Oral Answers to Questions

Justin Madders Excerpts

Thursday 13th March 2025 Commons Chamber

[Callum Anderson (Buckingham and Bletchley) (Lab)]

3. What steps his Department is taking to improve the regulatory environment.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Business and Trade (Justin Madders)]

The regulatory environment does not work as well as it should. Unnecessary red tape is choking competitiveness, creating unnecessary burdens for business and putting up barriers to growth. That is why we are introducing a Government-wide target to reduce the administrative costs of regulation by 25% by the end of this Parliament. That will be supported by a baselining exercise to understand the administrative costs of regulation to businesses. The Prime Minister will set out more details later today. This is just the beginning; details of our ambitious action plan to reform the regulatory landscape will be set out shortly.

[Callum Anderson]

Over eight years and four Prime Ministers, the last Conservative Government commissioned review after review into UK corporate governance and audit reform, and delivered absolutely nothing. For UK plc to be globally competitive, we need robust corporate governance frameworks which balance the needs of investors and society for information with the administrative burdens on companies. Will the Minister update the House on what progress his Department is making on bringing forward an audit reform and corporate governance Bill?

[Justin Madders]

As my hon. Friend is right to recognise, this issue has been around for some time, and the Government have announced their intention to publish a draft audit reform and corporate governance Bill for scrutiny in this Session. Investors and the public need access to truthful reporting from our most important businesses on their finances and related issues. My Department continues to progress that important work, and a timetable for the publication of the Bill will be confirmed in the usual way for draft legislation in due course.

[Wera Hobhouse (Bath) (LD)]

Since leaving the European Union, we have been diverging progressively and passively —not making an active decision to diverge because it is good for us, but because we cannot keep up with the number of regulations coming through the European Union. That has been particularly disadvantageous for energy trading. What conversations has the Minister had with Government colleagues around aligning with the EU on emissions trading?

[Justin Madders]

That is an important question. The Minister with responsibility for emissions trading, my hon. Friend the Member for Croydon West (Sarah Jones), is in charge of that matter, and it is one of the discussions we are having as part of the EU reset.

[Dr Rupa Huq (Ealing Central and Acton) (Lab)]

4. What steps he is taking to support high street businesses.

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[Tony Vaughan (Folkestone and Hythe) (Lab)]

7. What steps his Department is taking to help microbusinesses comply with the general product safety regulations.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Business and Trade (Justin Madders)]

The Government are committed to supporting microbusinesses to comply with the general product safety regulation. For Northern Ireland, we have published additional guidance for businesses, and we will publish an update in the coming weeks, in the light of feedback we have received. We will continue to engage with businesses to ensure that they can trade freely across the UK. Businesses targeting the EU market may use the Government’s export support service. Since October 2024, the Department’s export academy has delivered eight free online GPSR training sessions to almost 5,000 attendees.

[Tony Vaughan]

I thank the Minister for his answer. My constituent George Stevens runs a microbusiness in Lydd making handcrafted stringed instruments; it has been running for over 30 years and he has many EU customers. He is deeply worried about Brexit-related red tape, which is holding back his EU exports. Can the Minister give him an assurance that, as a result of the proposed measures, he will now find it easier to trade with the EU?

[Justin Madders]

Microbusinesses such as that of Mr Stevens are central to the Government’s growth mission. We are committed to strengthening our relationship with the EU and to tackle trade barriers and frictions, and we regularly engage directly with businesses and their representative organisations to understand the difficulties they face. Our export support services help small and medium-sized enterprises navigate opportunities in EU markets and get the practical help they need to do so. For example, the Unlock Europe programme, which was launched in December as part of the export academy, offers practical guidance to help UK businesses enhance their exporting potential to the EU.

[Charlie Maynard (Witney) (LD)]

Our country’s very high electricity costs are another huge problem facing businesses in my constituency and nationally. Reintegrating our power markets with Europe’s through the single-day ahead coupling system would cost our country nothing, save costs for businesses, reduce carbon dioxide and make our power markets more efficient. Will the Minister take fast steps to reintegrate our electricity markets with those of our European neighbours?

[Justin Madders]

I thank the hon. Member for his tangential question relating to GPSR. He makes an important point about energy costs, and we are working closely with the EU on how to build on that, and of course the industrial strategy will also be looking very closely at how energy costs can be brought down for businesses.

[Katie Lam (Weald of Kent) (Con)]

8. If he will take steps to reduce employment regulation for businesses.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Business and Trade (Justin Madders)]

The plan to make work pay is central to our plan for change, to grow the economy, raise living standards and create opportunities for all. It will tackle low pay, poor working conditions and job insecurity, creating long-term growth and investment to support businesses. Insights gained from our ongoing engagement with businesses will help us ensure proportionate and effective policy. Our plan to make work pay will ensure a level playing field, so that employers that are trying to do the right thing are not undercut.

[Katie Lam]

I sent a survey about how the Government have treated business to every registered company in the Weald of Kent, and they are terrified. Some 80% of them—four in five—are less likely to hire following soaring taxes and the truly dire Employment Rights Bill. The Regulatory Policy Committee found the Government’s own impact assessment for the Bill not fit for purpose. Will the Minister conduct a proper assessment of the damage the Bill will do, or should I send him mine?

[Justin Madders]

I am always grateful for advice. If the hon. Lady is conducting surveys, she might look at the one that said that 76 of her constituents supported the plans in the Bill to bring in day one rights for sick pay. The importance of this Bill cannot be overstated. We have a plan to bring businesses up to a standard where work is respected and people have security and dignity. If the hon. Lady cannot understand that, then she needs to get out a bit more.

[Josh Newbury (Cannock Chase) (Lab)]

9. What steps his Department is taking to support trade union recognition in the workplace.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Business and Trade (Justin Madders)]

The Government are committed to simplifying the process and law around trade union recognition so that working people have a more meaningful right to organise through trade unions—of course, I refer to my entry in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests in this respect. Through the Employment Rights Bill, we are reforming the process for statutory recognition applications; with existing thresholds presenting too high a hurdle in modern workplaces, they are increasingly fragmented. We are also taking steps to strengthen protections against unfair practices during the recognition process, which we debated at length yesterday.

[Josh Newbury]

In January, Bidfood, a food wholesaler and major employer in my constituency, announced overnight that it would derecognise the GMB and Unite the union, removing the ability of thousands of workers across the country to collectively bargain through their trade unions. The unions fear that Bidfood workers could now be left at risk of fire and rehire before protections in this Government’s Employment Rights Bill come into force. Does the Minister agree that employers should not be trying to dodge protections under the Government’s plan to make work pay, and will he join me in supporting the GMB and Unite as they seek to protect their workers at Bidfood?

[Justin Madders]

My hon. Friend will understand that I cannot comment on individual cases, but I am deeply troubled by what he has said. I can be clear that the Government are determined to reset industrial relations, so that employers and trade unions work together in partnership rather than in conflict, as we have heard. We encourage all employers to engage with unions in the spirit of co-operation and collaboration. Working in that way benefits employers and workers alike. As he knows, the Employment Rights Bill will end the unscrupulous practice of fire and rehire, which has no place in a modern economy and workplace, so if any company is thinking of doing that, it should think again.

[Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)]

I very much welcome the Minister’s response. After I worked in my mum and dad’s shop, I joined the firm Henry Denny and I was required to join the union. I was not sure about joining, but when I did so I found out that the union backed me as a worker against the employers whenever they were bringing in things that were wrong. So I encourage everybody who joins a workforce to join a union, because it will protect them whenever they need help.

[Justin Madders]

The hon. Member could not have put it better. He has explained the benefits of trade union membership, which is something that Members on the Conservative Benches clearly do not understand.

[Mr Speaker]

I call the Father of the House.

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[Jenny Riddell-Carpenter (Suffolk Coastal) (Lab)]

T7. The big six supermarkets are acting like a cartel, forcing unfair prices on farmers and pursuing unscrupulous practices such as farm washing. Does the Minister agree with me that we should look again at the Groceries Code Adjudicator and consider whether it is fit for purpose?

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Business and Trade (Justin Madders)]

I thank my hon. Friend for her question. The Groceries Code Adjudicator’s annual survey shows high levels of compliance by the supermarkets. However, a statutory review will actually commence next month, and I would encourage her and all stakeholders to contribute to it.

[Mr Speaker]

Now it is Chris Law’s turn.

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[Lauren Edwards (Rochester and Strood) (Lab)]

The invest in women taskforce aims to drive investment in female-powered businesses at every stage. That includes putting more money in the hands of female investors, as we know that women back women. Does the Minister agree that one solution to tackling the gender disparity in investment decision-making roles is to set a minimum level of female representation for all investment committees that receive British Business Bank funding?

[Justin Madders]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. There is a strong correlation between the proportion of women on an investment committee and the proportion of female founders receiving investment. My Department leads on the investing in women code, whose 270 signatories commit to supporting female entrepreneurship. One of the key metrics we check is the gender balance on investment committees and investment teams. I am pleased to say that the code signatories significantly outperform the wider market in their support for female founders. Investment funds backed by the British Business Bank are expected to sign up to the code and the bank itself is a signatory.