Asked by: Justin Madders (Labour - Ellesmere Port and Bromborough)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, when he plans to bring into force secondary legislation contained within the Product Regulation and Metrology Act 2025.
Answered by Kate Dearden - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Product Regulation and Metrology Act 2025, which received Royal Assent in July 2025, enables the government to modernise, replace and simplify regulations. The Act’s powers have already been used to update the Outdoor Noise Regulations and the Government recently confirmed it will use the Act’s powers to update the Machinery (Safety) Regulations 2008, following a call for evidence. Further reviews of regulations will follow.
In particular, as announced in November’s Budget, the Government intends to publish a consultation shortly on major reforms to level the playing field between online and physical retailers, improve consumer safety and streamline enforcement powers.
Asked by: Justin Madders (Labour - Ellesmere Port and Bromborough)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether he plans to publish a consultation on the measures within the Product Regulation and Metrology Act 2025 in relation to product safety.
Answered by Kate Dearden - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Product Regulation and Metrology Act 2025, which received Royal Assent in July 2025, enables the government to modernise, replace and simplify regulations. The Act’s powers have already been used to update the Outdoor Noise Regulations and the Government recently confirmed it will use the Act’s powers to update the Machinery (Safety) Regulations 2008, following a call for evidence. Further reviews of regulations will follow.
In particular, as announced in November’s Budget, the Government intends to publish a consultation shortly on major reforms to level the playing field between online and physical retailers, improve consumer safety and streamline enforcement powers.
Asked by: Justin Madders (Labour - Ellesmere Port and Bromborough)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, when he plans to take steps to tackle subscription traps.
Answered by Kate Dearden - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The government is committed to protecting consumers who enter into subscription contracts. We consulted on the implementation of the new subscription contracts regime in the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act and have engaged closely with stakeholders. We are carefully considering the points raised and a government response will be published in due course.
Asked by: Justin Madders (Labour - Ellesmere Port and Bromborough)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, if he plans to launch a consultation on introducing a single status of worker.
Answered by Kate Dearden - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Government is committed to consulting on employment status as soon as possible. The consultation will seek to address issues with the framework which can enable worker exploitation and leave vulnerable workers without core employment protections.
Asked by: Justin Madders (Labour - Ellesmere Port and Bromborough)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps he has taken to move towards a single status of worker.
Answered by Kate Dearden - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Government is committed to consulting on employment status as soon as possible. The consultation will seek to address issues with the framework which can enable worker exploitation and leave vulnerable workers without core employment protections.
Asked by: Justin Madders (Labour - Ellesmere Port and Bromborough)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, when he plans to set out the timelines for the introduction of a (a) consultation on and (b) implementation of secondary legislation contained in Section 24 of the Employment Rights Act 2025.
Answered by Kate Dearden - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
Section 24 of the Employment Rights Act 2025 will address the misuse of non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) by employers who want to silence workers about harassment and discrimination in the workplace.
The Government will consult on the conditions under which NDAs can still be validly made (known in the legislation as 'excepted agreement'). We will also consult on the individuals that a worker with an excepted agreement can speak to (e.g., police or medical professionals).
We will bring forward the consultation shortly. The consultation will inform the policy detail in order to draft regulations and commence this measure in due course.
Asked by: Justin Madders (Labour - Ellesmere Port and Bromborough)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, when he plans to introduce the draft code of practice on electronic and workplace balloting for statutory union ballots.
Answered by Kate Dearden - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The consultation on the draft Code of Practice on electronic and workplace balloting for statutory union ballots recently closed on 28 January. Officials are in the process of reviewing the responses, and we will publish a formal response in due course.
A final draft of the Code of Practice will be laid in Parliament alongside the statutory instrument to enable these new voting methods to take effect in August 2026.
Asked by: Justin Madders (Labour - Ellesmere Port and Bromborough)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, for what reason the introduction of electronic and workplace balloting was moved from April to August 2026.
Answered by Kate Dearden - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The government will introduce electronic and workplace balloting through a statutory instrument under Section 54 of the Employment Relations Act 2004. Section 54 contains strict requirements that must be met in relation to ensuring that those entitled to vote have the opportunity to do so, the risk of malpractice is minimised, and ensuring that votes are cast in secret. This means the statutory instrument is complex and must be sufficiently detailed in order to meet these requirements. Therefore, to ensure we get the detail right and to minimise the risk of unintended consequences, there will be a short delay and these measures will now take effect in August 2026.
Asked by: Justin Madders (Labour - Ellesmere Port and Bromborough)
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 merits of making the Fair Work Agency a prescribed body under the Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998.
Answered by Kate Dearden - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Fair Work Agency will be established in phases. Initially, in April 2026, we will focus on bringing together the current enforcement bodies, delivering a single set of enforcement and investigatory powers, establishing the Advisory Board and ensuring there are clear routes for workers and businesses to get in touch.
Once established, the Agency will expand its enforcement role and we will consider any additional functions, such as whether it should become a prescribed body for whistleblowing disclosures.
Asked by: Justin Madders (Labour - Ellesmere Port and Bromborough)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, when he plans to introduce consultation on the reduction of membership threshold from 10% for statutory union recognition ballots.
Answered by Kate Dearden - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Government will implement in April the power in the Employment Rights Act that enables Ministers to issue secondary legislation to vary the 10% recognition application threshold, within parameters of 10% to 2% membership of the bargaining unit.
We intend to consult on varying the threshold later this year.