Asked by: Paul Davies (Labour - Colne Valley)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether he has had discussions with independent retailers on the development of the New Business Growth Service.
Answered by Blair McDougall - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Department for Business and Trade launched the Business Growth Service (BGS) in July alongside our Plan for Small Business. We will continue iterating the business.gov.uk online offer through continued engagement with SMEs from across all sectors and regions in the UK making BGS the front door to all government business support.
The Department engages routinely with retailers of all types, including independent retailers, through key trade associations. The service will regularly review user feedback to ensure it delivers what businesses need to support their growth and productivity. We continue to engage widely with stakeholders, especially entrepreneurs and small business owners, on the design and implementation of the service with a series of roundtables and consultation events across the country.
Asked by: Paul Davies (Labour - Colne Valley)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, when he plans to introduce the New Business Growth Service.
Answered by Blair McDougall - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Department for Business and Trade launched the Business Growth Service (BGS) in July alongside our Plan for Small Business. We will continue iterating the business.gov.uk online offer through continued engagement with SMEs from across all sectors and regions in the UK making BGS the front door to all government business support.
The Department engages routinely with retailers of all types, including independent retailers, through key trade associations. The service will regularly review user feedback to ensure it delivers what businesses need to support their growth and productivity. We continue to engage widely with stakeholders, especially entrepreneurs and small business owners, on the design and implementation of the service with a series of roundtables and consultation events across the country.
Asked by: Paul Davies (Labour - Colne Valley)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what recent progress his Department has made on the Small Business Command Paper.
Answered by Gareth Thomas
We launched ‘Backing Your Business – our plan for small and medium-sized enterprises’ on 31 July. It is a long-term strategy focussing on five areas:
This strategy, together with the Industrial Strategy, is just the start of our commitment to work hand-in-hand with SMEs to drive growth.
Asked by: Paul Davies (Labour - Colne Valley)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps he is taking to improve the regulatory environment for business.
Answered by Justin Madders
On 17 March 2025 this Government published the Action Plan for Regulation, outlining reforms to streamline regulation and support growth. As part of this we are cutting regulatory administrative costs to business by 25%, strengthening accountability for regulators and simplifying their duties to ensure the regulatory environment is focusing on growth, investment, and transparency. This will include finding ways to reduce costs for the manufacturing sector, which I know is important to businesses such as New Holland who have been making tractors in my honourable friend for Reading West and Mid Berkshire's constituency for over 60 years.
Asked by: Paul Davies (Labour - Colne Valley)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, how many incidents of battery fires on (a) converted and (b) non-converted e-bikes were reported to the Office for Product Safety and Standards in the last 12 months for which data are available.
Answered by Justin Madders
The Office for Product Safety and Standards received reports of 161 UK e-bike fires in 2023, of which 46% were post-market conversions. Data for 2024 is being complied and will be published in due course.
Asked by: Paul Davies (Labour - Colne Valley)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what progress he has made towards publishing the Small Business Command Paper.
Answered by Gareth Thomas
The Government will publish its SME Strategy later this year. The Strategy will set out the Government’s ambition to champion entrepreneurship, create an environment for SMEs to thrive and support them in their growth ambition.
Asked by: Paul Davies (Labour - Colne Valley)
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 risk of e-bike battery fires caused by products manufactured outside the (a) UK and (b) EU.
Answered by Justin Madders
The Office for Product Safety and Standards leads a programme of activity to tackle the fire risks from unsafe lithium-ion e-bike batteries. All e-bikes and lithium-ion batteries placed on the UK market must be safe and producers are responsible for ensuring their products comply with the law. Last year, the Government published statutory guidelines on lithium-ion batteries for e-bikes, setting out the safety mechanisms they must contain.
Asked by: Paul Davies (Labour - Colne Valley)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether she has consulted with independent retailers on the development of the new Business Growth service.
Answered by Gareth Thomas
My department is working closely with independent retailers and the wider business community on the design of the Business Growth Service. We’ve held roundtables and consultation events across the country, in partnership with local organisations, to hear directly from entrepreneurs and small business owners about the support they need to grow.
My department continues to engage regularly with retailers through key trade associations, and feedback will remain central to how the service evolves. Our goal is to build a service shaped by business, for business.
Asked by: Paul Davies (Labour - Colne Valley)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether he has consulted with independent retailers on the development of the New Business Growth Service.
Answered by Gareth Thomas
The new Business Growth Service will regularly review user feedback to ensure it delivers what businesses need to support their growth and productivity. My department is therefore engaging widely with stakeholders, especially entrepreneurs and small business owners, on the design and implementation of the service. This has included a series of roundtables and consultation events across the country and delivered via partners. This process will continue, even after the service launches to continue to refine and improve it.
The Department for Business and Trade engages regularly with retailers of all types, including independent retailers, through key trade associations in the Business Growth Service.
Asked by: Paul Davies (Labour - Colne Valley)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, when the New Business Growth Service is going to be launched.
Answered by Gareth Thomas
The new Business Growth service will simplify the government’s business support ecosystem to ensure businesses get the support they need with local delivery at its heart and all underpinned by an improved online service. This will help deliver the government’s forthcoming Small Business Strategy, complementing the Industrial Strategy, Trade Strategy and Make Work Pay plans as part of a comprehensive approach to our Growth Mission.
We expect to launch this service in the summer.