.
As such, addressing this threat is a priority for the Government and, on 19 May, the Government announced a £30 million crackdown targeting cash intensive businesses such as barber shops, vape stores, mini-marts and sweet shops operating on our high streets, over three years.
Asked by: Joshua Reynolds (Liberal Democrat - Maidenhead)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether she plans to review the requirements for traffic calming measures and repeater signs in 20mph zones on roads with street lighting.
Answered by Justin Madders - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Department has no current plans to review the requirements for traffic-calming measures and repeater signs in 20 mph zones on roads with street lighting.
Asked by: Joshua Reynolds (Liberal Democrat - Maidenhead)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, if he will take steps with the Chancellor of the Exchequer to issue defence bonds to help increase funding for military capabilities.
Answered by Luke Pollard - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
We have increased defence spending from £54 billion a year under the previous government to almost £80 billion a year by 2029, and will see the UK's defence spending increase to 2.7% of GDP. Page 11 of the Defence Investment Plan sets out our committment to increasing defence spending to 3% of GDP in the next Parliament and 3.5% by 2035.
The chancellor will set out the pathway to that committment at the Spending Review next year.
Asked by: Joshua Reynolds (Liberal Democrat - Maidenhead)
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 trends in the level of public sector software licensing and cloud computing costs since the publication of the Competition and Markets Authority's 2025 final decision report on cloud services.
Answered by Kate Dearden - Minister of State (Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade)
The Department has not made a specific assessment of trends in the level of public sector software licensing and cloud computing costs since the publication of the Competition and Markets Authority's (CMA) final report on cloud services in July 2025. The CMA provided input into Government's State of Digital Government review, published in January 2025, which assessed the public sector's use of digital technology.
Asked by: Joshua Reynolds (Liberal Democrat - Maidenhead)
Question to the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade, what lessons his Department has learned from the Competition and Markets Authority's 2025 final decision report on cloud services.
Answered by Kate Dearden - Minister of State (Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade)
The CMA was clear that the market for cloud services is not working well and the Government welcomes the package of measures on cloud the CMA announced earlier this year to address the lessons from its investigation.
Asked by: Joshua Reynolds (Liberal Democrat - Maidenhead)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether her Department has made an estimate of the annual saving to small and medium-sized enterprises if public bodies accepted Cyber Essentials Plus certification in place of bespoke supplier security questionnaires for contracts below the goods and services threshold in Schedule 1 to the Procurement Act 2023.
Answered by Mark Ferguson - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
Contracting authorities in central government must ensure that effective and proportionate cyber security controls are applied to mitigate supply chain risks. In contracts with certain key characteristics considered to be at a higher risk of cyber security threats, the Cyber Essentials schemes, or equivalent, should be used as set out in Procurement Policy Note 014.
Cyber Essentials is a government backed scheme to help businesses of any size protect themselves against a range of the most common cyber attacks and to demonstrate their commitment to cyber security.
Asked by: Joshua Reynolds (Liberal Democrat - Maidenhead)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether her Department has made an estimate of the effect on gross domestic product of standardising supplier assurance requirements across public sector buyers for contracts below the central government goods and services threshold.
Answered by Mark Ferguson - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
Contracting authorities undertaking a below-threshold procurement have greater flexibility in designing and running a procurement and awarding and managing the resulting contract. This flexibility might include, for example, the ability to choose to restrict the award of contracts to suppliers who are small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), or voluntary, community and social enterprises (VCSEs).
Supplier assurance requirements for below threshold procurements are determined by the Contracting Authority, must not include a pre-qualification stage and must be proportionate.
Asked by: Joshua Reynolds (Liberal Democrat - Maidenhead)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether her Department has made an estimate of the annual cost to business of completing separate security assurance questionnaires for different public sector buyers.
Answered by Mark Ferguson - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
Contracting authorities in central government must ensure that effective and proportionate security assurance measures are deployed in procurements, to mitigate supply chain risks. The type and levels of security assurance required will depend on the nature and risk of the contract.
The Central Digital Platform introduced a 'tell us once' functionality for baseline supplier information to streamline and simplify the bidding process.
Asked by: Joshua Reynolds (Liberal Democrat - Maidenhead)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether her Department has issued guidance to waste disposal authorities in England on how DIY waste that is not presented in 50 litre bags should be measured for the purposes of the free disposal allowance at household waste recycling centres.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Responses to the 2022 Government consultation indicated larger quantities were more likely to be produced by traders than householders. A limit of two 50L rubble bags reflects small-scale DIY home improvements and, as material can only be presented in a 50L bag, is easy to measure. Local authorities determine implementation across HWRCs.
Asked by: Joshua Reynolds (Liberal Democrat - Maidenhead)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps her Department is taking with waste disposal authorities in England to help ensure that limits on the free disposal of DIY waste are applied consistently between household waste recycling centres.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Responses to the 2022 Government consultation indicated larger quantities were more likely to be produced by traders than householders. A limit of two 50L rubble bags reflects small-scale DIY home improvements and, as material can only be presented in a 50L bag, is easy to measure. Local authorities determine implementation across HWRCs.