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Written Question
Tickets: Touting
Tuesday 22nd July 2025

Asked by: Max Wilkinson (Liberal Democrat - Cheltenham)

Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what recent assessment his Department has made of the contribution of secondary ticketing platforms to the economy.

Answered by Justin Madders - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)

Earlier this year, the government consulted on the resale of live events tickets to seek views on a range of proposals aimed at improving fairness for consumers – including a price cap that would restrict the price at which tickets could lawfully be resold.

In the consultation document, we set out our assessment of the beneficial role of the secondary ticketing market and ongoing issues relating to how it currently operates.

We are currently reviewing all the evidence that we received in response to the consultation and we intend to publish the government response later this summer.


Written Question
Tickets: Touting
Tuesday 22nd July 2025

Asked by: Max Wilkinson (Liberal Democrat - Cheltenham)

Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, how many meetings ministers in his Department have had with secondary ticketing platforms since July 2024.

Answered by Justin Madders - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)

Details of the Department for Business and Trade’s ministerial meetings can be found at Gov.uk.


Written Question
Small Businesses: Finance
Tuesday 1st July 2025

Asked by: Max Wilkinson (Liberal Democrat - Cheltenham)

Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what assessment his Department has made of the effectiveness of regional investment groups introduced under the SME Finance Charter.

Answered by Gareth Thomas - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)

The SME Finance Charter was an awareness-raising initiative introduced in 2019 and updated in 2022 following the Covid-19 pandemic.

The British Business Bank's Nations and Regions Investment Funds provide debt and equity finance to businesses outside London. They are designed to support business growth in local communities by crowding in additional private investment for areas that have historically been underserved. The success of these funds to date was recognised at Spending Review with funding confirmed to allow for expansion.


Written Question
Hospitality Industry
Wednesday 18th June 2025

Asked by: Max Wilkinson (Liberal Democrat - Cheltenham)

Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what assessment his Department has made of the role of the hospitality industry in the upcoming industrial strategy.

Answered by Gareth Thomas - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)

The Industrial Strategy Green Paper identified eight growth-driving sectors: Advanced Manufacturing, Clean Energy Industries, Creative Industries, Defence, Digital and Technologies, Financial Services, Life Sciences and Professional and Business Services. All sectors will benefit from wider policy reform through the Industrial Strategy’s cross-cutting policies alongside the broader Growth Mission. This will help create the pro-business environment for all businesses to invest and employ, and consumers to spend with confidence.

Government launched a licensing taskforce to reduce red tape and barriers that too often hold businesses back and we intend to introduce permanently lower business rates for retail, hospitality and leisure properties with a rateable value less than £500,000.

Additionally, we’ve announced a £1.5 million Hospitality Support Scheme to co-fund projects that align with Department for Business and Trade and Hospitality Sector Council Priorities, this will include helping those furthest from the jobs market into work and improving business productivity.


Written Question
Cybersecurity: Cheltenham
Wednesday 18th June 2025

Asked by: Max Wilkinson (Liberal Democrat - Cheltenham)

Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of the Golden Valley development in Cheltenham on growth in the defence sector in the industrial strategy.

Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)

The Government’s Industrial Strategy will be published shortly. Defence has been identified as a priority growth-driving sector within the Industrial Strategy and the Ministry of Defence is developing a sector plan - the Defence Industrial Strategy - to ensure we seize the opportunities.

The Golden Valley Development in Cheltenham is a nationally significant, £1billion investment in the UK’s cyber security sector. By co-locating industry, innovators, academia, and government agencies adjacent to GCHQ, it will accelerate the development of sovereign cyber capabilities, supporting national security and economic growth and resilience. The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology continues to work to encourage further growth in the sector.


Written Question
Cybersecurity
Tuesday 17th June 2025

Asked by: Max Wilkinson (Liberal Democrat - Cheltenham)

Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether the cyber security sector will be included in the industrial strategy.

Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)

The Industrial Strategy will focus on eight growth-driving sectors. Digital and Technologies has been identified as one of those eight sectors, the UK being the third country in the world to have a tech sector valued at over $1trillion. Within those growth sectors, the Government will prioritise sub-sectors that meet our objectives and where there is evidence that policy can address barriers to growth.


Written Question
Parental Pay
Wednesday 4th December 2024

Asked by: Max Wilkinson (Liberal Democrat - Cheltenham)

Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, how many couples claimed shared parental pay in each of the last five years.

Answered by Justin Madders - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)

Information provided by employers to HMRC show the number of individuals in receipt of Statutory Shared Parental Pay (ShPP). This data provides a broad indication of SPL take-up but does not include anyone taking unpaid Shared Parental Leave.

Table 1: Individuals in receipt of ShPP by gender, 2019/20 to 2023/24 (the latest year for which full year data is available)

Year (April to March)

No. of Individuals in receipt of ShPP

Women

Men

Total

2019-20

2,900

10,200

13,000

2020-21

2,600

8,600

11,200

2021-22

3,200

9,800

13,000

2022-23

4,100

10,200

14,200

2023-24

6,600

10,600

17,200

  1. Data is collected using HMRC Real Time Information (RTI) and is subject to revision.
  2. Figures are rounded to the nearest hundred.
  3. Figures are based on the total number of individuals in a given year, irrespective of when the payment first started. Some individuals will be counted across two years.