Lee Anderson

The Government is committed to modernising industrial relations and as part of this we are moving away from a reliance on outdated, ad-hoc access arrangements by providing a formal right of access for trade unions in the Employment Rights Bill.

We will be consulting on specific details of the access framework before they are set out in secondary legislation. We encourage businesses and unions of all sizes to share their views. An impact assessment on the Bill was published last year.

Steel is a top priority for this Government. As shown with the passing of the Steel Industry (Special Measures) Act, this Government will not hesitate to take unprecedented steps to safeguard the future of steelmaking in the UK, protecting jobs, national security and supply chains.

We have completed the roll out of the British Industry Supercharger, which from this month means our steel industry will save an estimated £320mn – £410mn this year. This is on top of continuing the network charging compensation scheme.

We have taken action to make public procurement of UK-made steel easier and increased support for businesses to report unfair international trade practices. We have continued to develop the policy and approach for the steel strategy.

Appointments to advertised vacancies in the Department for Business and Trade are made on the basis of fair recruitment open to all. The Department does not operate recruitment targets in relation to diversity, equality and inclusion. The Department does have an internally published Diversity and Inclusion plan that is focussed on embracing fairness for all.

We can confirm the Department for Business and Trade spent £53,491.37 on translation services from April 2024 – 25th March 2025.

As the department for economic growth, we support businesses to invest, grow and export, creating jobs and opportunities across the country. This figure includes providing translation services and also where the Department required translations or interpreters.

Reshoring, alongside progressive key trade agreements, will be important of our national resilience, and we are determined to make the UK a prime location for globally competitive manufacturing.

The Industrial Strategy this spring will set out an ambitious long-term vision for UK manufacturing competitiveness and will detail how we intend to boost R&D, skills, and fast track adoption of new manufacturing technologies here in the UK.

Our commitment to the steel industry remains unwavering. On Sunday 16 February we published a consultation on our Plan for Steel. Along with work already ongoing across Government, this will provide a clear evidence base on the needs of the steel sector and its customers. This work will ensure the best use of our funding commitment of up to £2.5bn to deliver change and unlock private investment, ensuring a bright and sustainable future for UK steelmaking.

The Government provides an annual £50m Network Subsidy funding to support the delivery of a minimum number of Post Office branches and a geographical spread of these branches in line with published access criteria. This requires 99% of the UK population to be within three miles of their nearest Post Office outlet. The Government-set Access Criteria ensures that however the network changes, services remain within local reach of all citizens, including those living in the Ashfield constituency.

The Secretary of State and I have met with the CEO and Chair of Post Office Limited to ensure that Post Office delivers for postmasters and its communities. We recently met with the Post Office Chair, Nigel Railton, and discussed his proposals for the future of the company before Mr Railton announced Post Office's Transformation Plan on 13th November. While Post Office has the freedom to make commercial decisions regarding the composition of its network, Government sets the parameters for the Post Office to operate in.

Government protects the branch network by setting minimum access criteria which require 99% of the UK population to be within three miles of their nearest Post Office outlet. The access criteria ensure that however the network changes, services remain within local reach of all citizens.

We will publish an Impact Assessment alongside the legislation that implements the increase to the National Minimum Wage and National Living Wage in April 2025.

This Government remains committed to helping small businesses thrive and will be publishing our Small Business Strategy next year. This will set out our vision for all small businesses, from boosting scale-ups to growing the co-operative economy. It will address key policy areas such as creating thriving high streets, making it easier to access finance, opening overseas and domestic markets, building business capabilities, and providing a strong business environment.

We will publish an Impact Assessment alongside the legislation that implements the increase to the National Living Wage. We estimate that over 3 million workers will receive a pay rise due to the increase in the National Living Wage in April 2025.

Pubs, including those in Ashfield, are at the heart of our communities and vital for economic growth. That is why the Government is creating a fairer business rate system by introducing permanently lower tax rates for retail, hospitality, and leisure businesses from 2026-27 and extending the current relief for 1 year at 40%.

The government is also reducing alcohol duty on qualifying draught products, representing an overall reduction in duty bills of over £85m a year.

We will transform the apprenticeship levy into a more flexible growth and skills levy to better support business and boost opportunity for people to work in Pubs.

Through the Hospitality Sector Council, we are addressing strategic issues for the sector related to high street regeneration, skills, sustainability, and productivity.

Economic Growth is the first priority of this government. To deliver on this, one of our first steps after taking office was to announce that we were resuming Free Trade Agreement negotiations with the Gulf Cooperation Council, India, Israel, South Korea, Switzerland and Turkey. Having carefully reviewed our negotiation objectives we have now started talks with the first of these key partners. This is a first step towards getting businesses access to international markets, boosting jobs, and delivering growth. We are also committed to ensuring UK businesses can take full advantage of CPTPP when it enters into force in December.

The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero values the benefits of a diverse and inclusive workforce. We internally monitor our departmental diversity data and seek to increase representation amongst under-represented groups, especially at more senior grades, with a focus on Women, Ethnic Minority and Disability. We do not set targets as part of our recruitment processes but ensure that our processes are fair and equitable.

This information is not held centrally.

Energy prices for households on default tariffs are determined by Ofgem’s price cap, which is set at a level that protects such consumers from paying inefficient prices, while allowing for competition between suppliers.

Prices for other tariffs, including fixed tariffs and non-domestic tariffs, are set by suppliers, who compete for customers on the basis of price and quality of service.

I refer the hon Member to the answer I gave to my hon Friend the Member for Falkirk (Euan Stainbank) on 29 January 2025 to Question UIN 25410.

I met with the Chair and Trustee representatives of the British Coal Staff Superannuation Scheme on 16 December where they outlined their proposals for changes to the Scheme.

A consultation was held under the previous administration on whether a transitional support mechanism should be introduced for large-scale biomass generators when their current support ends. Government is considering the responses to that consultation and no final decision has been taken as to whether alternate future support arrangements will be introduced.

The Government supports biomass as a low carbon source of energy only where relevant sustainability criteria are met. Drax must demonstrate compliance with these criteria to Ofgem as the independent regulator. Evidence provided is independently audited. Ofgem recently published their conclusions on an investigation into Drax’s compliance with sustainability standards on 29 August 2024. The investigation found that whilst Drax complied with the standards, it failed to report data accurately. Government expects full compliance with all regulatory obligations and the size of Drax’s redress payment, £25m, underscores the robustness of the regulatory system.

Although standing charges are a commercial matter for suppliers, and are regulated by Ofgem, we know that too much of the burden of the bill is placed on them. The Government has worked constructively with the regulator on the issue of standing charges, and we are committed to lowering the cost of them.

Standing charges recover the ‘fixed’ costs of the system, meaning costs that do not vary by energy use. This includes suppliers’ fixed operational costs of serving each customer, the cost of network upgrades and maintenance necessary to keep all consumers connected and fund the technologies to drive progress towards net zero targets. It also includes the cost of providing Warm Home Discount payments to eligible customers.

The Government has fulfilled its manifesto commitment to transfer to the Mineworkers' Pension Scheme investment reserve to Members. I am open to considering options put forward by the Trustees for changes to the British Coal Staff Superannuation Scheme.

The Government has fulfilled its manifesto commitment to transfer to the Mineworkers' Pension Scheme investment reserve to Members. I am open to considering options put forward by the Trustees for changes to the British Coal Staff Superannuation Scheme.

I am open to considering options put forward by the Trustees for changes to the British Coal Staff Superannuation Scheme.

The UK was the first country to set legally binding carbon budgets and the first major economy to establish a net zero target in law. An Impact Assessment of the level of the Sixth Carbon Budget was published at the time, including a cost-benefit analysis which showed the economic costs and benefits of net zero. Without the shift to renewable energy, we will continue to be exposed to volatile fossil fuel markets and the cost of living crises households had to live through in the last Parliament.

Although standing charges are a commercial matter for suppliers, and are regulated by Ofgem, we know that too much of the burden of the bill is placed on them. The Government has worked constructively with the regulator on the issue of standing charges, and we are committed to lowering the cost of them.

Ofgem’s recently published discussion paper sets out the options for how standing charges could be reduced, including by moving some supplier operational costs off standing charges onto the unit rate, increasing the variety of tariffs available for consumer in the market, and in the longer term, reviewing how system costs are allocated. Ofgem's publication can be found here: https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/call-for-input/standing-charges-domestic-retail-options.

We know that to achieve net zero, we must look at how we can accelerate the potential of all low carbon technologies including geothermal. The Government understands that geothermal can play a role in our decarbonisation ambitions particularly as a low carbon source for heat via heat networks. We have commissioned research into the potential costs of geothermal heat in the UK and will use this to understand how the government can support the sector to achieve its potential, in both the domestic and commercial sectors.