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 the Fair Work Agency will assist migrant domestic workers experiencing abuse in private households.
Answered by Kate Dearden - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Fair Work Agency will enhance the UK's ability to respond to exploitation of migrant domestic workers. It will bring together labour market enforcement functions and include new powers to investigate and take action against offences under the Fraud Act 2006. These powers, when operational, will allow the FWA to pursue certain cases of deception, abuse of position or withholding pay, where conduct does not meet the higher modern slavery threshold.
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, if he will publish a schedule of differences between the trade deal with South Korea announced on 15 December 2025 and the previous trade deal with South Korea which applied when the UK was a Member State of the EU.
Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
As part of this negotiation the UK and the Republic of Korea have agreed a range of improvements to the existing agreement. These cover goods and services trade, in addition to underpinning broader cooperation between the UK and Republic of Korea on a variety of topics. A summary of the key changes is included in the “UK-Republic of Korea trade deal: conclusion summary” published on Gov.uk at conclusion. We will publish further documentation and the full legal text, alongside a full assessment of the economic impact of the UK-Korea FTA, when the agreement is formally signed.
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 cumulative impact of the UK's trade agreements with South Korea, India and the United States on GDP in the next ten years.
Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
Our impact assessments, published on gov.uk, set out the potential long-run impacts of new FTAs on the United Kingdom’s GDP. It would not make sense to agglomerate the estimates published in individual impact assessments for these deals as the analyses are not directly comparable due to differences in model structure, data, and scenarios.
Our assessments of trade agreements with India and South Korea suggest the deals are expected to have significant benefits for the UK economy. Negotiations with the US are ongoing, and we will publish our analysis of that as soon as practicable after signature.
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 adequacy of whistleblower protections.
Answered by Kate Dearden - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Government recognises that the whistleblowing framework in the Employment Rights Act 1996 may not be operating as effectively as intended. My Department in July published an independent review into the framework, which did not make formal recommendations for reform but did provide some useful analyses on the functioning of the framework based on stakeholder engagement and a literature review.
The review is a helpful contribution to the governments ongoing assessment of the framework, and the Government welcomes the continued engagement of parliamentarians and stakeholders on this important area of public policy.
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, if he plans to take legislative steps to place a statutory duty on leaders in the (a) public and (b) private sectors to embed (i) inclusive governance and (ii) protective leadership practices.
Answered by Blair McDougall - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Companies Act 2006 requires directors to have regard to employee interests and to the impact of the company’s operations on the community and the environment. The UK Corporate Governance Code includes provisions that support inclusive governance, including mechanisms to enable the workforce to engage with directors and for workers to raise concerns in confidence. The Public Sector Equality Duty in the Equality Act 2010 requires public authorities, and those carrying out public functions, to have due regard to the need to eliminate discrimination, advance equality of opportunity, and foster good relations between different people.
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, which Department will present the bill on regulating secondary ticketing markets.
Answered by Justin Madders
The government is committed to putting fans back at the heart of live events by clamping down on exploitative practices in the ticket resale market. We ran a consultation earlier this year to seek views on a range of proposals, including a price cap that would restrict the price at which tickets could lawfully be resold.
We are currently reviewing all the evidence that we received in response to our consultation. We will set out our plans in the government response, which we intend to publish in the coming weeks.
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
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.
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
Details of the Department for Business and Trade’s ministerial meetings can be found at Gov.uk.
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
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.
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
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.